[joe_smith]

Human nature is irrelevant in science.

I cant process that, how can human nature not be relevant to science? when all of our understating of the universe comes from that very human nature. its the way that we understand it, and its a human way of thinking and understanding. We are the game makers and we make the rules. Earth is flat, no its round, man cant fly, well we went to the moon so on and so on, Human nature makes the rules then human nature brakes them, again and again.

Moon doesn't orbit the Earth because of human nature

No I agree its gravity, but we only know this is because of our human nature.

Human nature may only affect the timing of discovery/realisation.. but not the facts themselves

In terms of practicality and usefulness, an observation can be objective. The interpretation of the observation requires theory, and may not be objective .. but so what ? There is no absolute truth … and therefore … seeking absolute objectivity, in my view is a good waste of time !

Yes I agree we only affect the timing of discovery or realisation of a fact "but so what ? There is no absolute truth" again human nature comes into those very facts.

My conciousness is something real to me. I know it is a figment of my brain and senses. Reality is just the recording and retainment of our memories

That begs the big question of WHY? why are we evolving that way? and in such a short amount of time on the evolutionary clock. Why is evolution driving human consciousness in a totally different way to the rest of the life?

We do not have a manual to our own hardware let alone the software! Or is that too simplistic?

That begs an even bigger question, what was the builder and programmer trying to achieve in the first place, some say if we are the only ones in the universe, its an awful wast of space. I also say if human consciousness has no meaning its an awful wast of time, and I would be more happier being a wombat without humans.

It could be that Hawking is being provocative to induce some original thinking and argument

I agree, and its this "human consciousness" driving science forward. some of our best advances in science have came from the worst "sins" of the human consciousness (WW1, WW2) again human nature driving science forward, Hawking is doing his job as a scientist, he's helping to push human nature to the fullest heights of its consciousness or its science if you like that word better, we need more like him.

Cheers (& I'm enjoying chatting with you

I am as well, lots of good points to ponder over, have been written here human nature at work.

ps

alas, I would've wasted my million $$$ … and the lab!

But at lest I would be happy, and i was going to buy you a puppy lol.