Answer quotes

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Jim_Baggott

The Copernican Principle

“The Copernican Principle. The universe is not organized for our benefit and we are not uniquely privileged observers. Science strives to remove ‘us’ from the centre of the picture, making our existence a natural consequence of reality rather than the reason for it. Empirical reality is therefore something that we have learned to observe with detachment, without passion. Scientists ask fundamental questions about how reality works and seek answers in the evidence from observation and experiment, irrespective of their own personal preferences, prejudices and beliefs.”
  • Source: Baggott, Jim. Farewell to Reality: How Modern Physics Has Betrayed the Search for Scientific Truth (p. 23). Pegasus Books. New York, NY
Keywords: Copernican_quotes Principle_quotes Universe_quotes Observation_quotes Benefit_quotes Privilege_quotes Science_quotes Existence_quotes Consequence_quotes Reality_quotes Causality_quotes Empirical_quotes Detachment_quotes Passion_quotes Fundamental_quotes Question_quotes Answer_quotes Evidence_quotes Experiment_quotes Preference_quotes Prejudice_quotes Belief_quotes

F_Terry_Baker

Code Library

“The most important of these is a development support library which encourages the visibility and manageability of the product, as well as reduces clerical effort on the part of the programmers. The library is typically maintained and operated by a programming librarian who serves to control the programming assets and to provide the necessary services for both programmers and management. As a result of its use, the entire project is maintained in a centralized, up-to-date, visible form which makes its status immediately apparent to code-competent software managers and makes it possible for programmers to answer their questions directly without relying on others.”
  • Source: Baker, F. T. (1975). Software Management Through Improved Programming Technology. ACM ’75: Proceedings of the 1975 Annual Conference, 286–287. https://doi.org/10.1145/800181.810346
Keywords: Programming_quotes Productivity_quotes Library_quotes Source_Code_quotes Important_quotes Development_quotes Support_quotes Encourage_quotes Visible_quotes Management_quotes Product_quotes Reduce_quotes Clerical_quotes Effort_quotes Part_quotes Programmer_quotes Typical_quotes Maintain_quotes Operate_quotes Librarian_quotes Serve_quotes Control_quotes Asset_quotes Provide_quotes Service_quotes Necessary_quotes Result_quotes Use_quotes Entire_quotes Project_quotes Centralize_quotes Up_to_date_quotes Form_quotes Make_quotes Status_quotes Immediate_quotes Apparent_quotes Code_quotes Competent_quotes Software_quotes Manager_quotes Possible_quotes Answer_quotes Question_quotes Direct_quotes Rely_quotes

Robert_N_Britcher

When to Stop Testing

“Two of the great questions in developing computer systems are (1) When do we stop testing? and (2) At any point during testing, how far along are we? The second question cannot be answered until the first one has been answered. The first question can be answered by fiat.”
  • Source: Britcher, Robert N. (1999). The Limits of Software: People, Projects, and Perspectives. Reading, MA: Addison Wesley. ISBN 0-201-43323-0. Page 61.
Keywords: Testing_quotes Question_quotes Development_quotes Computer_quotes System_quotes Stopping_quotes Progress_quotes Metric_quotes Completion_quotes Great_quotes Far_quotes Answer_quotes Fiat_quotes

Alistair_Cockburn

People Characteristics

"People, as active devices, have success modes and failure modes. The following are the main ones that I have named and used to date:
1. People are communicating beings, doing best face-to-face, in person, with real-time question and answer.
2. People have trouble acting consistently over time.
3. People are highly variable, varying from day to day and place to place.
4. People generally want to be good citizens, are good at looking around, taking initiative, and doing 'whatever is needed' to get the project to work.
There are other characteristics that I won’t expand here:
- People need both think time and communicating opportunities...
- People work well from examples...
- People prefer to fail conservatively than to risk succeeding differently; prefer to invent than to research, can only keep a small amount in their heads, and do make mistakes, and find it hard to change their habits.
- Individual personalities easily dominate a project.
- A person’s personality profile strongly affects their ability to perform specific assignments."
Keywords: People_quotes Success_quotes Failure_quotes Communication_quotes Proximity_quotes Real_Time_quotes Question_quotes Consistency_quotes Time_quotes Variability_quotes Citizen_quotes Good_quotes Observation_quotes Flexibility_quotes Altruism_quotes Conservative_quotes Initiative_quotes Project_quotes Risk_quotes Differences_quotes Invention_quotes Innovation_quotes Research_quotes Thinking_quotes Habit_quotes Personality_quotes Ability_quotes Limitation_quotes Consciousness_quotes Cognition_quotes Mistake_quotes Hard_quotes Domination_quotes Assignment_quotes Active_quotes Device_quotes Mode_quotes Beings_quotes Face_quotes Person_quotes Answer_quotes Trouble_quotes Day_quotes Place_quotes Look_quotes Need_quotes Work_quotes Characteristic_quotes Opportunity_quotes Example_quotes Fail_quotes Head_quotes Change_quotes Profile_quotes Affect_quotes Perform_quotes

Mihaly_Csikszentmihalyi

Religion

“Religions are only temporarily successful attempts to cope with the lack of meaning in life; they are not permanent answers... The form in which religions have presented their truths — myths, revelations, holy texts — no longer compels belief in an era of scientific rationality.”
  • Source: Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in the book “Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience“, chapter “The Shields of Culture”, page 14. Original content published by Harper Perennial Modern Classics in 1990. Kindle edition published by Harper Collins in 2008. ISBN: 978-0061876721.
Keywords: Religion_quotes Temporary_quotes Success_quotes Attempt_quotes Cope_quotes Lack_quotes Meaning_quotes Life_quotes Permanent_quotes Answer_quotes Form_quotes Present_quotes Myth_quotes Truth_quotes Revelation_quotes Holy_quotes Text_quotes Compel_quotes Belief_quotes Era_quotes Scientific_quotes Rationality_quotes

Freeman_Dyson

Science and Society

“In the modern world, science and society often interact in a perverse way. We live in a technological society, and technology causes political problems. The politicians and the public expect science to provide answers to the problems. Scientific experts are paid and encouraged to provide answers. The public does not have much use for a scientist who says, 'Sorry, but we don’t know.' The public prefers to listen to scientists who give confident answers to questions and make confident predictions of what will happen as a result of human activities. So it happens that the experts who talk publicly about politically contentious questions tend to speak more clearly than they think. They make confident predictions about the future, and end up believing their own predictions. Their predictions become dogmas which they do not question. The public is led to believe that the fashionable scientific dogmas are true, and it may sometimes happen that they are wrong. That is why heretics who question the dogmas are needed.”
  • Source: Freeman Dyson, Frederick S. Pardee Distinguished Lecture (Oct 2005), Boston University. Collected in 'Heretical Thoughts About Science and Society', A Many-Colored Glass: Reflections on the Place of Life in the Universe (2007), 43-44.
Keywords: World_quotes Modern_quotes Science_quotes Society_quotes Interaction_quotes Perversity_quotes Technology_quotes Political_quotes Problem_quotes Politician_quotes People_quotes Answer_quotes Expert_quotes Knowledge_quotes Confidence_quotes Prediction_quotes Humanity_quotes Activity_quotes Talking_quotes Contention_quotes Thinking_quotes Future_quotes Belief_quotes Dogma_quotes Bias_quotes Heretical_quotes

Albert_Einstein

Magnificent Applied Science

“Why does this magnificent applied science which saves work and makes life easier bring us so little happiness? The simple answer runs: Because we have not yet learned to make sensible use of it. In war it serves that we may poison and mutilate each other. In peace it has made our lives hurried and uncertain. Instead of freeing us in great measure from spiritually exhausting labor, it has made men into slaves of machinery, who for the most part complete their monotonous long day's work with disgust and must continually tremble for their poor rations... It is not enough that you should understand about applied science in order that your work may increase man's blessings. Concern for the man himself and his fate must always form the chief interest of all technical endeavours; concern for the great unsolved problems of the organization of labor and the distribution of goods in order that the creations of our mind shall be a blessing and not a curse to mankind. Never forget this in the midst of your diagrams and equations.”
  • Source: Albert Einstein [Speaker];
    • 1950-02-16 [Speech/Date]; California Institute of Technology [Location]; CalTech students [Audience];
    • 1950-02-17 [Reporting/Article/Date]; “Einstein Sees Lack in Applying Science” [Title]; Anonymous [Article/Author]; New York Times [Reporting/Newspaper]; 8 [Page];
Keywords: Science_quotes Happiness_quotes War_quotes Wisdom_quotes Peace_quotes Work_quotes Slavery_quotes Automation_quotes Ethics_quotes Values_quotes Empathy_quotes Labor_quotes Distribution_quotes Mind_quotes Humanity_quotes Mathematics_quotes Engineering_quotes Magnificent_quotes Applied_quotes Save_quotes Life_quotes Simple_quotes Answer_quotes Learn_quotes Sensible_quotes Poison_quotes Mutilate_quotes Hurry_quotes Uncertain_quotes Freedom_quotes Spiritual_quotes Exhausting_quotes Men_quotes Machinery_quotes Monotonous_quotes Long_quotes Day_quotes Disgust_quotes Continual_quotes Tremble_quotes Poor_quotes Rations_quotes Understand_quotes Increase_quotes Blessing_quotes Man_quotes Fate_quotes Chief_quotes Interest_quotes Technical_quotes Endeavour_quotes Concern_quotes Problem_quotes Unsolved_quotes Organization_quotes Creation_quotes Curse_quotes Mankind_quotes Forget_quotes Diagram_quotes Equation_quotes

Robert_Heinlein

Monkey Tree

“Yes, maybe it’s just one colossal big joke with no point to it... But... whatever the answers are, here’s one monkey that’s going to keep on climbing, and looking around him to see what he can see, as long as the tree holds out.”.
  • Source: Written by Robert A. Heinlein in the book “Methuselah’s Children” published in 1941 by Gnome Press, Hicksville, New York. Page 188. Character: Lazarus Long.
Keywords: Colossal_quotes Joke_quotes Point_quotes Meaning_quotes Absurdism_quotes Answer_quotes Monkey_quotes Keep_quotes Climb_quotes Look_quotes See_quotes Long_quotes Tree_quotes Hold_quotes

Joseph_Heller

Act Boastfully

“‘You know, that might be the answer — to act boastfully about something we ought to be ashamed of. That’s a trick that never seems to fail.’”
  • Source: Heller, Joseph. 'Catch-22: 50th Anniversary Edition'. Chapter 13 'Major... De Coverley', page 160. Simon & Schuster. Kindle Edition.
Keywords: Answer_quotes Boastful_quotes Ashamed_quotes Trick_quotes Fail_quotes

Douglas_Hofstadter

Limits of Deduction

“In many real-life situations, deductive reasoning is inappropriate, not because it would give wrong answers, but because there are too many correct but irrelevant statements which can be made, there are just too many things to take into account simultaneously for reasoning alone to be sufficient.”
  • Source: Hofstadter, Douglas R. (1979). Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid. Written by Douglas R. Hofstadter. Basic Books, New York, NY. ISBN 13: 978-046502656-2. ISBN 10: 046502656-7. Chapter 17. Page 560.
Keywords: Real_quotes Life_quotes Deduction_quotes Reason_quotes Inappropriate_quotes Wrong_quotes Answer_quotes Correct_quotes Irrelevant_quotes Statement_quotes Account_quotes Simultaneous_quotes Sufficient_quotes Complexity_quotes Situation_quotes

Sabine_Hossenfelder

Answers and Explanations

“During more than a decade in public outreach, I noticed that physicists are really good at answering questions, but really bad at explaining why anyone should care about their answers.”
  • Source: Hossenfelder, Sabine. Existential Physics: A Scientist's Guide to Life's Biggest Questions (p. xiii). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
Keywords: Public_quotes Outreach_quotes Physicist_quotes Good_quotes Answer_quotes Bad_quotes Explain_quotes Care_quotes

Steve_Jobs

Recruiting

“Recruiting is hard. It's just finding the needles in the haystack. You can't know enough in a one-hour interview. So, in the end, it's ultimately based on your gut. How do I feel about this person? What are they like when they're challenged? I ask everybody that: 'Why are you here?' The answers themselves are not what you're looking for. It's the meta-data.”
  • Source: Steve Jobs in Motivating Thoughts of Steve Jobs (ed. Prabhat Prakashan) - ISBN: 9789351869191.
Keywords: Recruiting_quotes Hard_quotes Find_quotes Needle_quotes Haystack_quotes Know_quotes Hour_quotes Interview_quotes Ultimate_quotes Base_quotes Gut_quotes Feel_quotes Person_quotes Challenge_quotes Ask_quotes Why_quotes Answer_quotes Look_quotes Meta-data_quotes

Daniel_Kahneman

Intuitive Heuristics

“This is the essence of intuitive heuristics: when faced with a difficult question, we often answer an easier one instead, usually without noticing the substitution.”
Keywords: Essential_quotes Intuition_quotes Heuristics_quotes Difficulty_quotes Question_quotes Answer_quotes Easy_quotes Notice_quotes Substitution_quotes

Alister_McGrath

Why is the Kettle Boiling?

“The distinguished geologist Frank Rhodes made this point back in 1965, using the analogy of a boiling kettle. So why is the kettle boiling? Rhodes notes that two types of explanation might be given. At the scientific level, energy is being supplied, which raises the temperature of the water to its boiling point. Yet another answer can be given. 'The kettle is boiling because I put it on to make a cup of tea.' Rhodes makes a point which some of you may find predictable, but is none the less important. Here is what he says: 'Now these are different answers. But both are true, both are complementary and not competitive. One answer is appropriate within a particular frame of reference, the other within another frame of reference. There is a sense in which each is incomplete without the other.”
  • Note: Frank Rhodes gave credit for the kettle analogy to Dr. Douglas Spanner.
Keywords: Geology_quotes Analogy_quotes Boil_quotes Kettle_quotes Explanation_quotes Science_quotes Energy_quotes Level_quotes Temperature_quotes Water_quotes Answer_quotes Cup_quotes Tea_quotes Prediction_quotes Importance_quotes Differences_quotes True_quotes Complement_quotes Competition_quotes Appropriate_quotes Frame_quotes Reference_quotes Incomplete_quotes Perspective_quotes Bias_quotes Requirements_quotes Rhodes(topic)_quotes

Steven_Pinker

Computational Mind Probabilistic

“The computational theory thus embraces an alternative kind of computer with many elements that are active to a degree corresponding to the probability that some statement is true or false, and in which the activity levels change smoothly to register new and roughly accurate probabilities. (As we shall see, that may be the way the brain works.) The key idea is that the answer to the question 'What makes a system smart?' is not the kind of stuff it is made of or the kind of energy flowing through it, but what the parts of the machine stand for and how the patterns of changes inside it are designed to mirror truth-preserving relationships (including probabilistic and fuzzy truths).”
  • Source: Steven Pinker (1997). How the Mind Works. New York, NY: W. W. Norton. ISBN 978-0-393-06973-0; eISBN 978-0-393-06973-0. Chapter 2 Section: The search for Intelligent Life in the Universe.
Keywords: Computation_quotes Theory_quotes Embrace_quotes Alternative_quotes Kind_quotes Computer_quotes Element_quotes Activity_quotes Degree_quotes Correspondence_quotes Probability_quotes Statement_quotes True_quotes False_quotes Level_quotes Change_quotes Smooth_quotes Register_quotes Rough_quotes Accuracy_quotes Sight_quotes Way_quotes Brain_quotes Work_quotes Key_quotes Idea_quotes Answer_quotes Question_quotes System_quotes Smart_quotes Stuff_quotes Energy_quotes Flow_quotes Part_quotes Machine_quotes Stand_quotes Pattern_quotes Inside_quotes Design_quotes Mirror_quotes Fuzzy_quotes Truth_quotes Preservation_quotes Mind_quotes

Hans_Reichenbach

Picture of Scientific Method

“The picture of scientific method drafted by modern philosophy is very different from traditional conceptions. Gone is the ideal of a universe whose course follows strict rules, a predetermined cosmos that unwinds itself like an unwinding clock. Gone is the ideal of the scientist who knows the absolute truth. The happenings of nature are like rolling dice rather than like revolving stars; they are controlled by probability laws, not by causality, and the scientist resembles a gambler more than a prophet. He can tell you only his best posits — he never knows beforehand whether they will come true. He is a better gambler, though, than the man at the green table, because his statistical methods are superior. And his goal is staked higher — the goal of foretelling the rolling dice of the cosmos. If he is asked why he follows his methods, with what title he makes his predictions, he cannot answer that he has an irrefutable knowledge of the future; he can only lay his best bets. But he can prove that they are best bets, that making them is the best he can do — and if a man does his best, what else can you ask of him?”
  • Source: Hans Reichenbach, The Rise of Scientific Philosophy (1951, 1973), 248-9. Collected in James Louis Jarrett and Sterling M. McMurrin (eds.), Contemporary Philosophy: A Book of Readings (1954), 376.
Keywords: Picture_quotes Scientific_Method_quotes Modern_quotes Philosophy_quotes Differences_quotes Tradition_quotes Ideal_quotes Universe_quotes Causality_quotes Course_quotes Strict_quotes Rule_quotes Predetermine_quotes Cosmos_quotes Unwind_quotes Clock_quotes Science_quotes Absolute_quotes Certainty_quotes Truth_quotes Nature_quotes Roll_quotes Dice_quotes Probability_quotes Revolve_quotes Star_quotes Control_quotes Law_quotes Gambler_quotes Prophet_quotes Prediction_quotes Posit_quotes Knowledge_quotes Beforehand_quotes True_quotes Statistics_quotes Superior_quotes Goal_quotes Stake_quotes High_quotes Foretell_quotes Methodology_quotes Title_quotes Answer_quotes Irrefutability_quotes Future_quotes Bet_quotes Proof_quotes Best_quotes Ask_quotes Conception_quotes Scientist_quotes Man_quotes

Frank_H_T_Rhodes

Kettle Boiling

“It is not a question of choosing one and thereby rejecting the other; both are necessary in order to do justice to the totality... This is perhaps simply shown by Dr Douglas Spanner's example of the boiling kettle. Why, I may ask, is the kettle boiling? There are two kinds of answer that can be given. One is, it is boiling because energy is being supplied to it in the form of heat and the maximum vapour pressure of the water is now equal to the atmospheric pressure. The other kind of answer which may be given is that the kettle is boiling because I put it on to make a cup of tea. Now these are different answers, the first in terms of immediate causes and the second in terms of ultimate cause. But both are true, both are complementary and not competitive. One answer is appropriate within a particular frame of reference, the other within another frame of reference. There is a sense in which each is incomplete without the other.”
  • Source: Frank H. T. Rhodes in the essay “Christianity in a Mechanistic Universe”, included in the book “Christianity in a Mechanistic Universe and Other Essays” edited by Donald M. MacKay, published by Inter-Varsity Press, Chicago, Illinois, in 1965.
Keywords: Question_quotes Choose_quotes One_quotes Reject_quotes Both_quotes Other_quotes Necessary_quotes Order_quotes Justice_quotes Totality_quotes Perhaps_quotes Simply_quotes Show_quotes Spanner(topic)_quotes Example_quotes Boil_quotes Kettle_quotes Ask_quotes Why_quotes Kind_quotes Answer_quotes Give_quotes Energy_quotes Supply_quotes Form_quotes Heat_quotes Maximum_quotes Vapor_quotes Pressure_quotes Water_quotes Equal_quotes Atmosphere_quotes Make_quotes Cup_quotes Tea_quotes Different_quotes Term_quotes Immediate_quotes Cause_quotes Ultimate_quotes True_quotes Complementary_quotes Competitive_quotes Appropriate_quotes Particular_quotes Frame_quotes Reference_quotes Sense_quotes Each_quotes Incomplete_quotes Without_quotes

Rittel_and_Webber

No Correct nor Optimal

“In a pluralistic society there is nothing like the undisputable public good, there is no objective definition of equity, policies that respond to social problems cannot be meaningfully correct or false, and it makes no sense to talk about 'optimal solutions' to social problems unless severe qualifications are imposed first. Even worse, there are no 'solutions' in the sense of definitive and objective answers.”
Keywords: Pluralistic_quotes Society_quotes Undisputable_quotes Objective_quotes Definition_quotes Equity_quotes Policy_quotes Response_quotes Problem_quotes Good_quotes Meaning_quotes Correct_quotes False_quotes Sense_quotes Talk_quotes Optimal_quotes Qualification_quotes Impose_quotes Solution_quotes Answer_quotes Public_quotes

John_Steinbeck

All Information Not In

“It is not enough to say that we cannot know or judge because all the information is not in. The process of gathering knowledge does not lead to knowing. A child's world spreads only a little beyond his understanding while that of a great scientist thrusts outward immeasurably. An answer is invariably the parent of a great family of new questions. So we draw worlds and fit them like tracings against the world about us, and crumple them when we find they do not fit and draw new ones.”
  • Source: John Steinbeck, In John Steinbeck and Edward Flanders Ricketts, Sea of Cortez: a Leisurely Journal of Travel and Research (1941), 165-66.
Keywords: Say_quotes Knowledge_quotes Judgment_quotes Information_quotes Process_quotes Gather_quotes Lead_quotes Children_quotes World_quotes Spread_quotes Understanding_quotes Scientist_quotes Thrust_quotes Outward_quotes Immeasurable_quotes Answer_quotes Invariant_quotes Parent_quotes Family_quotes Question_quotes Draw_quotes Fit_quotes Trace_quotes Crumple_quotes Find_quotes

John_Tukey

Right Question

“Far better an approximate answer to the right question, which is often vague, than an exact answer to the wrong question, which can always be made precise.”
  • Source: John Tukey. The future of data analysis. Annals of Mathematical Statistics 33 (1), (1962), page 13.
Keywords: Better_quotes Approximation_quotes Answer_quotes Right_quotes Question_quotes Vagueness_quotes Exact_quotes Wrong_quotes Precision_quotes

Desire for an Answer

“The combination of some data and an aching desire for an answer does not ensure that a reasonable answer can be extracted from a given body of data.”

  • Source: John Tukey. A paper entitled Sunset Salvo. The American Statistician, Vol. 40, No. 1 (Feb., 1986), pp. 72-76. DOI: 10.2307/2683137.
Keywords: Combination_quotes Data_quotes Ache_quotes Desire_quotes Answer_quotes Ensure_quotes Reasonable_quotes Extract_quotes Body_quotes

Gerald_Weinberg

Truth and Falsehood

“It's not a question of ‘truth’ or ‘falsehood’ ... but of what questions you want answered.“
  • Source: Weinberg, Gerald (2011-06-03). Passive Regulation: General Systems Design Principles (General Systems Thinking) (Kindle Locations 1751-1752). Weinberg & Weinberg. Kindle Edition.
Keywords: Truth_quotes Falsehood_quotes Question_quotes Answer_quotes

John_Archibald_Wheeler

It And Bit

“Every it - every particle, every field of force, even the spacetime continuum itself - derives its function, its meaning, its very existence entirely - even if in some contexts indirectly - from the ... answers to yes-or-no questions, binary choices, bits.”
  • Source: John Archibald Wheeler from a paper entitled ‘Information, physics, quantum: The search for links’, included in Proceedings of the Third International Symposium on the Foundations of Quantum Mechanics. Tokyo, Japan. 1989.
Keywords: It_quotes Bit_quotes Every_quotes Particle_quotes Field_quotes Force_quotes Spacetime_quotes Continuum_quotes Derive_quotes Function_quotes Meaning_quotes Existence_quotes Entire_quotes Context_quotes Indirect_quotes Answer_quotes Yes_quotes No_quotes Binary_quotes Choice_quotes

Stephen_Wolfram

Quantum Computing

“The basic idea of quantum computing... is to do different computations in parallel along different possible threads of history. But the key issue is then how to corral those threads of history together to figure out a definite answer for the computation... The preliminary indication is that at least at a formal level, quantum computers aren’t going to come out ahead.”
Keywords: Quantum_quotes Computing_quotes Computation_quotes Different_quotes Parallel_quotes Possible_quotes Thread_quotes History_quotes Key_quotes Issue_quotes Corral_quotes Together_quotes Figure_quotes Definite_quotes Answer_quotes Preliminary_quotes Indication_quotes Least_quotes Formal_quotes Level_quotes Ahead_quotes Computer_quotes
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