Stephen Hawking, the renowned physicist, held a pragmatic view on life and death. He compared the brain to a computer, stating that it would stop working when its components fail. He did not believe in an afterlife or heaven for “broken down computers”, referring to it as a fairy tale for those who fear the unknown.

Hawking invoked the concept of God in his book “A Brief History of Time”, suggesting that if physicists could find a cohesive explanation for how the universe works, they would glimpse “the mind of God”. However, he clarified in later writings that he was not referring to a creator in the traditional sense. He believed in “spontaneous creation” as the reason for the existence of the universe and us, negating the need to invoke God to set the universe in motion.

He used the term “God” in a figurative sense, referring to it as the name people give to the reason we are here. But he believed that reason to be the laws of physics rather than a being with whom one can have a personal relationship.

In an interview with Spanish publication El Mundo, Hawking plainly stated his thoughts on God, affirming his atheism. He believed that before we understand science, it’s natural to believe that God created the universe. But he felt that science now offers a more convincing explanation.

Despite rejecting the conventional notion of God or a creator, Hawking fundamentally believed that the universe and life have meaning. He encouraged people to look up at the stars, try to make sense of what they see, and wonder about what makes the universe exist.