"Matter" is just one more belief. Same with "Time", same with "Space." All beliefs.
Hawking said: "I regard the brain as a computer which will stop working when its components fail. There is no heaven or afterlife for broken down computers; that is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark."
The brain is not the same as the mind or consciousness. The brain is physical. Sure, it dies. So what? Who's talking about brains when they consider spiritual things?
The brain is nothing like a computer. A computer is digital, a brain is analog. The way they store, retrieve, process information is completely different. Bad analogy, Hawking. But irrelevant. It's not about the brain.
He says there is no afterlife. Wait a minute; I thought science (or logic) says you can't prove a negative. Where's the proof, Hawking? Prove there is nothing before or after life for the individual consciousness/mind/soul.
For some reason, he equates belief in an after life with fear. To me, it would be much more comforting to think that when you die, you just fade to black and that's all she wrote. The idea of floating around in some other dimension/alternate reality/eternal weirdness is creepy. I'm more afraid of that than of oblivion.
He's all wet in so many ways. And I suspect he speaks from bitterness. Pissed at this universe that put him in a wheelchair.