Stephen Hawking

8 January 1942 – 14 March 2018

I became aware of Stephen Hawking when he began writing for the general public. I read his book A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes but it did not have much of an impact on me. I remember very little of the book but the man himself has both inspired and frustrated me.

I cannot imagine what it would be like to be diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s at age 21 and given just two more years to live. The fact that he lived to 76 is remarkable and how he lived is inspiring. He made the very best of his life while experiencing a crippling disability.

Over the years I have gained more appreciation that we homo sapiens are not minds in bodies. We are a single integrated whole. Yet Hawking seemed to be a mind unaffected by his body, almost separate from it. His work as a brilliant theoretical physicist was little impaired by life in a wheelchair and without a natural voice. He even had a mischievous sense of humor.

He made us aware of black holes, something I am in awe of. Earth at the density of a black hole would have a radius of less than ten millimeters. I think about this sometimes to keep things in perspective. If earth were the size of a large marble, how utterly insignificant would each of us be? Yet Stephen Hawking seemed to have a big ego.

Making perhaps the biggest mistake of his life, in 2011 Stephen Hawking pronounced philosophy dead. How could someone so very intelligent say something so stupid? He elevated science high above its rightful place and did not seem to understand its limitations.

I greatly enjoyed the 2014 film, The Theory of Everything, about the life of Stephen Hawking.

Anthony Bourdain

 June 25, 1956 – June 8, 2018

I enjoyed watching Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown on CNN. Like many others, I was shocked by his death by suicide at age 61. He seemed to have the perfect job and a very good life.

But I only knew the public persona of Anthony Bourdain. After his death, I learned about his struggles with drugs, depression and loneliness. The public and private Anthony Bourdain seemed to be two very different people but, of course, he did not experience his own life with such a separation.

 

Mary Midgley

13 September 1919 – 10 October 2018

At midlife I began browsing the philosophy section of book stores and stumbled upon Mary Midgley. I read several of her books and brought two of them with me when I retired in Mexico. If I ever find the time, I would like to read them again.

At midlife, my worldview collapsed when I lost my Christian faith. Philosophy helped me build a new foundation for my thinking. Science as Salvation - A Modern Myth and its Meaning by Mary Midgley had a big influence on me. Midgley opposed reductionism and scientism and I continue to share her view to this day.

From time to time I checked in on her. I was aware of her decades long public feud with Richard Dawkins. Although Dawkins became an international celebrity, I was always more impressed by Midgley. It seemed to me that finally late in her long life, she received the respect she was due.

Her other book that I still have is can’t we make moral judgements?

George Herbert Walker Bush

June 12, 1924 – November 30, 2018 

Because the President of the United States of America is the most powerful person in the world, everyone who occupies that office has a big impact. I respected George Herbert Walker Bush although I did not consider him a great President. But, I my opinion, Bush 41 was better than Bush 43 in the role of President.

What I remember most about Bush is that he was in office during the unexpected collapse of the Soviet Union. The cold war ended.  In hindsight, his speech to Congress in 1990 now seems to reflect a very flawed worldview.

We stand today at a unique and extraordinary moment. The crisis in the Persian Gulf, as grave as it is, also offers a rare opportunity to move toward an historic period of cooperation. Out of these troubled times, our fifth objective — a new world order — can emerge: a new era — freer from the threat of terror, stronger in the pursuit of justice, and more secure in the quest for peace. An era in which the nations of the world, East and West, North and South, can prosper and live in harmony.

And Bush gave us the Gulf War and NAFTA.