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The WATCHMAN

Stephen Hawking died on March 14, but that does not mean that his influence has been silenced. His children have just announced the launch of a posthumous book, titled "Brief Answers to Big Questions".

In this paper, Hawking questions the universal problems that have intrigued humans throughout history and in all possible contexts.

Lucy Hawking, her daughter, stated that this book was an attempt "to gather the clearest, most authentic and most accomplished answers it can provide." And what are these questions?

Is there a God?

Stephen Hawking was a declared atheist, so the answer to this question is a categorical NO. In fact, in 2014, the physicist explicitly confirmed that he did not believe in the existence of a supreme being who manages the universe.

"In the past, before understanding science, it made sense to believe that God created the universe … But now science offers a more convincing explanation." I said that we would know "the spirit of God", that is, we would understand all that God would be able to understand if there were any, but there is not any. of God, I am atheist, religion believes in miracles, but they are not compatible with science, "he told El Mundo four years ago.

How did everything begin?

If there is no god, then what is its origin? Stephen Hawking was one of the most important contributors to the consolidation of the Big Bang scientific theory. Through his work, in which he confirmed the existence of black holes with the mathematical tools of quantum physics, Hawking was able to confirm that the Big Bang had occurred.

"Because the expression (the mathematics of the Big Bang) is self-sufficient, it begins with a singularity at the beginning of time and ends with another at the end of time, and if necessary, history can rebound and in summary: Hawking showed that the "Big Bang" was a necessary consequence of Einstein's general relativity.

Is life more intelligent in the universe

Hawking did not fear coming into contact with life forms off the Earth.

"There are forms of intelligent life out there," he writes in his posthumous work. cautious before developing a little more. "

On Stephen Hawking's Favorite Places television show, he said," One day we could get a signal from a planet in these circumstances, "a- he declared. in reference to the potentially habitable world known as Gliese 832c, but we must be cautious in our responses. Finding an advanced civilization might be like when Native Americans met Columbus. It did not go well at all. "

And he added," If we answer, they could be much more powerful than us and give us the courage we give to bacteria. "

Can We Predict the Future? Is It? possible to travel back in time?

"The journey into the past can not be ruled out according to our current understanding," he says in the book presented at the London Academy of Sciences. He also predicts that "at Over the next hundred years, we can travel anywhere in the solar system "

What's in a Black Hole?

While the concept of black holes did exist before his arrival From Hawking to the scientific world, his works meant the confirmation of the existence of these phenomena in the universe.

The scientist confirmed, by means of an equation, that the black holes are the rest of stars much more mbadive than our Sun. when they are exhausting their nuc they collapse and concentrate a large amount of mbad in a very small volume, producing infinite densities: a singularity to which even light does not escape.

"Hawking has described the geometry of black holes and predicts that, by quantum effect, black holes are not completely black, but can emit light, the Hawking radiation from which we are always looking for solid evidence, "he wrote. Death of the physicist Juan Diego Soler.

Will we survive on Earth? Should we colonize space?

One of the great concerns Hawking expressed in his last years was the lack of action taken to end the threat of climate change that, for him, could end life on our planet.

The worst scenario for the Earth would be to become something like its sister planet, Venus, with a temperature of 250 degrees and a rain of sulfuric acid, "he warned in 2007.

Therefore, for he, "we have no future if we do not colonize Hawking said during his last lecture at the Norwegian festival Starmus in 2017." We have to leave the Earth, "he said.

"When we had similar crises in the past," he said, "we have colonized new territories, but there is no new world to which we are expanding. The time has come to explore other solar systems. "

Will artificial intelligence go beyond us?

"Unless we learn to prepare ourselves and avoid potential risks, artificial intelligence could be the worst event in the history of our civilization" said on more than one occasion . Above all, he worried about the warlike abilities that artificial intelligence could develop. "Autonomous arms will become the Kalashnikovs of tomorrow," says a letter that he has signed with other scientists and technology experts.

"We are beings limited by our slow biological evolution, we will not be able to compete with the machines and we will be defeated for them," warned Wired magazine in 2017 about the (almost unexplored) possibilities of opening of artificial intelligence.

How are we shaping the future?

Lucy Hawking pointed out that her father was optimistic. For her, the volume could be summed up as "a call to unity" of humanity to "find solutions" to the challenges of the world.

The woman said that before dying, Hawking was extremely concerned that "when global challenges require greater unity and greater cooperation," people adopt a thought "more and more local, fragmented and divided ".

] However, in these pages, he left his answer reflected for all who ask what will be humanity. "Do not forget to look at the stars and not at your feet."