Stephen Hawking repeated one of his more controversial statements in his last book published on Tuesday, CNN reported: “There is no God.”
“No one directs the universe,” he wrote in “Brief Answers to the Big Questions,” which was completed by his family following his death. “For centuries, it was believed that disabled people like me were living under a curse that was inflicted by God.”
Hawking said he preferred to think that “everything can be explained another way, by the laws of nature.”
Hawking died in March at 76. He was one of the world's most accomplished physicists despite suffering the effects of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
He was still working on the book at the time of his death, but left a collection of essays which his family used to complete “Brief Answers to the Big Questions.”
Hawking previously said he did not believe in God and admitted to being an atheist, Time reported, but he also made several other interesting conclusions in his latest book.
He noted that time travel is possible and that artificial intelligence would likely outsmart humans, another topic which he has previously spoken about.
In his last Reddit post before his death, which took place as a Q&A on the forum, Hawking said he feared Earth would have a “catastrophic ending” in the near future and that it he thought it could be due to smart robots that might take over the planet.
“If machines produce everything we need, the outcome will depend on how things are distributed,” Hawking wrote on Reddit. “Everyone can enjoy a life of luxurious leisure if the machine-produced wealth is shared, or most people can end up miserably poor if the machine-owners successfully lobby against wealth redistribution.”
Hawking had also prepared remarks prior to his death, which were played at the launch of his book on Monday in London, and he expressed concerns for the future, CNN noted.
“With Brexit and Trump now exerting new forces in relation to immigration and the development of education, we are witnessing a global revolt against experts, and that includes scientists," he said.
However, Hawking offered a solution in the book’s final chapter.
“How do we shape the future?,” he wrote. “Remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet.”