[telesilla]

A reminder he stated he was an atheist, so I take his words on god with a grain of salt.

“We are just an advanced breed of monkeys on a minor planet of a very average star. But we can understand the Universe. That makes us something very special.” (Hawking)

[akvadrako]

To an atheist physicist God probably means the universe or the forces that govern the universe. They share many of the same properties, like being all powerful†, outside of time and space and being creators, not the created.

† within the constraints of some universal logic

[telesilla]

I agree, though to be clear - the difference between religion and science is that religion affords god with cognitive intent. I'd be surprised to hear if Hawking believed that the force that we might describe as god has qualities of compassion and judgement as well as having set forth the rules that govern atomic motion.

[akvadrako]

That's a tougher one, but maybe the universe has such an intent also. Take the principle of least action. It seems like systems take the path from A -> C that's shortest in total even if the chosen A -> B and B -> C are both longer than alternatives.

Maybe there is even a sense of "thinking" ahead to understand which path will be shorter before making the choice.

[jug]

He has later clarified that ”mind of God” was figurative and from an atheist angle more like ”the reason for creation”.

[hobofan]

> Before we understand science, it is natural to believe that God created the universe. But now science offers a more convincing explanation. What I meant by 'we would know the mind of God' is, we would know everything that God would know, if there were a God, which there isn't. I'm an atheist.