The video of Hawking is frankly disturbing.

I know he gets pushed around all day in the wheelchair, but somehow it seems worse to be tossed around like a sack of potatoes, unable to move, in zero G.

Additionally, at the end one of the flight guys grabs his arm and waves it around as if Hawking was celebrating. I don't think that's appropriate... it's like you're deciding what emotion he should have right now on his behalf but without his input. What if you want him to be happy and just smoosh a smile onto his face? Would that be ok?

AND it looks like his arm doesn't have any bones... the whole thing was awful.

I thought it was pretty freaking cool. Hawkings has been trapped in his body for FORTY YEARS, and based on his comments it sound like it was an incredibly liberating experience.

Also, if your arms were frozen by ALS for forty years, they'd look fairly boneless, too. Darned muscular atrophy.

i really, really, really, really resent rich people.

what's with all the animosity? this brilliant dude who's been a prisoner his whole finds a few seconds of what he considers to be relief, and y'all jump all over him because he can afford to pay for it (he didn't) or he looks boneless (which he largely is)?

so basically, what Alina said.

well, to clarify, i don't resent stephen hawking. even if he weren't rich, i'd expect the world to make it possible for him to go. of course, being who he is, he is rich. so, moot point. there are probably broke-ass geniuses out there who won't be invited.

but the teller article makes various references to this thing as an amusement ride for the rich. and, much like aerosmith, i believe we should eat the rich.

I don't resent him for being boneless, I just thought that was creepy looking. I just question whether the people who were literally tossing him around the plane had his best interests at heart (I doubt they did).

But, even if I'm wrong about that one, I think it's an indignity to have someone wave your arm about for you without explicit permission. The guy waved his arm around as if Hawking was celebrating, but who the hell knows what emotion Hawking was feeling at that moment? The guy was giving him an emotion that he didn't necessarily have, like he was a doll. It's awful. If I'm ever stuck in a chair lick that, I don't want anybody to decide how I feel and then position my body to display my feelings to the world.

Can you imagine if someone tried to do that to you in your life? You're sitting somewhere feeling little bit down, and somebody walks by, decides you're probably happy, and grabs your face to contort it into a smile. It's just wrong. I don't know why, but it is.

Creepy/awful.

Perhaps I am just touchy because I am prepping for finals (cursed law school), but I can't help but feel that you are being a tad paternalistic.

Ha, I'm always accusing OTHERS of being paternalistic!

I don't know, I just doubt that Hawking had a conversation with the guy before he did that. If there was no discussion of arm waving, do you still think it would be appropriate? If anything I think that guy was being paternalistic in deciding how Hawking was supposed to behave/feel at that moment.

I didn't see the video so reading Ingen's initial post made me laugh the hardest I have in months. He ruined it by extrapolating in his second post. boooo.

Without having been there as the designated representative for Professor Hawking's dignity, I have no way to know for sure.

There's a video link in this story:

http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/space/04/26/hawking.flight.ap/index.html

i didn't see the part where someone waves Hawking's hand.

I'm trying to find the video that I saw, the main one on YouTube doesn't have the arm waiving.

While I'm still searching, you can enjoy this mean-spirited picture I stumbled across:

http://img329.imageshack.us/img329/1903/hawkingtv6.jpg

I don't know where I saw it. Sorry. It's weird. Maybe someone else pointed out how awful it was and they chopped the clip?