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Category: Weirdness
Posted on: October 25, 2009 10:28 AM, by PZ Myers
The web of lies was working away yesterday: apparently, some bored wankers created some twitter accounts and started injecting rumors into the internet that Hawking had been killed by a Christian fundamentalist, and they've been spreading everywhere — I'm getting all kinds of email from people wondering if it is true.
No reputable news source is carrying any story about it, and the only source is a couple of anonymous twitter accounts. So what do you think?
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Comments
Posted by: 'Tis Himself, OM
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October 25, 2009 10:35 AM
The only recent news article I've found on Hawking is that he's retiring as Lucasian Professort of Mathematics on November 1st.
Posted by: Zeno | October 25, 2009 10:36 AM
Sure, no reputable source, but what about Fox?
Posted by: 'Tis Himself, OM
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October 25, 2009 10:37 AM
"Professort" That'll teach me not to preview.
Posted by: Andreas Johansson
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October 25, 2009 10:43 AM
If the corporate press is repressing the information it must be true!Posted by: David Marjanović, OM | October 25, 2009 10:44 AM
Where did Faux News get it from...? Probably from Twitter.
Posted by: SciencePundit
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October 25, 2009 10:45 AM
I don't know PZ. If you take a recording of Stephen Hawking's "voice" and play it backwards at the right speed, it clearly says
What more proof do you need than that?
Posted by: Rik G | October 25, 2009 10:47 AM
Wow, I just read in Pharygula that Steven "Hawking had been killed by a Christian fundamentalist"! I'll have to pass that on!!!
Posted by: llewelly | October 25, 2009 10:54 AM
I thought Stephen Hawking was killed by an NIH death panel ...
Posted by: Tantalise | October 25, 2009 10:56 AM
It was just a joke from The Onion radio news http://www.theonion.com/content/radio_news/vatican_apologizes_for
Posted by: Valdyr | October 25, 2009 10:57 AM
I thought Stephen Hawking died when he allowed himself to be struck down by Darth Vader, vowing that it would "make [him] more powerful than you can imagine".
Posted by: Happy Tentacles
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October 25, 2009 11:02 AM
Maybe he was the one to get taken from Earth in the Rapture on the 21st? Wouldn't that make the fundie xtians jealous?
Posted by: maria | October 25, 2009 11:03 AM
It was a joke, they claimed that he was murdered because he had found proof that God is not real (or something like that).
Posted by: natural cynic | October 25, 2009 12:09 PM
The fact that he is still alive is about the closest to a miracle that I can see. Canoniztion
Posted by: Dorid | October 25, 2009 12:12 PM
Having this internet death rumor puts him in the company of pop icons like Tom Hanks, Miley Cyrus and Harrison Ford. Does that mean that science is getting a foothold in American culture?
Posted by: Abdul Alhazred
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October 25, 2009 12:26 PM
Slightly off topic but it has to be said.
Prediction: When Hawking does die, there will be a deathbed conversion story.
Posted by: SEF | October 25, 2009 12:33 PM
@ 'Tis Himself #1:
Yes, that was the actual Stephen Hawking story - as of a few days ago when I first saw it, anyway.
I doubt he'd be very pleased if people kept going up to him and poking him to see if he was still alive. He probably doesn't want hordes of locals turning up at his house either.
Posted by: flatlander100 | October 25, 2009 12:35 PM
I find it interesting that you are getting questions about whether it is true, not emails frowarding the story as true. Not surprising, given your readership, but interesting.
Posted by: FnH | October 25, 2009 12:45 PM
I guess this means that until someone observes him, he's in a superposition much like Schrödinger's cat :)
Posted by: Draken
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October 25, 2009 1:06 PM
Hasn't "Stephen Hawking is dead" become a meme on 4chan for some time now?
Posted by: tim Rowledge
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October 25, 2009 1:37 PM
but God is Real. In Fortran at least - http://www.chem.ox.ac.uk/fortran/variables.htmlPosted by: cm | October 25, 2009 1:47 PM
The lack of maturity and character of the persons who spread this rumor for "entertainment" is appalling.
Posted by: Brian Jordan | October 25, 2009 2:00 PM
Rik G, #7
If you Google Stephen Hawking(News UK, at any rate) you'll find you've hit second place with that remark!
Their idiotic editor or computer has headed it "Stephen Hawking is dead!", too!
Posted by: Van/ington | October 25, 2009 2:00 PM
This is actually true. If you can't find any credible news sources on it, you aren't looking hard enough.
Posted by: Naked Bunny with a Whip
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October 25, 2009 2:00 PM
Indeed, not a peep about this story at World Net Daily.
Posted by: John | October 25, 2009 2:13 PM
I thought Stephen Hawking died in childhood because of the terrible British health service
Posted by: Brian Jordan | October 25, 2009 2:13 PM
#23. OK Van/ington, don't keep us in suspense. Who dunnit? Your source, with link, please.
Posted by: Alex Deam | October 25, 2009 2:14 PM
The reports of his death are greatly exaggerated.
What I find interesting is that people hear rumours about Hawking's death, so the first person they asked was PZ? Why would PZ know any better than the rest of us? Does PZ have connections that I don't know about? What's next - his own TV show, CSI:UMM?
Incidentally, why are Google News' two latest stories about Stephen Hawking, "Stephen Hawking is dead!" and "Stephen Hawking is not dead" both of which link back here?
Evidence:
http://img12.imageshack.us/img12/1402/hawkingdeadmeme.jpg
Posted by: Peter | October 25, 2009 2:16 PM
to #9, it has probably nothing to do with the onion, I suspect this is the work of /b/ from 4chan.
And it isn't really that believable either, how can someone disprove God?
Posted by: Gregory Greenwood
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October 25, 2009 2:19 PM
The people who are forwarding this as true are probably just sensation hungry morons or Xians fanatsizing about killing the man who, in the popular imagination, symbolizes scientific endeavour. It is one thing to mistake an Onion satire as true, but to deliberately promote such a story as true when you know it is false just to get a reaction is repugnant behaviour
Hmm, dreaming of murdering a severely physically incapacitated man who is also one of the world's finest scientific minds? Once again, fundies find a new low to sink to.
Posted by: Rik G | October 25, 2009 2:27 PM
Brian Jordan, #22
That's embarrassing!
Posted by: Alex Deam | October 25, 2009 2:29 PM
While I'm here, is anyone else having trouble accessing some pages on Scienceblogs?
e.g:
http://scienceblogs.com/islandofdoubt/2009/10/explaining_plummeting_belief_i.php
http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2009/10/go_east_young_neanderthal.php?utm_source=editorspicks
http://scienceblogs.com/dispatches/
Posted by: Brian Jordan | October 25, 2009 2:30 PM
Anyway, nobody seems to have told him - or he's too dead to have put it on his web site.
http://www.hawking.org.uk/index.php/information/newsandarchive
Posted by: Ron Brown | October 25, 2009 2:37 PM
He's not dead. Forget about it. The "Celebrity X is dead" is, I've recently learned, a running Internet gag by underground Internet pranksters who meet on chat forums such as 4chan. Stephen Hawking is not the first celebrity for whom they've conspired to promulgate online death rumours. Within the last week or two, they did the same to Kanye West, and apparently the rumour spread so much that Kanye's girlfriend made a public statement disqualifying the rumour. I think they might've also done this to Oprah some time ago, but am not 100% on that. Maybe they'll do PZ next....
Posted by: SEF | October 25, 2009 2:51 PM
Were it to happen (as it eventually must, unless you believe in the head-in-a-jar future!), then I really would expect it to make the local and national news.
Posted by: Peter | October 25, 2009 2:54 PM
But I must admit, it was actually pretty imaginative, even though it was more or less unbelievable and disrespectful.
Posted by: Ryan F Stello | October 25, 2009 2:57 PM
Information at the speed of thought.
Posted by: Tsu Dho Nimh | October 25, 2009 2:57 PM
I think it's just another bunch of spammers trying to get people to click on the links to their malware site.
Rumored deaths of celebrities are a convenient vector for malware.
Posted by: SEF | October 25, 2009 2:59 PM
The "famous" Stephen who genuinely is dead (and has been for a couple of weeks now) is Stephen Gately.
Posted by: cpsmith | October 25, 2009 3:52 PM
But twitter is part of the internet. Internet doesn't lie.
Does it?
Posted by: JPS, FCD | October 25, 2009 4:14 PM
@31 Alex Deam -- it isn't just you. I can see the (depressing) "Island of Doubt" post but not the other two. I get blank pages.
The BBC has no report of Hawking's death.
Posted by: 'Tis Himself, OM
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October 25, 2009 4:14 PM
I have some oceanfront property in Manitoba you might be interested in investing in. Imagine, being in a suburb of Winnepeg, enjoying the tropic breezes in February, sitting in a deckchair under the swaying palm trees, sipping on a cold Canadian 67, the finest beer Molson brews. So send me an email and we'll discuss details.
Posted by: JPS, FCD | October 25, 2009 4:18 PM
Hey 'Tis, is Labatt's still brewing Green? Don't remember seeing it anywhere for several years.
Posted by: 'Tis Himself, OM
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October 25, 2009 4:21 PM
JPS,
Google is your friend.
Posted by: Diane G.
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October 25, 2009 4:57 PM
FW: Martians have landed in New Jersey.
Posted by: JPS, FCD | October 25, 2009 5:11 PM
Thx 'Tis, the Canadian Beer Index helped me out (although their guestbook didn't, and that's where Google took me at first). Labatt's 50 is the correct name of the brew I was thinking about. I just remembered the green labels. The Labatt's website was no help at all.
Posted by: WashingMachine0 | October 25, 2009 5:21 PM
Yeah, this sounds like a stunt by 4chan's /b/ board. Just last week they did a whole "R.I.P. Kanye West" thing that got huge on Twitter (though it started on Facebook). Sadly I indulged my immature side and took place in the Kanye West thing, though I had no idea about this incident though.
Posted by: Cheezits | October 25, 2009 5:50 PM
I think Twitter is for the birds.
Posted by: Quarks | October 25, 2009 6:40 PM
When he was taken ill a few months ago a UK paper ran a cartoon of his Doctor scratching his head and saying "do you think we should try switching him off and back on again".
There were complaints.
Posted by: Midnight Rambler
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October 25, 2009 7:12 PM
What I find interesting is how many people posted saying "I heard Stephen Hawking is dead, it's all over the web"; but no one was able to provide a link to any actual site (even a fake one) that said so.
Posted by: Marc Abian
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October 25, 2009 7:22 PM
The Daily Mail wrote a touching article about it.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1220756/A-strange-lonely-troubling-death--.html
Posted by: Lucem | October 25, 2009 7:48 PM
Very sad story about Stephen Gately. Usually people who need help have others around them that are genuinely willing to help. Often others just need to know how to help. Unfortunately, it's too late for Stephen now, and maybe we'll never know the facts surrounding his death.
Posted by: Ragutis
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October 25, 2009 8:27 PM
It sure touched Charlie Brooker.
Posted by: Tom S. Fox | October 25, 2009 8:59 PM
(In Strong Bad’s voice:) The Steve is not dead. I’m so glad the Steve is not dead.
Posted by: Mike Wagner
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October 25, 2009 9:03 PM
We could run with our own meme.
Everyone go to twitter and post "After a lengthy battle with reason, Religion died today. To prevent resurrection stakes and education will be distributed. #pharyngula"
That's one! :)
Posted by: Mike Wagner
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October 25, 2009 9:16 PM
Wow, that was fast PZ :) And so the meme begins!
Posted by: BC | October 25, 2009 10:32 PM
If he has been reported dead, but not dead... OMG! Zombie apocalypse!
Posted by: B166ER
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October 26, 2009 10:06 AM
EVERYONE! ATTENTION! I just heard from a very reliable source that P.Z. MYERS IS DEAD!!! It all happened this morning! The crazy fundie that offed Stephen Hawking offed P.Z. for saying that he didn't off Prof. Hawking!!! Don't believe all the talk of Prof. Myers not being dead, because he is very much dead. And if any more posts are done in P.Z. name, then it must be the Illuminati/Lizard People/Alien conspiracy trying to convince us not to wear our tin foil hats, thus making us susceptible to their orbital mind control lasers/autism causing vaccines! XD
Now, back in reality, both Profs. Hawking and Myers are happily still alive. Thank the stars for small favors!
No Gods, No Masters
Cameron
Posted by: Steven Mading
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October 26, 2009 3:00 PM
I hadn't heard the rumor, so I hit google news to see if anyone had reported on the hoax, when I noticed this announcement from Oct 20th:
Due to the circumstances of his disability, I think there was a more tactful way to refer to the position than talking about someone moving into "Stephen Hawking's chair".
Posted by: Cowboy Cape | October 26, 2009 5:28 PM
Stephen Hawking has fought a debilitating disease most of hos adult life. He deserves far better than having some ignoramus make an uninformed, unfunny remark about Fox or any other news source. Watch 'em all, Zeno, (rhymes with Dumbo) and try to offer an opinion that is at least informed (deliberately didn't use "intelligent")
Posted by: Sean Michael | October 26, 2009 5:36 PM
Cowboy Cape:
What are you talking about? Seriously, I have no idea what you're talking about; do you think that Fox News is the victim here, really?
Posted by: astrounit | October 27, 2009 2:36 PM
Gossip is as useless as it is ugly.
Practitioners of it are dispicably lame-brained dolts in search of something to entertain the soggy noodles they have in lieu of brains that actually suffer thinking.
Hawking is alive and (relatively speaking) well.
That from an first-hand anonymous source.
Posted by: astrounit | October 27, 2009 3:06 PM
"A first hand" anyway...
My, it is marveloys to be able to operate once again!
Posted by: astrounit | October 27, 2009 3:12 PM
It's "marvelous".
...And it's marv to see things working well enough to allow trivial corrections too.