USA TODAY: Q&A with Stephen Hawking
Intel creates a new tool to help Hawking communicate
Eddie Redmayne spent time in Intel Labs recently to learn about new technology
that helps Stephen Hawking
better communicate. (The new system called ACAT
created by a team that includes scientist Lama Nachman)
...
New technology from Intel, announced Tuesday, will speed the process by 10 times
and simplify it. That has Hawking excited for himself and millions of others
with conditions that significantly hinder their ability to communicate.
In his only interview with a North American media outlet, Hawking, 72, talked
with USA TODAY about Intel's technology, Pink Floyd and a recently released
movie about him,The Theory of Everything...
USA TODAY: How may your work with Intel — and its new communications
platform — benefit those who have
MND and quadriplegia?
Hawking: Intel has developed a new communications program called ACAT
(Assistive Context Aware Toolkit).
This uses predictive text to speed up writing. It can handle files, mail and
Internet, and it can switch windows easily.
It can be operated by a single switch, which can be activated by hand or head
movement. In my case, I operate ACAT by a small sensor on my glasses, which
detects the movement of my cheek. Communication is very important if one is
disabled. Without it, one is powerless.
On the second day of shooting Stephen Hawking visited the set.
USA TODAY: What do you think of The Theory of Everything? Does it
capture your life's story?
Hawking: I was apprehensive about the film because it was based on a
book by my ex-wife. But I was reassured when I read the script, and even more
so when I saw the screening. It was surprisingly honest about our marriage.
I thought Eddie Redmayne's portrayal of me was very good. He spent time with
people with ALS, to be authentic.
At times, I almost believed he was me. Those who have seen the movie said it
made a big impact.
Eddie Redmayne is shown Intel's new communication technology by engineer
Lama Nachman.(Photo: Intel)
..."Absolutely extraordinary," says Redmayne, whom audiences may remember as
the earnest movie set assistant
in My Week with Marilyn. "It is the best possible use of technology that
professor Hawking uses. These people (pointing to Intel scientists) are among
the most interesting I've ever met."
For Redmayne, Hawking was a mythical figure in Cambridge, where the
then-Trinity College student would sometimes spot the legendary
figure. In researching the life and times of Hawking, the English actor
immersed himself in the complex theories that made Hawking world famous in
the fields of theoretical physics and cosmology.
"I tried to learn the intricacies and minutiae of his theories, which was
overwhelming and intimidating," he says. "But when I met him, his humor and
sense of mischief was immediately apparent. He has this lord of misrule
quality."
Intel developed the technology with input from Hawking, with whom it
has a longstanding relationship.
"Intel has been supporting me for more than 25 years, allowing me to
do what I love every day," Hawking said
in an e-mail to USA TODAY. "The development of this system has the
potential to improve the lives of disabled
people around the world."...
During a 20-minute demo at Intel, Redmayne could barely suppress his
enthusiasm for the technology.
"Not only do I get to play an amazing person on film, but I get an
education in some really incredible stuff,
right?" he said, smiling.
..."We were very interested to explore that with our actors, and we talked about
it and were sort of keen to do it,
but it was something, again, when you make a film about living people, you do
have to respect certain things they want you to respect, and that was one that
we did," Marsh said... (
via)