Stephen Hawking

Like many other people I've been saddened by Stephen Hawking’s death. Having expressed my feelings on social media like Twitter and Google Plus, I wanted to go somewhat further here and briefly note some places that address discourses relating the so called hard sciences—such as Hawking’s field of theoretical physics—and the artistic and literary disciplines. Because due to ethical concerns the divide between these different modes is too often stressed and creates unnecessary tensions.

You may recall that in taking his ideas into non-expert books Hawking was often criticised for excessive popularisation of complex ideas. I think it quite obvious that in fact he was engaged in attempts to clarify matters and do away with precisely the type of tension I’ve referred to. He might have added that he also wanted to clarify energies.

So what I’m trying to say is that I hope we can all continue in our own similar attempts to clarify, different as they may be. Some of the places I’ve found that lend themselves to continued activity along these lines are the following, all of them with presence on the internet:

British Society for Literature and Science

European Society for Literature, Science and the Arts

Society for Literature, Science, and the Arts (U.S.A.)

Empyre Listserv

Virginia Woolf Listserv