Stephen Hawking's fairy tale

"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."

He's correct, of course, that the brain is a magnificent computer, though brain component failure is not the normal cause of death, rather the failure of supporting systems.

He's also correct that the human brain doesn't go to heaven or hell. From dust it came and to dust it returns, no different than, say, one's kidneys.The human soul, however, is another question. Either Hawking considers the brain and the soul one and the same or is of the impression that humans do not have a soul.

On the existence of heaven, however, he's the one telling fairy tales. Or Jesus Christ was an absolute lunatic and liar.

Your call.