The Importance of Consciousness

"I don't think he's proud of his ignorance. I think he thinks he's convinced he has the right answer, and that we are all engaged in a scientific fairy tale," says Hawking. "That makes a mockery of every pretense to human knowledge, no matter how technologically useful it is." He adds: "If you believe in heaven and hell, that really governs everything,. It doesn't matter if we cure cancer with some future biology ... prayer has never worked"