Stephen Hawking didn’t finish his final book. He died in March 2018 while still pulling the threads together, leaving his family and colleagues to weave his notes and essays into what eventually became Brief Answers to the Big Questions. It’s a slim volume. Maybe 200-ish pages. But it carries the weight of a man who spent his entire adult life trapped in a chair while his mind roamed the edges of the known universe. People often ask if it’s just a rehash of A Brief History of Time. Honestly? Not really. It’s more personal. It’s a legacy project.
Hawking was worried. You can feel it in the prose. He wasn't just thinking about black holes anymore; he was thinking about us. Our survival. Our stupidity. Our potential.
The Core Arguments of Brief Answers to the Big Questions
One of the most frequent things people search for is whether Hawking finally "proved" there is no God in this book. He’s pretty blunt about it. He writes that the simplest explanation is that there is no God and no one directs the universe. For Hawking, the laws of nature—specifically gravity and quantum mechanics—provide all the "spark" necessary to start the engine.
He points to the Big Bang.
Before the Big Bang, time didn't exist. You can’t have a cause if there’s no time for a cause to exist in. It’s like asking for directions to the edge of a sphere. There isn't one. This isn't just "edgy" atheism; it's a logical conclusion based on his work with Roger Penrose on singularities. If the universe started at a point of infinite density where the laws of physics break down, time itself has a beginning.
Why the "Big Bang" is the ultimate stop sign
If you look at the math, specifically the $G_{\mu
u} = 8\pi G T_{\mu
u}$ Einstein field equations, you see that space and time are linked. Hawking’s point in Brief Answers to the Big Questions is that if the universe is a self-contained system, there is no "outside" or "before" for a creator to inhabit.
Is there other intelligent life out there?
Hawking’s take on aliens was always a bit terrifying. He wasn't a "we come in peace" kind of guy. He famously compared our potential first contact with aliens to Native Americans meeting Christopher Columbus. It didn't go well for the locals.
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In the book, he explores the Fermi Paradox. Why haven't we heard anything? Maybe life is just incredibly rare. Or maybe, and this is the darker theory he brushes against, intelligent civilizations have a nasty habit of blowing themselves up before they reach the interstellar travel stage.
He mentions the Breakthrough Listen project. He was a big supporter. But he was also a fan of "Listen, but don't shout back." We’re essentially a toddler in a jungle full of predators. It’s probably best not to scream at the top of our lungs until we know who else is under the canopy.
The AI Problem and the "Superhuman" Threat
This is where the book gets really "Black Mirror." Hawking was genuinely concerned about Artificial Intelligence. He didn't think AI would be "evil" in the way a movie villain is. He thought it would be competent. If a super-intelligent AI has a goal and you're in the way, it’ll nudge you aside like we nudge an anthill when building a highway.
But he adds a twist: Genetic engineering.
The Rise of the "Superhumans"
He predicts that wealthy people will eventually start editing their children's DNA. Higher intelligence. Longer life. Resistance to disease. Once these "superhumans" appear, the "unimproved" humans won't be able to compete. They’ll become a biological underclass or die out. It’s a grim forecast that feels less like sci-fi and more like an inevitable result of CRISPR technology and late-stage capitalism.
Is he right?
Well, look at the current divide in global healthcare and education. We’re already seeing the "unimproved" being left behind. Hawking just takes it to the molecular level.
Can we predict the future?
Short answer: No.
Long answer: Sorta.
Hawking discusses the "Laplace’s Demon" concept—the idea that if you knew the position and velocity of every particle in the universe, you could calculate everything that ever happened and ever will happen. Quantum mechanics ruined that. The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle says you can't know both the position and the speed of a particle at the same time.
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So, the universe has a built-in layer of fuzziness.
Even if we had a "Theory of Everything"—that elusive $M$-theory Hawking was so fond of—we still couldn't predict the future because the equations are too complex. We can't even predict the weather three weeks out with 100% accuracy. Predicting human behavior? Forget it.
The colonization of space is a "must"
Hawking didn't think we had much time left on Earth. 1,000 years. Maybe less. Climate change, nuclear war, or a stray asteroid—something is going to get us. In Brief Answers to the Big Questions, he argues that we are "acting with reckless abandon" with our planet.
He was a massive proponent of the Moon and Mars. Not because they are nice places to live (they aren't; they're freezing, radioactive deserts), but because they are "insurance policies."
He notes:
- We need a lunar base within 30 years.
- A Martian colony within 50.
- Interstellar travel (using light sails or fusion) within 200.
If we stay on one planet, we’re essentially waiting for an extinction event. If we’re on two, or three, the odds of the human race surviving jump exponentially.
The Black Hole Information Paradox
You can't talk about Hawking without black holes. He spent decades arguing with Leonard Susskind and others about what happens to "information" when it falls into a black hole. If you throw a book into a black hole, is the information in that book gone forever?
Originally, Hawking said yes. Then he said no.
In his final years, he proposed that information is stored on the "event horizon" in the form of 2D holograms. In Brief Answers to the Big Questions, he tries to make this accessible. Think of it like a shadow. The object is gone, but the "description" of the object remains etched on the boundary.
It’s mind-bending stuff. It suggests that our 3D reality might just be a projection of 2D information at the edge of the universe.
Why the book feels different than his others
There is a palpable sense of urgency. Hawking was writing this while his body was failing him more than usual. He used a cheek muscle to trigger a sensor on his glasses to type. One letter at a time. Every word in this book was a physical struggle.
Because of that, there's no filler.
He skips the fluff. He goes straight for the throat on topics like Brexit (he hated it), the Trump administration (he was worried about the anti-science sentiment), and the importance of funding basic research.
He didn't care about being "polite" anymore. He cared about being heard.
Acknowledging the Critics
Some scientists feel Hawking was too pessimistic about AI. Others, like the late Freeman Dyson, thought his obsession with space colonization was a distraction from fixing Earth. Hawking addresses this by saying we can do both. We have to do both. Exploring the stars doesn't mean we stop planting trees; it means we acknowledge that trees need a safe garden to grow in, and right now, our garden is in the middle of a cosmic shooting gallery.
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Actionable Steps: How to Engage with Hawking’s Ideas
If you’ve finished Brief Answers to the Big Questions or you're about to start, don't just let the existential dread sink in. Do something with the info.
1. Watch the scale.
Go to a site like "The Scale of the Universe 2." It helps you visualize where we sit between a string and the observable universe. It grounds Hawking's math in something you can actually see.
2. Follow the "Breakthrough Initiatives."
This is the real-world application of Hawking’s final concerns. They are working on "Starshot"—tiny probes that could reach Alpha Centauri in 20 years. Following their progress makes the "colonizing space" chapter feel like a news report rather than a dream.
3. Deep dive into the "Hard Problem" of AI.
Read Nick Bostrom’s Superintelligence. It’s the book that shaped a lot of Hawking’s (and Elon Musk’s) fears. If you want to understand why Hawking was so scared of a computer, that’s the source material.
4. Check the "Doomsday Clock."
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists maintains this. Hawking was a huge supporter. It’s currently closer to midnight than it has ever been. Understanding the factors that move the hand—climate, nukes, "disruptive technologies"—gives context to the "Will we survive?" chapter.
5. Support science communication.
Hawking’s greatest gift wasn't just his math; it was his ability to make a plumber or a barista care about the curvature of spacetime. Read books by Carlo Rovelli or Katie Mack. Keep the curiosity alive.
Hawking’s final message wasn't one of despair, even though the topics were heavy. He ended by telling us to "be curious." He spent fifty years in a wheelchair and still thought the universe was a place of wonder. If he could stay optimistic while staring down the heat death of the universe and his own mortality, we can probably handle a Tuesday morning.