Saturday, July 25, 2015

Stephen Hawking To Do A Reddit Ask-Me-Anything Starting Monday

From the Mercury-News' tech blog, SiliconBeat:

Stephen Hawking will do a Reddit AMA starting Monday
Stephen Hawking, the renowned physicist and cosmologist, will host his first Ask-Me-Anything on Internet discussion site Reddit.

In an unusual twist, this AMA will last for just more than a week; most of Reddit’s question-and-answer sessions are about an hour. Redditors can submit questions starting Monday at 5 a.m. PT, and continue asking through Aug. 4. Hawking will respond to questions over the coming weeks. Hawking, 73, suffers from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, which has paralyzed him over the years. He communicates through an Intel computer-based system that responds when he moves his cheek; the extra time to respond to Redditors’ questions will be helpful.
The conversation will take place under the subreddit r/science.

Hawking is widely considered one of the most brilliant physicists to have ever lived, and his book “A Brief History of Time,” an exploration of black holes and other cosmological subjects, spurred heated scientific debate and became a national best seller for years. Reports say Hawking wants to focus the AMA on discussions around artificial intelligence, although likely the questions will vary dramatically — in both substance and tone — as they tend to on Reddit....MORE
May 12, 2012
Stephen Hawking in Zero Gravity

For his 65th birthday, Stephen Hawking took a ride in zero gravity. Photo: Associated Press