Jordan Oates's Key Ideas from Brief Answers to the Big Questions
by Stephen Hawking

"Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the universe exists, why we exist."

"It is not necessary to invoke God to light the blue touch paper and set the universe going."

"The universe doesn't need a creator and isn't eternal."

"Asking what came before the Big Bang is meaningless, rather like asking what is north of the North Pole."

"The boundary condition of the universe is that it has no boundary."

"Black holes are not completely black after all: they glow like a hot body, and the smaller they are, the more they glow."

"It seems likely that the information in a black hole is not lost forever."

"Maybe the information is stored not in the interior of the black hole, but on its boundary, the event horizon."

"We are in danger of destroying ourselves by our greed and stupidity."

"I don't think we will survive another thousand years without escaping beyond our fragile planet."

"We need to continue to go into space for the future of humanity."

"There are probably many other forms of life out there."

"The odds of them developing to our stage may be rather low."

"If aliens visit us, the outcome would be much as when Columbus landed in America, which didn't turn out well for the Native Americans."

"Spreading out in space will make us less vulnerable."

"Establishing self-sustaining colonies on other planets or moons would be a huge undertaking."

"It is important for us as a species to spread out into space for the survival of humanity."

"The development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race."

"Success in creating effective AI, could be the biggest event in the history of our civilization. Or the worst."

"We need to develop AI as quickly as possible in order to understand its dangers so that we can institute the necessary safeguards."

"We need to break down the barriers between scientists and the public."

"We need to educate the public in general, so that they have sufficient understanding to make informed decisions about the important issues."

"Let us look up at the stars and not down at our feet. Let us try to make sense of what we see and wonder about what makes the universe exist. Be curious, and however difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do, and succeed at. It matters that you don't just give up."