The Watchmaker: my fav argument

[Pat Mustard]

Hawking's point was not that one can arbitrarily chose any theory you like. 

I don't know whether or not Hawking would agree. But as far as his book is concerned, he only favors one theory over the other on the basis of simplicity (which I would argue is equivalent to being arbitrary). And he seems to leave the actual nature of the universe to philosophy. Here's the rest of his quote for reference:

"Despite its role in philosophical debates over the nature of our universe, the real advantage of the Copernican system is simply that the equations of motion are much simpler in the frame of reference in which the sun is at rest."

I don't know whether Hawking would agree with HappySkeptic. I don know he wouldn't agree with ypu, as you're lying both about what he said and about what he meant.

I do notice that people like you tend to wait until prominent scientists are dead before twisting their words. Not very moral of you, isn't it?