Top Scientist Calls Stephen Hawking ‘A Brain In A Vat’
Dear readers, what words come to mind when you think of scientist Stephen Hawking?
When I think of him, the word ‘genius’ is never far from my thoughts.
He was a genius before becoming disabled. He has continued to be a genius long after becoming disabled. He’s one of the most famous people in Britain, and the world, with or without his disability.
His voicebox does sound a bit futuristic, if I’m very honest. However, that’s what makes him recognisable.
I certainly don’t doubt for a second that he is much, much more than ‘a brain in a vat,‘ which is what I’ve just found out another top scientist, Helene Mialet, called him in ‘celebration’ of the 71st birthday he reached four days ago.
Gary Presley, whose post I’ve linked above, points out quite rightly that ‘Hawking is more than the sum of his defective parts.’
Personally I wouldn’t even call those parts defective. His intelligence more than makes up for the fact his legs don’t work, or the fact his voice is generated by a computer.
His wheelchair and his voicebox don’t cause his defects, they fix them. Without these machines, he would never have been able to give the mainstream world access to his incredible academic abilities, theories and thoughts.
I, for one, certainly think that would have been a great loss to the world as a whole. For to disabled children, and to adults who become disabled, Stephen Hawking is an inspiration. And to the rest of the world, Stephen Hawking may just, sometimes, make them stop, think and realise that disabled people are intelligent, too, and they can prove it with a little help from modern technology.
Same Difference 