I was six-years-old when the Comet Shoemaker-Levy broke apart and collided with Jupiter in 1994. That was my first brush with astrophysics and anything related to the Milky Way. That was the start of my curiosity about the Big Bang and space, and then I read Stephen Hawking’s Life in the Universe. When I met him in 2001, during his visit to Mumbai (India), I realized what human brain is capable of thinking, and achieving for the entire mankind.

As Katie Martell of On-Demand Marketing, put it, “Stephen was in many ways a practical dreamer. That’s the right mix for any of us with a career in marketing.”

“Be curious.” 

In this tribute to the man who prophesized the rise of ‘superintelligent artificial intelligence’ as a steering wheel of the mankind’s fate, Stephen Hawking left many in the Martech world awed with his inspiring tales and feats.

Dr. Marcell Vollmer, Chief Digital Officer, SAP Ariba

In his LinkedIn bio, Dr. Marcell Volmer quotes that “I’m sensitive to the complexities surrounding the intersection of technology, compliance, and supplier networks that today’s procurement leaders face.”

Remembering the “man who walked the cosmos in his brain”, Dr. Marcell said, “Stephen Hawking inspired me by two quotes I couldn’t describe it any better: – “However difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed at.”

And, “Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change.”

Yaagneshwaran Ganesh, Director of Marketing, Fiind Inc

A Top 100 Martech Influencer, and a Guest Author at MarTech Series, “Yaags” found his inspiration drawing knowledge from Professor S.W. Hawking. He said, “For me, Stephen Hawking was a man who inspired the universe from his wheelchair, and is one of the greatest contributors to cosmology and physics. But for me as marketer and martech enthusiast, he inspired me to believe in AI more than I always did. He always said he was an optimist and believed that  AI can be for the good of the world, and we only need to be aware of the dangers, and identify them.”

“My expectations were reduced to zero when I was 21. Everything since then has been a bonus.”

Connecting science with the cosmic relevance that is central to mankind’s existence today, Yaags added, “In fact, it (AI for good) inspired me and Krishna, a renowned mindfulness coach to build a framework to engineer customer experiences using AI, neuromarketing, mindfulness and data science.”

Scott Swanson, CEO, Aki Technologies

The CEO of Moment Marketing Science company, Aki Technologies, had drawn great inspiration from Dr Hawking’s perspective that science unlocks knowledge when he said, ‘Scientists have become the bearers of the torch of discovery in our quest for knowledge.’

Jen Spencer, Vice President, Sales and Marketing, SmartBug Media

The Marketing Chair of “Girls in Tech Phoenix” shared her personal experience from the moment news of Hawking’s demise broke on Tuesday. Jen said, “Late last night, my 14-year-old son gasped and said, ‘Oh no, Stephen Hawking died.’ While this news was absolutely tragic, as a mom I was proud that my sports-obsessed teenager knew who he was and that this was a significant loss. I’m grateful for the scientific contributions of Dr. Hawking, for his tenacity, his wit, and the inspiration he has been and will continue to be to all of us.”

“The universe doesn’t allow perfection.” 

Ilan Kasan, CEO & Co-Founder, Exceed.ai

The pioneering technocrat in Conversation Automation technology shared how he turned to Stephen Hawking’s quotes everytime he thought of servicing his customers. Ilan said, “Hawking once said, ‘People who boast about their I.Q. are losers.’ This applies to companies as well. Companies should not boast about how good they are, they should talk about how they can add value. And then it is up to the customers to determine how good the company is.”

Krishna S, Founder of AskKrishna Centre for Mindfulness

Krishna, who is a life-transformer, found a deep connection with Stephen Hawking to share with us. He said, “Beginning my academic career as a student of Physics, have been introduced to Steven Hawking’s insights very early on in life. It had its own impact on my growing years and his deep insights into cosmology, an area that got me going as a Mythologist made me more attracted towards his research! In due course, all these facilitated my journey as a Mindfulness Coach, opening new vistas into human mind and behavior. This culminated and manifested into “Customer Engineering”, where I’d an opportunity to collaborate with Yaags, strangely who is also inspired by Prof. Hawking!”

Hawking: Master of the Universe

As we explore Dark Data, Cryptocurrency and the impact of fraud metrics on marketing and advertising campaigns, there are so many lessons from Professor Hawking that we could fall back on.

What better way to conclude this tribute than using his quote —

“Today will still yearn to know why we are here and where we came from. Humanity’s deepest desire for knowledge is justification enough for our continuing quest. And our goal is nothing less than a complete description of the universe we live in.” – A Brief History of Time