There are grounds for cautious optimism that we may now be near the end ofthe search for the ultimate laws of nature.

• The radiation left over from the Big Bang is the same as that in your microwave oven but very much less powerful. It would heat your pizza only to minus 271.3*C - not much good for defrosting the pizza, let alone cooking it.
• Most sets of values would give rise to universes that, although they might be very beautiful, would contain no one able to wonder at that beauty.
• I have noticed even people who claim everything is predestined, and that we can do nothing to change it, look before they cross the road.
• Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change.
• In Britain, like most of the developed world, stem-cell research is regarded as a great opportunity. America will be left behind if it doesn't change policy.
• I think computer viruses should count as life. I think it says something about human nature that the only form of life we have created so far is purely destructive. We've created life in our own image.
• There is no heaven or afterlife for broken-down computers that is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark.
• There is a real danger that computers will develop intelligence and take over. We urgently need to develop direct connections to the brain so that computers can add to human intelligence rather than be in opposition.
• I'm not afraid of death, but I'm in no hurry to die. I have so much I want to do first.
• My work and my family are very important to me.