I am dismayed

[sps]

Somehow I had believed the rumours that Hawking was smart. I hope this article is a major misrepresentation of his views

Comments

[joenotcharles]

Unless time is infinite, SOMETHING must eventually be its own cause.

[sps]

So you would accept the arguments:

Unless the natural numbers extend indefinitely to the left, SOME natural number must be less than itself.

Unless the O/S has been running forever, SOME process must have fork()ed itself.

Just because something is an initial condition, I can't see it as being a self-cause.

I notice you're also implicitly dismissing a whole raft of other possibilities for the topology of time (such as its being circular, open on the left, or not totally ordered). Why?