Stephen Hawking claims heaven is a “fairy story” explaining the fear of the dark

The most famous British scientist argues that belief in heaven or life after death is a story people make up because they are afraid of death

Hawking was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, an incurable disease, at 21.

“I have lived with the prospect of an early death for the last 49 years. I’m not afraid of death, but I’m in no hurry to die. I have so much I want to do first,” he said.

He added: “I regard the brain as a computer which will stop working when its components fail. There is no heaven or afterlife for broken down computers; that is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark.”

These comments made by Hawking are more incisive than the claims made in the book he published in 2010, The Grand Design, in which he argued that there is no need for a creator to explain the universe.

Hawking criticizes the idea of life after death. Asked how we should live, Hawking said: “We should seek the greatest value of our action.”

Asked if human existence is solely due to luck, the physicist said: “Science predicts that many different kinds of universe will be spontaneously created out of nothing. It is a matter of chance which we are in.”