Consequence quotes
From Motley Bytes Wiki
Contents
- 1 Jim_Baggott
- 2 Robert_Boyle
- 3 Fred_Brooks
- 4 Mihaly_Csikszentmihalyi
- 5 Samuel_C_Florman
- 6 Allen_Ginsberg
- 7 Eugene_Grace
- 8 Sabine_Hossenfelder
- 9 Fred_Hoyle
- 10 Edwin_Hubble
- 11 Bernardo_Kastrup
- 12 Pierre-Simon_Laplace
- 13 Thomas_Robert_Malthus
- 14 David_E_Nye
- 15 Richard_Pascale
- 16 Alan_Perlis
- 17 Todd_Rose
- 18 Bertrand_Russell
- 19 Herbert_Simon
- 20 Albert_Speer
- 21 Edward_Teller
- 22 Alfred_Russel_Wallace
- 23 Gerald_Weinberg
- 24 Stephen_Wolfram
- 25 Shoshana_Zuboff
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
Robert_Boyle
Good Hypothesis
“The Requisites of a good Hypothesis are: : That It be Intelligible. : That It neither Assume nor Suppose anything Impossible, unintelligible, or demonstrably False. : That It be consistent with Itself. : That It be lit and sufficient to Explicate the Phaenomena, especially the chief. : That It be, at least, consistent, with the rest of the Phaenomena It particularly relates to, and do not contradict any other known Phaenomena of nature, or manifest Physical Truth. The Qualities and Conditions of an Excellent Hypothesis are: : That It be not Precarious, but have sufficient Grounds In the nature of the Thing Itself or at least be well recommended by some Auxiliary Proofs. : That It be the Simplest of all the good ones we are able to frame, at least containing nothing that is superfluous or Impertinent. : That It be the only Hypothesis that can Explicate the Phaenomena; or at least, that do's Explicate them so well. : That it enable a skillful naturalist to foretell future Phaenomena by the Congruity or Incongruity to it; and especially the event of such experiments as are aptly devised to examine It, as Things that ought, or ought not, to be consequent to It.”
- Source: Robert Boyle, Boyle Papers, 37. Quoted In Barbara Kaplan (ed.), Divulging of Useful Truths in Physick: The Medical Agenda of Robert Boyle (1993), 50.
- Keywords: Hypothesis_quotes Communication_quotes Obfuscation_quotes Impossibility_quotes Falsification_quotes Consistency_quotes Explanation_quotes Nature_quotes Truth_quotes Contradiction_quotes Proof_quotes Simplicity_quotes Alternative_quotes Congruity_quotes Incongruity_quotes Experiment_quotes Prediction_quotes Induction_quotes Scientific_Method_quotes Good_quotes Requisite_quotes Intelligent_quotes Assumption_quotes Suppose_quotes Unintelligent_quotes Demonstrate_quotes False_quotes Self_quotes Phenomenon_quotes Chief_quotes Physical_quotes Quality_quotes Condition_quotes Excellent_quotes Precarious_quotes Sufficient_quotes Ground_quotes Auxiliary_quotes Frame_quotes Superfluous_quotes Impertinent_quotes Enable_quotes Skill_quotes Foretell_quotes Future_quotes Event_quotes Devise_quotes Examine_quotes Consequence_quotes
Fred_Brooks
Promotions out of Design
“Designers get promoted out of design. Consequently, few designers will work in any depth on as many as 100 projects over a working life.”
- Source: Brooks Jr., F. P. (2010). The Design of Design. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Addison-Wesley. ISBN: 978-0-201-36298-5. Chapter 3, page 24.
- Keywords: Design_quotes Promotion_quotes Project_quotes Career_quotes Designer_quotes Consequence_quotes Work_quotes Depth_quotes Life_quotes
Mihaly_Csikszentmihalyi
Autotelic
“The key element of an optimal experience is that it is an end in itself. Even if initially undertaken for other reasons, the activity that consumes us becomes intrinsically rewarding... When the experience is autotelic, the person is paying attention to the activity for its own sake; when it is not, the attention is focused on its consequences.”
- Source: Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in the book “Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience“, chapter “The Autotelic Experience”, page 67. Original content published by Harper Perennial Modern Classics in 1990. Kindle edition published by Harper Collins in 2008. ISBN: 978-0061876721.
- Keywords: Key_quotes Element_quotes Optimal_quotes Experience_quotes End_quotes Itself_quotes Initial_quotes Undertake_quotes Reason_quotes Activity_quotes Consume_quotes Intrinsic_quotes Reward_quotes Autotelic_quotes Person_quotes Pay_quotes Attention_quotes Sake_quotes Focus_quotes Consequence_quotes
Daydreaming
“One of the simplest ways to use the mind is daydreaming: playing out some sequence of events as mental images. But even this apparently easy way to order thought is beyond the range of many people... Daydreaming not only helps create emotional order by compensating in imagination for unpleasant reality — as when a person can reduce frustration and aggression against someone who has caused injury by visualizing a situation in which the aggressor is punished — but it also allows children and adults to rehearse imaginary situations so that the best strategy for confronting them may be adopted, alternative options considered, unanticipated consequences discovered — all results that help increase the complexity of consciousness. And, of course, when used with skill, daydreaming can be very enjoyable.”
- Source: Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in the book “Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience“, chapter “The Flow of Thought”, page 120. Original content published by Harper Perennial Modern Classics in 1990. Kindle edition published by Harper Collins in 2008. ISBN: 978-0061876721.
- Keywords: Simple_quotes Way_quotes Mind_quotes Daydreaming_quotes Play_quotes Event_quotes Mental_quotes Image_quotes Order_quotes Thought_quotes Beyond_quotes Range_quotes People_quotes Help_quotes Emotion_quotes Compensate_quotes Imagination_quotes Unpleasant_quotes Reality_quotes Reduce_quotes Person_quotes Frustration_quotes Aggression_quotes Cause_quotes Injury_quotes Visualize_quotes Situation_quotes Punish_quotes Allow_quotes Reherse_quotes Best_quotes Strategy_quotes Optimization_quotes Confront_quotes Adopt_quotes Alternative_quotes Unanticipated_quotes Consequence_quotes Discover_quotes Result_quotes Increase_quotes Complexity_quotes Consciousness_quotes Use_quotes Skill_quotes Enjoyable_quotes
Samuel_C_Florman
Government Controls
“Government controls... stem more from common sense than they do from conscience. They are essentially a consequence of enlightened self-interest.”
- Source: From the book “The Existential Pleasures of Engineering” by {Samuel C. Florman}. Second edition published in 1994 by {St. Martin's Press}, New York, NY. First edition published in 1976. Kindle edition published in 2023. E-book ISBN 978-1466842366. Chapter 3, page 27.
- Keywords: Government_quotes Control_quotes Stem_quotes Common_quotes Sense_quotes Conscience_quotes Consequence_quotes Enlighten_quotes Self-Interest_quotes
Allen_Ginsberg
Ginsberg's Theorem
“0. You have to play the game. (consequence of zeroth law of thermodynamics, thermal equilibrium)
1. You can't win. (consequence of first law of thermodynamics, conservation of energy)
2. You can't break even. (consequence of second law of thermodynamics, entropy increases)
3. You can't even get out of the game. (consequence of third law of thermodynamics, absolute zero)” Freeman's Commentary: “1. Capitalism is based on the assumption that you can win.
2. Socialism is based on the assumption that you can break even.
3. Mysticism is based on the assumption that you can quit the game.”
- Notes: Laws of Thermodynamics:
- The zeroth law of thermodynamics defines thermal equilibrium and forms a basis for the definition of temperature: If two systems are each in thermal equilibrium with a third system, then they are in thermal equilibrium with each other.
- The first law of thermodynamics states that, when energy passes into or out of a system (as work, heat, or matter), the system's internal energy changes in accordance with the law of conservation of energy.
- The second law of thermodynamics states that in a natural thermodynamic process, the sum of the entropies of the interacting thermodynamic systems never decreases. A common corollary of the statement is that heat does not spontaneously pass from a colder body to a warmer body.
- The third law of thermodynamics states that a system's entropy approaches a constant value as the temperature approaches absolute zero. With the exception of non-crystalline solids (glasses), the entropy of a system at absolute zero is typically close to zero.
- Source: Allen Ginsberg quoted and attributed by Conrad Schneiker in an article entitled “An Abridged Collection of Interdisciplinary Laws” in the journal “Coevolution Quarterly”, 1975, Winter edition (December), page 138. Theorem laws one, two, and three.
- Theorem laws one and two were included in the magazine “Astounding Science Fiction” in November 1953.
- Theorem laws one, two, and three were included in the magazine “Astounding Science Fiction” in December 1956.
- Laws one, two and three and Freeman's Commentary (Freeman unidentified) were reported in the book "Murphy's Law and Other Reasons Why Things Go Wrong" written by Arthur Bloch, first edition published in 1977 by Price/Stern/Sloan, Los Angeles, California. ISBN-10: 0843104287. ISBN-13: 978-0843104288. Chapter Murphology, page 18.
- The originator of law zero is not known but is common is modern versions.
- See Also:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laws_of_thermodynamics
- https://www.barrypopik.com/new_york_city/entry/you_cant_win_you_cant_break_even/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ginsberg%27s_theorem
- https://www.eoht.info/page/Laws%20of%20thermodynamics%20(game%20version)
- Allen_Ginsberg_quotes
- Allen_Ginsberg_quotes/Ginsbergs_Theorem
- Keywords: Game_quotes Consequence_quotes Law_quotes Theorem_quotes Thermodynamics_quotes Win_quotes Break_quotes Even_quotes Out_quotes Capitalism_quotes Socialism_quotes Mysticism_quotes
Eugene_Grace
Initiative
“The man who has in him the stuff of which success is made is never afraid to accept responsibilities; then, when he gets responsibility, he doesn't regard it lightly; nor does he ever seek to shirk the consequences or attempt to blame anyone else when anything goes wrong. My chief difficulty in building up our huge organization is to find men able and willing to take and discharge responsibilities. So many men can only go to the point of doing routine duties; when given tasks requiring initiative and readiness to shoulder responsibility, they continually run to the boss to get instructions. I am constantly on the lookout for fellows who are not afraid to use their own judgment, and, although they may make quite a few mistakes, yet they at least show executive potentialities... Of course there must be more than willingness to accept responsibility and to exercise initiative; willingness must be accompanied by ability, knowledge, and the judgment which can come only from having thoroughly mastered one's business.”
- Source: Eugene Grace quotes in the article written by B. C. Forbes entitled 'Gene Grace - Whose Story Reads Like a Fairy Tale', published in 'The American Magazine', 1920, volume 90, Page 84. Online at https://www.google.com/books/edition/American_Magazine/qrM7AQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0 accessed 2021-02-09.
- Keywords: Man_quotes Stuff_quotes Success_quotes Fear_quotes Responsibility_quotes Regard_quotes Seek_quotes Consequence_quotes Attempt_quotes Blame_quotes Wrong_quotes Difficulty_quotes Build_quotes Organization_quotes Find_quotes Ability_quotes Willing_quotes Routine_quotes Duty_quotes Task_quotes Initiative_quotes Continuous_quotes Run_quotes Boss_quotes Instruction_quotes Lookout_quotes Judgment_quotes Knowledge_quotes Master_quotes Business_quotes Mistake_quotes Executive_quotes Potential_quotes Shirk_quotes
Sabine_Hossenfelder
Closer Reality
“The foundations of physics give us a closer look at reality, but the closer we look at reality, the more slippery it becomes. Our heavy use of mathematics is a major reason. The more the fundamental descriptions of nature have become divorced from our everyday experience, the more we must rely on mathematical rigor. This reliance has consequences. Using math to describe reality means that the same observations can be equivalently explained in many different ways. That’s just because there are many sets of mathematical axioms that will give the exact same predictions for all available data. Thus, if you want to assign 'reality' to one of your explanations, you won’t know which.”
- Source: Hossenfelder, Sabine. Existential Physics: A Scientist's Guide to Life's Biggest Questions (p. 74). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
- Keywords: Foundation_quotes Physics_quotes Closer_quotes Reality_quotes Slippery_quotes Heavy_quotes Mathematics_quotes Major_quotes Reason_quotes Fundamental_quotes Description_quotes Nature_quotes Divorce_quotes Everyday_quotes Experience_quotes Rely_quotes Rigor_quotes Consequence_quotes Observation_quotes Same_quotes Equivalent_quotes Explanation_quotes Different_quotes Way_quotes Set_quotes Axiom_quotes Exact_quotes Prediction_quotes Available_quotes Data_quotes Assign_quotes Know_quotes
Fred_Hoyle
Scientific Hypotheses
“It is often held that scientific hypotheses are constructed, and are to be constructed, only after a detailed weighing of all possible evidence bearing on the matter, and that then and only then may one consider, and still only tentatively, any hypotheses. This traditional view however, is largely incorrect, for not only is it absurdly impossible of application, but it is contradicted by the history of the development of any scientific theory. What happens in practice is that by intuitive insight, or other inexplicable inspiration, the theorist decides that certain features seem to him more important than others and capable of explanation by certain hypotheses. Then basing his study on these hypotheses the attempt is made to deduce their consequences. The successful pioneer of theoretical science is he whose intuitions yield hypotheses on which satisfactory theories can be built, and conversely for the unsuccessful (as judged from a purely scientific standpoint).”
- Source: Sir Fred Hoyle, Co-author with British astronomer, Raymond Arthur Lyttleton (1911-95), 'The Internal Constitution of the Stars', Occasional Notes of the Royal Astronomical Society 1948, 12, 90.
- Keywords: Science_quotes Hypothesis_quotes Scientific_Method_quotes Construction_quotes Weighing_quotes Evidence_quotes Consideration_quotes Absurdity_quotes Impossibility_quotes Contradiction_quotes History_quotes Theory_quotes Intuition_quotes Inspiration_quotes Inexplicable_quotes Importance_quotes Explanation_quotes Study_quotes Deduction_quotes Consequence_quotes Success_quotes Tradition_quotes Insight_quotes Feature_quotes Pioneer_quotes Satisfactory_quotes Unsuccessful_quotes
Edwin_Hubble
Scientific Guesses
“[A scientist] naturally and inevitably ... mulls over the data and guesses at a solution. [He proceeds to] testing of the guess by new data — predicting the consequences of the guess and then dispassionately inquiring whether or not the predictions are verified.”
- Source: Edwin Powell Hubble, From manuscript on Francis Bacon as a scientist (1942), Edwin Hubble collection, Box 2, Huntington Library, San Marino, California. As cited by Norriss S. Hetherington in 'Philosophical Values and Observation in Edwin Hubble's Choice of a Model of the Universe', Historical Studies in the Physical Sciences (1982), 13, No. 1, 42.
- Keywords: Analysis_quotes Data_quotes Science_quotes Guess_quotes Solution_quotes Testing_quotes Prediction_quotes Consequence_quotes Passion_quotes Inquiry_quotes Verification_quotes Mull_quotes
Bernardo_Kastrup
Causality
“We don’t see causality; we only see its manifest consequences in nature’s behavior. Therefore, the underlying organizing principle is metaphysical, instead of physical. It is derived on the basis of induction.”
- Source: From “Decoding Jung's Metaphysics: The Archetypal Semantics of an Experiential Universe”. Written by Bernardo Kastrup. Published by IFF Books, Washington DC. Kindle Edition. Page 49. Chapter 4.
Single Substrate
“Therefore, matter, psyche (including the psychoid) and spirit are all manifestations of a single substrate; they all share the same categorical basis; they are all constituted by the same intrinsic essence. Consequently, there is no room left for dualism.”
- Source: From “Decoding Jung's Metaphysics: The Archetypal Semantics of an Experiential Universe”. Written by Bernardo Kastrup. Published by IFF Books, Washington DC. Kindle Edition. Page 85. Chapter 5.
Pierre-Simon_Laplace
System of Nature
“The present state of the system of nature is evidently a consequence of what it was in the preceding moment, and if we conceive of an intelligence that at a given instant comprehends all the relations of the entities of this universe, it could state the respective position, motions, and general affects of all these entities at any time in the past or future. Physical astronomy, the branch of knowledge that does the greatest honor to the human mind, gives us an idea, albeit imperfect, of what such an intelligence would be. The simplicity of the law by which the celestial bodies move, and the relations of their masses and distances, permit analysis to follow their motions up to a certain point; and in order to determine the state of the system of these great bodies in past or future centuries, it suffices for the mathematician that their position and their velocity be given by observation for any moment in time. Man owes that advantage to the power of the instrument he employs, and to the small number of relations that it embraces in its calculations. But ignorance of the different causes involved in the production of events, as well as their complexity, taken together with the imperfection of analysis, prevents our reaching the same certainty about the vast majority of phenomena. Thus there are things that are uncertain for us, things more or less probable, and we seek to compensate for the impossibility of knowing them by determining their different degrees of likelihood. So it was that we owe to the weakness of the human mind one of the most delicate and ingenious of mathematical theories, the science of chance or probability.”
- Source: Pierre-Simon Laplace, 'Recherches, 1º, sur l'Intégration des Équations Différentielles aux Différences Finies, et sur leur Usage dans la Théorie des Hasards' (1773, published 1776). In Oeuvres complètes de Laplace, 14 Vols. (1843-1912), Vol. 8, 144-5, trans. Charles Coulston Gillispie, Pierre-Simon Laplace 1749-1827: A Life in Exact Science (1997), 26.
- Keywords: State_quotes Present_quotes System_quotes Nature_quotes Consequence_quotes Moment_quotes Precede_quotes Conceive_quotes Intelligence_quotes Instant_quotes Comprehension_quotes Relationship_quotes Universe_quotes Position_quotes Motion_quotes Causality_quotes Time_quotes Past_quotes Future_quotes Astronomy_quotes Knowledge_quotes Humanity_quotes Mind_quotes Idea_quotes Imperfect_quotes Law_quotes Celestial_quotes Body_quotes Mass_quotes Distance_quotes Analysis_quotes Determine_quotes Century_quotes Mathematics_quotes Velocity_quotes Observation_quotes Advantage_quotes Power_quotes Instrument_quotes Calculation_quotes Ignorance_quotes Cause_quotes Production_quotes Event_quotes Complexity_quotes Certainty_quotes Majority_quotes Phenomena_quotes Probability_quotes Impossibility_quotes Likelihood_quotes Weakness_quotes Theory_quotes Chance_quotes
Thomas_Robert_Malthus
Population and Subsistence
“I think I may fairly make two postulata. First, That food is necessary to the existence of man. Secondly, That the passion between the sexes is necessary, and will remain nearly in its present state... Assuming then my postulata as granted, I say, that the power of population is indefinitely greater than the power in the earth to produce subsistence for man. Population, when unchecked, increases in a geometrical ratio. Subsistence increases only in an arithmetical ratio... This implies a strong and constantly operating check on population from the difficulty of subsistence. This difficulty must fall somewhere; and must necessarily be severely felt by a large portion of mankind... The germs of existence contained in this spot of earth, with ample food, and ample room to expand in, would fill millions of worlds in the course of a few thousand years... Consequently, if the premises are just, the argument is conclusive against the perfectibility of the mass of mankind.”
- Source: Thomas Robert Malthus. The essay: “An Essay on the Principle of Population as It Affects the Future Improvement of Society, with Remarks on the Speculations of Mr. Goodwin, M. Condorcet and Other Writers”. Originally published: 1798. Edition: First. Publisher: J. Johnson. Location: London, England. Chapter: 1. Retrieved From: <https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/An_Essay_on_the_Principle_of_Population>. Retrieval Date: 2024-04-03.
- Notes: The dire predictions of Malthus have not yet been fulfilled. This is primarily due to errors in his initial assumptions (which are properly identified), not in errors in his logic. The first assumption (or postulatum) is that food production increases arithmetically (linearly). But historically, food production has increased geometrically (exponentially) due to advances in mechanical technologies and biotechnologies. The second assumption assumes passion and birth rates are directly correlated. However, technological advances in birth control, cultural advances in women's rights, and rising prosperity (which lowers birth rates) have falsified this assumption. Additional questionable assumptions are also made which are not initially specified.
- See Also:
- Keywords: Think_quotes Fair_quotes Assumption_quotes Postulate_quotes Food_quotes Existence_quotes Passion_quotes Sex_quotes Man_quotes Woman_quotes Remain_quotes Grant_quotes Power_quotes Population_quotes Indefinite_quotes Greater_quotes Earth_quotes World_quotes Production_quotes Subsistence_quotes Uncheck_quotes Increase_quotes Geometric_quotes Exponential_quotes Ratio_quotes Arithmetic_quotes Linear_quotes Imply_quotes Strong_quotes Constant_quotes Operate_quotes Check_quotes Difficult_quotes Fall_quotes Necessary_quotes Severe_quotes Feel_quotes Large_quotes Portion_quotes Mankind_quotes Humanity_quotes Germ_quotes Contain_quotes Spot_quotes Ample_quotes Room_quotes Expand_quotes Fill_quotes Course_quotes Few_quotes Thousand_quotes Year_quotes Premises_quotes Argument_quotes Consequence_quotes Conclusive_quotes Against_quotes Perfectibility_quotes Mass_quotes Hunger_quotes Starvation_quotes Malthusian_quotes
Vice
“Vice is a highly probable consequence, and we therefore see it abundantly prevail; but it ought not, perhaps, to be called an absolutely necessary consequence. The ordeal of virtue is to resist all temptation to evil.”
- Source: Thomas Robert Malthus. The essay: “An Essay on the Principle of Population as It Affects the Future Improvement of Society, with Remarks on the Speculations of Mr. Goodwin, M. Condorcet and Other Writers”. Originally published: 1798. Edition: First. Publisher: J. Johnson. Location: London, England. Chapter: 1. Retrieved From: <https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/An_Essay_on_the_Principle_of_Population>. Retrieval Date: 2024-04-03.
David_E_Nye
Unanticipated Consequences
“The combined choices of inventors, entrepreneurs, and consumers create unanticipated cultural consequences. Because no single individual or institution wills certain changes, they are often mistaken for attributes of the machine itself... Machines are human-directed agents of cultural change.”
- Source: A book. Written by David E. Nye. Entitled 'Narratives and Spaces'. Published in 1997 by Univerity of Exeter Press, Exeter, UK. Hardback ISBN 0-85989-555-6. Paperback ISBN 0-85989-556-4. Introduction, pages 2-3.
Not All Unintended
“In practice, not all technologies have unintended consequences.”
- Source: A book. Written by David E. Nye. Entitled 'Narratives and Spaces'. Published in 1997 by Univerity of Exeter Press, Exeter, UK. Hardback ISBN 0-85989-555-6. Paperback ISBN 0-85989-556-4. Chapter 11, page 188.
- Keywords: Technology_quotes Practice_quotes Unintended_quotes Consequence_quotes
Richard_Pascale
Unintended Consequences
“Unintended consequences get to the heart of why you never really understand an adaptive problem until you have solved it. Problems morph and ‘solutions’ often point to deeper problems. In social life, as in nature, we are walking on a trampoline. Every inroad reconfigures the environment we tread on.”
- Source: Richard T. Pascale, Jerry Sternin, Monique Sternin (2010). “The Power of Positive Deviance: How Unlikely Innovators Solve the World's Toughest Problems”, p.192, Boston, MA: Harvard Business Press
Unintended Consequences Inescapable
“Unintended consequences are an inescapable feature of life. Living systems do not follow a linear path. One can disturb them in a manner that approximates a desired outcome - but never fully direct them.”
- Source: Richard T. Pascale, Jerry Sternin, Monique Sternin (2010). “The Power of Positive Deviance: How Unlikely Innovators Solve the World's Toughest Problems”, p.191, Boston, MA: Harvard Business Press
Alan_Perlis
Useful Software Systems
“We recognize that a practical problem of considerable difficulty and importance has arisen: The successful design, production and maintenance of useful software systems. The importance is obvious and the more so since we see only greater growth in demands and requirements in the future. The consequences of poor performance, poor design, instability and mismatching of promise and performance are not going to be limited to the computing fraternity, or even their nearest neighbors, but will affect considerable sections of our society whose ability to forgive is inversely proportional to their ignorance of the difficulties we face. The source of difficulty is distributed through the whole problem, easy to identify, and yet its cure is hard to pinpoint so that systematic improvement can be gotten.”
- Source: Alan Jay Perlis in a report entitled Software Engineering: Report of a Conference Sponsored by the NATO Science Committee. Chaired by Friedrich Ludwig Bauer. Edited by P. Naur; B. Randell. Conference held 1968-10-07 through 1968-10-11 in Garmisch, Germany. OCLC: 35337842. See http://homepages.cs.ncl.ac.uk/brian.randell/NATO/index.html ; http://homepages.cs.ncl.ac.uk/brian.randell/NATO/nato1968.PDF ; https://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1102020 ; https://books.google.com/books/about/Software_engineering.html?id=Uc9QAAAAYAAJ . Page 78, Keynote address.
- Keywords: Usefulness_quotes Practical_quotes Problem_quotes Difficulty_quotes Importance_quotes Arise_quotes Success_quotes Design_quotes Production_quotes Maintain_quotes Software_quotes System_quotes Obvious_quotes Great_quotes Growth_quotes Demand_quotes Requirements_quotes Consequence_quotes Poor_quotes Performance_quotes Instability_quotes Mismatch_quotes Promise_quotes Go_quotes Limitation_quotes Computing_quotes Fraternity_quotes Near_quotes Neighbor_quotes Affect_quotes Considerable_quotes Section_quotes Society_quotes Ability_quotes Forgiveness_quotes Inverse_quotes Proportion_quotes Ignorance_quotes Face_quotes Source_quotes Distributed_quotes Easy_quotes Identify_quotes Cure_quotes Hard_quotes Pinpoint_quotes Improve_quotes
Todd_Rose
No One Average
“No one is average... This is a scientific fact with enormous practical consequences.”
- Source: From the book “The End of Average: How We Succeed in a World That Values Sameness”, written by Todd Rose, published 2016 by HarperCollins, Kindle Edition, page 11. ISBN: 978-0062358387 (e-book).
- Keywords: Average_quotes Scientific_quotes Fact_quotes Enormous_quotes Practical_quotes Consequence_quotes
Bertrand_Russell
Pure Mathematics
“Pure mathematics consists entirely of assertions to the effect that, if such and such a proposition is true of anything, then such and such another proposition is true of that thing. It is essential not to discuss whether the first proposition is really true, and not to mention what the anything is, of which it is supposed to be true. Both these points would belong to applied mathematics. We start, in pure mathematics, from certain rules of inference, by which we can infer that if one proposition is true, then so is some other proposition. These rules of inference constitute the major part of the principles of formal logic. We then take any hypothesis that seems amusing and deduce its consequences. If our hypothesis is about anything, and not about some one or more particular things, then our deductions constitute mathematics. Thus mathematics may be defined as the subject in which we never know what we are talking about, nor whether what we are saying is true. People who have been puzzled by the beginnings of mathematics will, I hope, find comfort in this definition, and will probably agree that it is accurate.”
- Source: “Recent Work on the Principles of Mathematics”, published in 1901 within International Monthly, Vol. 4. later published as the essay “Mathematics and the Metaphysicians” within the book “Mysticism and Logic and Other Essays” by Bertrand Russell published in 1917 by George Allen & Unwin, London, England.
- Keywords: Pure_quotes Mathematics_quotes Consist_quotes Entire_quotes Assertion_quotes Effect_quotes Proposal_quotes True_quotes Essential_quotes Discussion_quotes First_quotes Mention_quotes Suppose_quotes Point_quotes Belong_quotes Application_quotes Certainty_quotes Rule_quotes Inference_quotes Constitute_quotes Major_quotes Part_quotes Principle_quotes Formal_quotes Logic_quotes Hypothesis_quotes Amuse_quotes Deduction_quotes Consequence_quotes Causality_quotes Particular_quotes Definition_quotes Subject_quotes Knowledge_quotes Uncertainty_quotes Talking_quotes Speak_quotes People_quotes Puzzle_quotes Confusion_quotes Begin_quotes Comfort_quotes Accuracy_quotes
Herbert_Simon
Predictions and Design
“Since the consequences of design lie in the future, it would seem that forecasting is an unavoidable part of every design process. If that is true, it is cause for pessimism about design, for the record in forecasting even such 'simple' variables as population is dismal. If there is any way to design without forecasts, we should seize on it.”
- Source: Simon, H. A. (1996). The Sciences of the Artificial (Third Edition). Computers & Mathematics with Applications (3rd ed., Vol. 33). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. ISBN: 9780585360102. Retrieved 2018-08-23 from https://monoskop.org/images/9/9c/Simon_Herbert_A_The_Sciences_of_the_Artificial_3rd_ed.pdf. Chapter 6, page 146.
Albert_Speer
Position to Know
“For being in a position to know and nevertheless shunning knowledge creates direct responsibility for the consequences - from the very beginning.”
- Source: From the book "Inside the Third Reich" by Albert Speer, published 1970 by Simon and Schuster, ISBN 978-0-684-82949-4. Chapter 2, page 19.
- Keywords: Being_quotes Position_quotes Knowledge_quotes Create_quotes Direct_quotes Responsibility_quotes Consequence_quotes Begin_quotes Shun_quotes
Incalculable Consequences
“How incalculable the consequences were! The superficiality of my attitude made the fundamental error all the worse.”
- Source: From the book "Inside the Third Reich" by Albert Speer, published 1970 by Simon and Schuster, ISBN 978-0-684-82949-4. Chapter 2, page 20.
- Keywords: Incalculable_quotes Calculation_quotes Consequence_quotes Superficial_quotes Attitude_quotes Fundamental_quotes Error_quotes Worse_quotes
Edward_Teller
Predictions Are Dangerous
“One may say that predictions are dangerous particularly for the future. If the danger involved in a prediction is not incurred, no consequence follows and the uncertainty principle is not violated.”
- Source: Edward Teller, Wendy Teller and Wilson Talley, Conversations from the Dark Side of Physics (1991, 2002), 235.
- Keywords: Say_quotes Prediction_quotes Danger_quotes Future_quotes Involve_quotes Incur_quotes Consequence_quotes Follow_quotes Uncertainty_quotes Principle_quotes Violation_quotes
Alfred_Russel_Wallace
Truth Proof
“There is no more convincing proof of the truth of a comprehensive theory than its power of absorbing and finding a place for new facts, and its capability of interpreting phenomena which had been previously looked upon as unaccountable anomalies. It is thus that the law of universal gravitation and the undulatory theory of light have become established and universally accepted by men of science. Fact after fact has been brought forward as being apparently inconsistent with them, and one after another these very facts have been shown to be the consequences of the laws they were at first supposed to disprove. A false theory will never stand this test. Advancing knowledge brings to light whole groups of facts which it cannot deal with, and its advocates steadily decrease in numbers, notwithstanding the ability and scientific skill with which it may have been supported.”
- Source: Alfred Russel Wallace, From a review of four books on the subject 'Mimicry, and Other Protective Resemblances Among Animals', in The Westminster Review (Jul 1867), 88, 1. Wallace is identified as the author within the article as reprinted in William Beebe, The Book of Naturalists: An Anthology of the Best Natural History (1988), 108.
- Keywords: Convince_quotes Proof_quotes Truth_quotes Comprehension_quotes Theory_quotes Power_quotes Absorb_quotes Find_quotes Place_quotes Fact_quotes Capability_quotes Interpretation_quotes Phenomena_quotes Unaccount_quotes Anomalies_quotes Law_quotes Universal_quotes Gravity_quotes Undulate_quotes Light_quotes Establish_quotes Acceptance_quotes Man_quotes Science_quotes Inconsistent_quotes Consequence_quotes Disproof_quotes False_quotes Stand_quotes Testing_quotes Advance_quotes Knowledge_quotes Group_quotes Deal_quotes Advocate_quotes Decrease_quotes Number_quotes Ability_quotes Skill_quotes Support_quotes Apparent_quotes Suppose_quotes
Gerald_Weinberg
Measuring Performance
“One consequence of the size of a large project is that performance becomes more difficult to measure. Part of this difficulty stems from the scale of things, which makes it impossible for a single mind to be making the judgment of all the parts.”
- Source: Chapter 6. Weinberg, G. M. (2011). The Psychology of Computer Programming (Silver anniversary edition) | 1971. Weinberg & Weinberg.
Amateur and Professional Programmers
“The amateur... is looking for a way to get the job done. If he runs into difficulty, all he wants is to surmount it — the manner of doing so is of little consequence. Not so, however, for the professional. She may well be aware of numerous ways of circumnavigating the problem at hand. She may even employ one of them for the immediate purpose of getting the job done. But her work does not stop there; it begins there. It begins because she must understand why she did not understand, in order that she may prepare herself for the programs she may someday write which will require that understanding. The amateur, then, is learning about his problem... The professional, conversely, is learning about her profession — programming — and the problem being programmed is only one incidental step in her process of development.”
- Source: Chapter 7. Weinberg, G. M. (2011). The Psychology of Computer Programming (Silver anniversary edition) | 1971. Weinberg & Weinberg.
- Keywords: Amateur_quotes Professional_quotes Job_quotes Difficulty_quotes Circumnavigation_quotes Problem_quotes Work_quotes Understanding_quotes Program_quotes Programming_quotes Programmer_quotes Preparation_quotes Process_quotes Development_quotes Look_quotes Way_quotes Surmount_quotes Manner_quotes Do_quotes Little_quotes Consequence_quotes Numerous_quotes Hand_quotes Employ_quotes Immediate_quotes Purpose_quotes Stop_quotes Begin_quotes Order_quotes Write_quotes Someday_quotes Require_quotes Learning_quotes Converse_quotes Profession_quotes Incidental_quotes Step_quotes
Stephen_Wolfram
Second Law of Thermodynamics
“The second law is essentially a computational statement of the fact that systems that start simple to describe will typically become complicated to describe. It's kind of like encryption. You're saying you start with that simple initial seed and then you run this thing and you get something which for all practical purposes looks random. That's what's happening in these systems. It doesn't have to do with molecules running around. It doesn't have to do with the specifics of temperature and so on. It really is a very basic computational phenomenon that actually is a consequence of computational irreducibility.”
- Source: Spoken by Stephen Wolfram in a video interview with Brian Keating recorded in the YouTube video ‘Stephen Wolfram | My Discovery Changes Everything’ published on channel ‘Dr. Brian Keating’ on 2024-01-19. Video offset 22:17. Online at https://youtu.be
/c-RO3vM10Ok ?si=i-XspeEtzqA3jPl9 retrieved 2024.
- Keywords: Computation_quotes Second_quotes Law_quotes Essential_quotes Statement_quotes Fact_quotes System_quotes Start_quotes Simplicity_quotes Description_quotes Typical_quotes Complicated_quotes Like_quotes Encryption_quotes Say_quotes Initial_quotes Seed_quotes Run_quotes Practical_quotes Purpose_quotes Look_quotes Random_quotes Happen_quotes Molecule_quotes Specific_quotes Temperature_quotes Phenomenon_quotes Consequence_quotes Irreducibility_quotes Thermodynamics_quotes
Shoshana_Zuboff
World Lost or Gained
'“There is a world to be lost and a world to be gained. Choices that appear to be merely technical will redefine our lives together at work. This means more than simply contemplating the implications or consequences of a new technology. It means that a powerful new technology, such as that represented by the computer, fundamentally reorganizes the infrastructure of our material world. It eliminates former alternatives. It creates new possibilities. It necessitates fresh choices.“
- Source: Zuboff, S. (1988). In The Age Of The Smart Machine: The Future Of Work And Power. New York, NY: Basic Books, p. 5 (Introduction). ISBN:0465032125.
- Keywords: World_quotes Loss_quotes Gain_quotes Decision_quotes Choice_quotes Technology_quotes Work_quotes Employment_quotes Consequence_quotes Contemplation_quotes Power_quotes Computer_quotes Material_quotes Infrastructure_quotes Alternative_quotes Possibility_quotesEliminate_quotes Reorganize_quotes Fresh_quotes
Technology Leadership
“The questions that we face today are finally about leadership. Will there be leaders who are able to recognize the historical moment and the choices it presents? Will they find ways to create the organizational conditions in which new visions, new concepts, and a new language of workplace relations can emerge? Will they be able to create organizational innovations that can exploit the unique capacities of the new technology and thus mobilize their organization's productive potential to meet the heightened rigors of global competition? Will there be leaders who understand the crucial role that human beings from each organizational stratum can play in adding value to the production of goods and services? If not, we will be stranded in a new world with old solutions. We will suffer through the unintended consequences of change, because we have failed to understand this technology and how it differs from what came before.”
- Source: Zuboff, S. (1988). In The Age Of The Smart Machine: The Future Of Work And Power. New York, NY: Basic Books, p. 12. ISBN:0465032125.
- Keywords: Technology_quotes Leadership_quotes History_quotes Choice_quotes Organization_quotes Vision_quotes Innovation_quotes Workplace_quotes Language_quotes Exploitation_quotes Potential_quotes Competition_quotes Global_quotes Human_Resources_quotes Production_quotes Goods_quotes Services_quotes World_quotes Obsolescence_quotes Change_quotes Suffering_quotes Stranded_quotes Consequence_quotes Unintentional_quotes Failure_quotes Understanding_quotes Differences_quotes Question_quotes Today_quotes Present_quotes Find_quotes Create_quotes Condition_quotes Concept_quotes Relation_quotes Emerge_quotes Unique_quotes Capability_quotes New_quotes Mobilize_quotes Height_quotes Rigor_quotes Leader_quotes Crucial_quotes Role_quotes Human_quotes Stratum_quotes Play_quotes Add_quotes Value_quotes Old_quotes Solution_quotes
Manager Panic
“People at every organizational level -- managers, engineers, and operators -- each spent a good deal of time speculating on the sources of this dynamic and its ultimate consequences. One top manager maintained that the core of the problem was the lack of an alternative to the traditional managerial function. ‘The problem is that managers don't have skills and knowledge or a vision of their new role. They are asking, What is going to happen to me? And so they are in a panic.'”
- Source: Zuboff, S. (1988). In The Age Of The Smart Machine: The Future Of Work And Power. New York, NY: Basic Books, p. 251. ISBN:0465032125.
- Keywords: People_quotes Organization_quotes Hierarchy_quotes Consequence_quotes Tradition_quotes Skill_quotes Knowledge_quotes Vision_quotes Uncertainty_quotes Panic_quotes Level_quotes Manager_quotes Engineer_quotes Operator_quotes Time_quotes Speculate_quotes Source_quotes Dynamic_quotes Ultimate_quotes Top_quotes Maintain_quotes Core_quotes Problem_quotes Lack_quotes Alternative_quotes Function_quotes Role_quotes Happen_quotes
Technology Management
“Even where control or deskilling has been the intent of managerial choices with respect to new information technology, managers themselves are also captive to a wide range of impulses and pressures. Only rarely is there a grand design concocted by an elite group ruthlessly grinding its way toward the fulfillment of some special and secret plan. Instead, there is a concentration of forces and consequences, which in turn develop their own momentum. Sometimes these lines of force run in predictably straight paths. At other times, they twist and spiral, turn corners, and flow to their opposite. Activities that seem to represent choices are often inert reproductions of accepted practice.”
- Source: Zuboff, S. (1988). In The Age Of The Smart Machine: The Future Of Work And Power. New York, NY: Basic Books, p. 389. ISBN:0465032125.
- Keywords: Control_quotes Deskilling_quotes Skill_quotes Management_quotes Choice_quotes Information_quotes Technology_quotes Impulse_quotes Pressure_quotes Design_quotes Elite_quotes Ruthlessness_quotes Secret_quotes Plan_quotes Concentration_quotes Force_quotes Consequence_quotes Momentum_quotes Prediction_quotes Activity_quotes Reproduction_quotes Practice_quotes Inert_quotes Intent_quotes Concoct_quotes Group_quotes Grind_quotes Special_quotes Straight_quotes Path_quotes Twist_quotes Spiral_quotes Corner_quotes Turn_quotes Flow_quotes Opposite_quotes Represent_quotes Accept_quotes
Information Panopticon Isolation
“In the information panopticon, managers... frequently tried to simplify their managerial tasks by displacing face-to-face engagement with techniques of surveillance and control. As a consequence, they became isolated from the realities of their organizations as they were increasingly insulated by an electronic text that in turn was even more vulnerable to workers' antagonisms.”
- Source: Zuboff, S. (1988). In The Age Of The Smart Machine: The Future Of Work And Power. New York, NY: Basic Books, p. 400. ISBN:0465032125.
- Keywords: Information_quotes Panopticon_quotes Management_quotes Simplification_quotes Engagement_quotes Technique_quotes Surveillance_quotes Control_quotes Consequence_quotes Isolation_quotes Reality_quotes Organization_quotes Insulation_quotes Text_quotes Vulnerability_quotes Worker_quotes Antagonism_quotes Frequent_quotes Try_quotes Displace_quotes Face_quotes Electronic_quotes Turn_quotes