On God & Mastery

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I will be asked, “How are you any less arrogant than they are? You think you know things they don't, so doesn't that make you even more deluded than they are?” Not a chance. I claim to have corrected some things they missed, but I have never claimed to be a Master of the Universe, to be near a Theory of Everything, to know anything about God or gods, positive or negative, or to be a superhero. I have never talked about what I would do with a trillion dollars. I would be thrilled to continue to have $20,000 a year to live on. I would be thrilled to be able to continue to paint and write a few papers. But I am quite aware that I know almost nothing about the universe. I think I know a spot more than these people, but I am no closer to being a god than my dog is or than a porpoise is. I am not even a master of myself, or of my backyard, much less of the universe. If I have any positive quality, it is the continuing ability to be revolted by what physics and the modern world in general has become, and to want to knock some sense into it. The Brave New World of Stephen Hawking