Goes something like, in a flat universe the total amount of energy is zero when add up energy and negative energy. Quantum fluctuations within the subatomic particles are what create something from nothing.
And what causes the fluctuations of these subatomic particles?
Sometimes I think smart people just say things they know dumb people like me won’t understand so we will just think, “if I ask they’ll just know I’m dumb, so I’ll just nod and pretend that makes sense.” :)
This stuff is sophistry. Quantum fluctuations require prerequisites to occur. By definition those prerequisites are energy and space. Neither is nothing.
Hawking is a sophist when he perverts science to promote his beleief system just like any other sophist.