Error quotes

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Augustine of Hippo

Human Error

“To err is human; to persist in error is diabolical.”
  • Source: St. Augustine of Hippo (c. 400 CE). In “Humanum fuit errare, diabolicum est per animositatem in errore manere.” See Armand Benjamin Caillau, ed., Sermones de scripturis, in Sancti Aurelii Augustini Opera (Paris: Parent-Desbarres, 1838), 4:412.
Keywords: Error_quotes Human_quotes Persist_quotes Diabolic_quotes

F_Terry_Baker

Thinking Versus Coding Errors

“In short, it is the thinking errors, more than the coding errors, which limit programming productivity.”
Keywords: Programming_quotes Thinking_quotes Productivity_quotes Error_quotes Debugging_quotes Short_quotes Coding_quotes Limitation_quotes

William_Bayliss

Mistakes

“But at the same time, there must never be the least hesitation in giving up a position the moment it is shown to be untenable. It is not going too far to say that the greatness of a scientific investigator does not rest on the fact of his having never made a mistake, but rather on his readiness to admit that he has done so, whenever the contrary evidence is cogent enough.”
  • Source: Sir William Bayliss, Principles of General Physiology (1915), x.xi.
Keywords: Mistake_quotes Error_quotes Scientific_Method_quotes Ego_quotes Time_quotes Hesitation_quotes Give_quotes Position_quotes Moment_quotes Show_quotes Untenable_quotes Go_quotes Far_quotes Say_quotes Great_quotes Science_quotes Investigator_quotes Rest_quotes Fact_quotes Ready_quotes Admit_quotes Contrary_quotes Evidence_quotes Cogent_quotes

Francis_Bello

Glory of Science

“The glory of science is not that it discovers “truth”; rather it advances inexorably by discovering and correcting error.”
  • Source: Francis Bello, In Francis Bello, Lawrence Lessing and George A.W. Boehm, Great American Scientists (1960, 1961), 116.
Keywords: Science_quotes Truth_quotes Error_quotes Scientific_Method_quotes Falsification_quotes

Claude_Bernard

Tainted Fact Reason

“Reasoning will always be correct when applied to accurate notions and precise facts; but it can lead only to error when the notions or facts on which it rests were originally tainted with error or inaccuracy.”
  • Source: From the book "An Introduction to the Study of Experimental Medicine" written by Claude Bernard published in French in 1865 as "Introduction à l'étude de la médecine expérimentale". Translated to English by Henry Copley Greene in 1927 and republished by Henry Shuman, Inc. in 1949. Page 2. Available online at https://archive.org/details/b21270557 retrieved 2024.
Keywords: Reason_quotes Correct_quotes Apply_quotes Accuracy_quotes Notion_quotes Precise_quotes Fact_quotes Lead_quotes Error_quotes Rest_quotes Taint_quotes Inaccuracy_quotes

Arthur_Bloch

Scott's Second Law

“When an error has been detected and corrected, it will be found to have been correct in the first place.
Corollary: After the correction has been found in error, it will be impossible to fit the original quantity back into the equation.”
  • Source: Attributed to Scott, 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 14-15.
  • Notes: Who Scott was has not been reliably identified.
Keywords: Murphy(topic)_quotes Law_quotes Error_quotes Detect_quotes Correct_quotes Found_quotes Place_quotes Impossible_quotes Fit_quotes Original_quotes Quantity_quotes Equation_quotes

George_E_P_Box

All Models Wrong

“Remember that all models are wrong; the practical question is how wrong do they have to be to not be useful.”
  • Source: George E.P. Box, Co-author with Norman R. Draper, In George E.P. Box and Norman R. Draper, Empirical Model-Building and Response Surfaces (1987), 74.
Keywords: Model_quotes Approximation_quotes Usefulness_quotes Error_quotes Wrong_quotes Practical_quotes Question_quotes

Models are Approximations

“...all models are approximations. Essentially, all models are wrong, but some are useful. However, the approximate nature of the model must always be borne in mind...”
  • Source: George E.P. Box [Co-author with Norman R. Draper], In George E.P. Box, Norman R. Draper, Response Surfaces, Mixtures, and Ridge Analyses (2nd ed. 2007), 414.
Keywords: Model_quotes Approximation_quotes Error_quotes Usefulness_quotes Wrong_quotes Nature_quotes Mind_quotes

Robert_N_Britcher

Limits of Testing

“The limits of software are never more obvious than in its testing. Software systems are beyond discrete and statistical analysis. A single incorrect state - out of two to the trillionth states - can down a rocket: To find such a fault in a software system would require a hundred generations of programmers - but after the first failure is found and fixed, all bets are off; they wouldn't be testing the same system anymore. We can design and build fail-safe systems, but can we know we did?”
  • Source: Britcher, Robert N. (1999). The Limits of Software: People, Projects, and Perspectives. Reading, MA: Addison Wesley. ISBN 0-201-43323-0. Page 56.
Keywords: Limitation_quotes Software_quotes Obvious_quotes Testing_quotes Discrete_quotes Statistics_quotes Analysis_quotes State_quotes Incorrect_quotes Correctness_quotes Error_quotes Rocket_quotes Fault_quotes System_quotes Programmer_quotes Programming_quotes Failure_quotes Correction_quotes Found_quotes Design_quotes Safe_quotes Knowledge_quotes Limit_quotes Beyond_quotes Trillion_quotes Down_quotes Find_quotes Require_quotes Generation_quotes First_quotes Fix_quotes Bet_quotes Off_quotes Fail_Safe_quotes

Errors in Tests and Simulators

“The simulator software had to be tested as thoroughly as the software it was built to test. A fault in the simulator would cause the worst kind of problem, what computer analysts call a Byzantine failure. Byzantine failures are like traitors in a family. There is always a risk this will happen.”
  • 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: Error_quotes Simulation_quotes Testing_quotes Software_quotes Fault_quotes Problem_quotes Analysis_quotes Byzantine_quotes Failure_quotes Traitor_quotes Risk_quotes Build_quotes Cause_quotes Computer_quotes Analyst_quotes Family_quotes

Programmer Errors

“Programmers will always make errors.”
  • Source: Britcher, Robert N. (1999). The Limits of Software: People, Projects, and Perspectives. Reading, MA: Addison Wesley. ISBN 0-201-43323-0. Page 132.
Keywords: Programmer_quotes Programming_quotes Error_quotes Make_quotes

Fred_Brooks

Waterfall Model

“The Waterfall Model is wrong and harmful, we must outgrow it.”
  • 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 34.
Keywords: Waterfall_quotes Model_quotes Software_Engineering_quotes Software_Lifecycle_quotes Harm_quotes Growth_quotes Error_quotes Uselessness_quotes Software_quotes Engineering_quotes Lifecycle_quotes Wrong_quotes

Tom_DeMarco and Tim_Lister

Cheeseburgers

"Development is inherently different from production. But managers of development and allied efforts often allow their thinking to be shaped by a management philosophy derived entirely from a production environment.
Imagine for the moment that you’re the manager of the local fast food franchise. It makes perfect sense for you to take any or all of the following efficient production measures:
- Squeeze out error. Make the machine (the human machine) run as smoothly as possible.
- Take a hard line about people goofing off on the job.
- Treat workers as interchangeable pieces of the machine.
- Optimize the steady state. (Don’t even think about how the operation got up to speed, or what it would take to close it down.)
- Standardize procedure. Do everything by the book.
- Eliminate experimentation—that’s what the folks at headquarters are paid for.
These would be reasonable approaches if you were in the fast food business (or any production environment), but you’re not. The 'make a cheeseburger, sell a cheeseburger' mentality can be fatal in your development area. It can only serve to damp your people’s spirits and focus their attention away from the real problems at hand. This style of management will be directly at odds with the work.
To manage thinking workers effectively, you need to take measures nearly opposite those listed above."
  • Source: Book: Entitled: Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams. Edition: 3rd. Written by: Tom DeMarco; Tim Lister. Date published: 1987; 1999; 2013. Publisher: Addison-Wesley. Country: USA; GBR; CAN; DEU; FRA; ESP; ZAF; AUS; JPN; SGP; MEX. Language: en. ISBN: ISBN-13: 978-0-321-93411-6 (alk paper); 0-321-93411-3 (alk paper). Chapter: 2 (Make a Cheeseburger, Sell a Cheeseburger).
Keywords: Cheeseburger_quotes Differences_quotes Production_quotes Development_quotes Manager_quotes Management_quotes Thinking_quotes Philosophy_quotes Environment_quotes Fast_Food_quotes Efficiency_quotes Error_quotes Machine_quotes Humanity_quotes Job_quotes Work_quotes Goofing_Off_quotes Worker_quotes Interchangeable_quotes Fungibility_quotes Status_Quo_quotes Optimization_quotes Change_quotes Steady_State_quotes Innovation_quotes Standards_quotes Book_quotes Experiment_quotes Headquarter_quotes Mentality_quotes Fatal_quotes Damp_quotes Imagination_quotes Steady_quotes State_quotes Eliminate_quotes Reason_quotes Make_quotes Sell_quotes Problem_quotes Effective_quotes Opposite_quotes

Error Quota

"For most thinking workers, making an occasional mistake is a natural and healthy part of their work. But there can be an almost Biblical association between error on the job and sin. This is an attitude we need to take specific pains to change. Speaking to a group of software managers, we introduced a strategy for what we think of as iterative design. The idea is that some designs are intrinsically defect-prone; they ought to be rejected, not repaired. Such dead ends should be expected in the design activity. The lost effort of the dead end is a small price to pay for a clean, fresh start. To our surprise, many managers felt this would pose an impossible political problem for their own bosses: 'How can we throw away a product that our company has paid to produce?' They seemed to believe that they’d be better off salvaging the defective version even though it might cost more in the long run. Fostering an atmosphere that doesn’t allow for error simply makes people defensive. They don’t try things that may turn out badly. You encourage this defensiveness when you try to systematize the process, when you impose rigid methodologies so that staff members are not allowed to make any of the key strategic decisions lest they make them incorrectly. The average level of technology may be modestly improved by any steps you take to inhibit error. The team sociology, however, can suffer grievously. The opposite approach would be to encourage people to make some errors. You do this by asking your folks on occasion what dead-end roads they’ve been down, and by making sure they understand that 'none' is not the best answer. When people blow it, they should be congratulated — that’s part of what they’re being paid for."
  • Source: Book: Entitled: Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams. Edition: 3rd. Written by: Tom DeMarco; Tim Lister. Date published: 1987; 1999; 2013. Publisher: Addison-Wesley. Country: USA; GBR; CAN; DEU; FRA; ESP; ZAF; AUS; JPN; SGP; MEX. Language: en. ISBN: ISBN-13: 978-0-321-93411-6 (alk paper); 0-321-93411-3 (alk paper). Chapter: 2 (Make a Cheeseburger, Sell a Cheeseburger).
Keywords: Thinking_quotes Worker_quotes Mistake_quotes Work_quotes Natural_quotes Biblical_quotes Error_quotes Job_quotes Sin_quotes Attitude_quotes Change_quotes Software_quotes Manager_quotes Strategy_quotes Iterative_quotes Design_quotes Defect_quotes Intrinsic_quotes Rejection_quotes Repair_quotes Dead_End_quotes Failure_quotes Fail_Early_quotes Activity_quotes Effort_quotes Cost_quotes Clean_quotes Fresh_quotes Impossibility_quotes Political_quotes Problem_quotes Environment_quotes Atmosphere_quotes Defensive_quotes Try_quotes Systematic_quotes Process_quotes Rigidity_quotes Methodology_quotes Technology_quotes Team_quotes Sociology_quotes Suffering_quotes Encouragement_quotes Congratulate_quotes

David_Deutsch

Amending Data

“Amending the ‘data’, or rejecting some as erroneous, is a frequent concomitant of scientific discovery, and the crucial ‘data’ cannot even be obtained until theory tells us what to look for and how and why.”
  • Source: David Deutsch, The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Transform the World (2011).
Keywords: Amending_quotes Data_quotes Rejection_quotes Error_quotes Science_quotes Discovery_quotes Theory_quotes Creativity_quotes Concomitant_quotes Obtain_quotes Look_quotes

Error Correction

“Without error-correction all information processing, and hence all knowledge-creation, is necessarily bounded. Error-correction is the beginning of infinity.”
  • Source: David Deutsch, The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Transform the World (2011).
Keywords: Error_quotes Correction_quotes Information_quotes Knowledge_quotes Creativity_quotes Bounding_quotes Infinity_quotes Data_quotes Processing_quotes Create_quotes Beginning_quotes

John_Dewey

Scientific Inquiry

“That the great majority of those who leave school should have some idea of the kind of evidence required to substantiate given types of belief does not seem unreasonable. Nor is it absurd to expect that they should go forth with a lively interest in the ways in which knowledge is improved and a marked distaste for all conclusions reached in disharmony with the methods of scientific inquiry.”
  • Source: John Dewey, Address to Section L, Education, of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, at Boston (1909), 'Science as Subject-Matter and as Method'. Published in Science (28 Jan 1910), N.S. Vol. 31, No. 787, 126.
Keywords: Science_quotes School_quotes Idea_quotes Evidence_quotes Belief_quotes Interest_quotes Knowledge_quotes Conclusion_quotes Scientific_Method_quotes Error_quotes Improvement_quotes Majority_quotes Substantiate_quotes Absurd_quotes Expect_quotes Distaste_quotes Disharmony_quotes Method_quotes Inquiry_quotes

Michael_Faraday

Laws of Nature

“The laws of nature, as we understand them, are the foundation of our knowledge in natural things. So much as we know of them has been developed by the successive energies of the highest intellects, exerted through many ages. After a most rigid and scrutinizing examination upon principle and trial, a definite expression has been given to them; they have become, as it were, our belief or trust. From day to day we still examine and test our expressions of them. We have no interest in their retention if erroneous. On the contrary, the greatest discovery a man could make would be to prove that one of these accepted laws was erroneous, and his greatest honour would be the discovery.”
  • Source: Book/Author=Michael Faraday; Title=“Experimental Researches in Chemistry and Physics”; Publication/Date=1859; Page=469.
Keywords: Law_quotes Nature_quotes Understanding_quotes Foundation_quotes Knowledge_quotes Energy_quotes Intellectualism_quotes Examination_quotes Principle_quotes Trial_quotes Expression_quotes Belief_quotes Trust_quotes Testing_quotes Interest_quotes Retention_quotes Error_quotes Discovery_quotes Proof_quotes Falsification_quotes Honor_quotes Rigid_quotes Examine_quotes Man_quotes

Self-Correction

“Among those points of self-education which take up the form of mental discipline, there is one of great importance, and, moreover, difficult to deal with, because it involves an internal conflict, and equally touches our vanity and our ease. It consists in the tendency to deceive ourselves regarding all we wish for, and the necessity of resistance to these desires. It is impossible for any one who has not been constrained, by the course of his occupation and thoughts, to a habit of continual self-correction, to be aware of the amount of error in relation to judgment arising from this tendency. The force of the temptation which urges us to seek for such evidence and appearances as are in favour of our desires, and to disregard those which oppose them, is wonderfully great. In this respect we are all, more or less, active promoters of error. In place of practising wholesome self-abnegation, we ever make the wish the father to the thought: we receive as friendly that which agrees with, we resist with dislike that which opposes us; whereas the very reverse is required by every dictate of common sense.”
  • Source: Michael Faraday. Royal Institution Lecture On Mental Education (6 May 1854), as reprinted in Experimental Researches in Chemistry and Physics, by Michael Faraday, 1859, pp 474-475.
Keywords: Self-Education_quotes Autodidact_quotes Mental_quotes Discipline_quotes Importance_quotes Conflict_quotes Vanity_quotes Tendency_quotes Self-Deception_quotes Wish_quotes Resistance_quotes Desire_quotes Impossibility_quotes Constraint_quotes Occupation_quotes Thinking_quotes Habit_quotes Self-Correction_quotes Error_quotes Judgment_quotes Temptation_quotes Urge_quotes Evidence_quotes Disregard_quotes Opposition_quotes Wonder_quotes Promotion_quotes Practice_quotes Self-Abnegation_quotes Tribalism_quotes Common_Sense_quotes

Leon_Festinger

Belief

“Suppose an individual believes something with his whole heart; suppose further that he has a commitment to this belief and he has taken irrevocable actions because of it; finally, suppose that he is presented with evidence, unequivocal and undeniable evidence, that his belief is wrong: what will happen? The individual will frequently emerge, not only unshaken, but even more convinced of the truth of his beliefs than ever before. Indeed, he may even show a new fervor for convincing and converting other people to his view.”
  • Source: Leon Festinger, In When Prophecy Fails (1956), 3.
Keywords: Individual_quotes Belief_quotes Commitment_quotes Heart_quotes Irrevocable_quotes Action_quotes Evidence_quotes Proof_quotes Wrong_quotes Self-Deception_quotes Truth_quotes Error_quotes Convince_quotes Conversion_quotes People_quotes

Samuel_C_Florman

Mistakes

“Human error, lack of imagination, and blind ignorance. The practice of engineering is in large measure a continuing struggle to avoid making mistakes for these reasons.”
  • 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 33.
Keywords: Human_quotes Error_quotes Lack_quotes Imagination_quotes Blind_quotes Ignorance_quotes Practice_quotes Engineering_quotes Large_quotes Measure_quotes Continue_quotes Struggle_quotes Avoid_quotes Make_quotes Mistake_quotes Reason_quotes

Benjamin_Franklin

New Truth

“A new truth is a truth; an old error is an error.”
  • Source: Benjamin Franklin, in Poor Richard's Almanack (1734).
Keywords: Truth_quotes Error_quotes Tradition_quotes

Sylvester_James_Gates

Strange Codes

“In my research I found this very strange thing, I was driven to error-correcting codes —they’re what make browsers work. So why were they in the equations I was studying about quarks and electrons and supersymmetry? This brought me to the stark realization that I could no longer say people like Max [Tegmark] are crazy.”
Keywords: Research_quotes Find_quotes Strange_quotes Code_quotes Error_quotes Correcting_quotes Browser_quotes Work_quotes Equation_quotes Study_quotes Quark_quotes Electron_quotes Supersymmetry_quotes Stark_quotes Realize_quotes Say_quotes Tegmark(topic)_quotes Crazy_quotes

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Great Truth

“Nothing is great but truth, and the smallest truth is great... Even a harmful truth is useful, for it can be harmful only for the moment and will lead to other truths, which must always become useful, very much so. Conversely, even a useful error is harmful, for it can be useful only for the moment, enticing us into other errors, which become more and more harmful.”
  • Source: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe in a letter to Charlotte von Stein in 1787. Reprinted in in “Goethe’s World View: Presented in His Reflections and Maxims” published 1963. Edited by Frederick Ungar, Translated by Heinz Norden, pp. 72-73, Frederick Ungar Publishing Company, New York.
Keywords: Nothing_quotes Great_quotes Truth_quotes Small_quotes Harm_quotes Useful_quotes Moment_quotes Lead_quotes Error_quotes Entice_quotes

Yuval_Noah_Harari

Discovery of Ignorance

“The scientific revolution was launched by the discovery of ignorance... The scientific project starts by rejecting the fantasy of infallibility and proceeding to construct an information network that takes error to be inescapable.”
  • Source: Yuval Noah Harari writing in his book ‘Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI’. Published in 2024 by Random House. Kindle edition. Chapter 4 page 103. ISBN 978-0593734247.
Keywords: Scientific_quotes Revolution_quotes Launch_quotes Discovery_quotes Ignorance_quotes Project_quotes Start_quotes Reject_quotes Fantasy_quotes Infallibility_quotes Proceed_quotes Construct_quotes Information_quotes Network_quotes Error_quotes Inescapable_quotes

Grace_Hopper

Bugs

“From then on, when anything went wrong with a computer, we said it had bugs in it.”
  • Source: Grace Hopper as quoted in Time magazine (16 April 1984).
  • Notes: On the removal of a 2-inch-long moth from the Harvard Mark II experimental computer at Harvard in 1947. Note that the term "bug" was in use by people in several technical disciplines long before that; Thomas Edison used the term, and it was common AT&T parlance in the 1920s to refer to bugs in the wires. Hopper is credited with popularizing the term's use in the computing field.
Keywords: Error_quotes Mistake_quotes Bug_quotes Wrong_quotes Computer_quotes

George_Iles

Error as Truth

“Error held as truth has much the effect of truth. In politics and religion this fact upsets many confident predictions.”
  • Source: From chapter 'Jottings from a Note-Book', in Canadian Stories (1918), 177.
Keywords: Error_quotes Truth_quotes Effect_quotes Political_quotes Religion_quotes Fact_quotes Confidence_quotes Prediction_quotes

Daniel_Kahneman

Heuristic Reliance

“The reliance on the heuristic caused predictable biases (systematic errors) in their predictions.”
Keywords: Reliance_quotes Heuristic_quotes Prediction_quotes Bias_quotes System_quotes Error_quotes

Harlan_D_Mills

Thinking Versus Coding Errors

“In short, it is the thinking errors, more than the coding errors, which limit programming productivity.”
Keywords: Programming_quotes Thinking_quotes Productivity_quotes Error_quotes Debugging_quotes Short_quotes Coding_quotes Limitation_quotes

David_E_Nye

Programmers Perfectionists

“A single error in a program thousands of lines long prevented it from running correctly, and computer programmers became known as a fanatically exact group of perfectionists, working in an arcane specialty. Sociologists studying the ‘man-machine' interface found that a programmer's personality often changed after prolonged exposure to the computer, becoming severely logical and machine-like.”
  • 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 10, page 164.
Keywords: Single_quotes Error_quotes Program_quotes Thousand_quotes Line_quotes Long_quotes Prevent_quotes Run_quotes Correct_quotes Computer_quotes Programmer_quotes Fanatic_quotes Exact_quotes Group_quotes Perfectionist_quotes Work_quotes Arcane_quotes Specialty_quotes Sociologist_quotes Study_quotes Man_quotes Machine_quotes Interface_quotes Find_quotes Personality_quotes Change_quotes Prolong_quotes Exposure_quotes Severe_quotes Logical_quotes Software_quotes Engineering_quotes Software_Engineering_quotes

Blaise_Pascal

Pascal's Wager

“A game is on, at the other end of this infinite distance, and heads or tails will turn up. What will you wager? According to reason you cannot leave either; according to reason you cannot leave either undone... Yes, but wager you must; there is no option, you have embarked on it. So which will you have. Come. Since you must choose, let us see what concerns you least. You have two things to lose: truth and good, and two things to stake: your reason and your will, your knowledge and your happiness. And your nature has two things to shun: error and misery. Your reason does not suffer by your choosing one more than the other, for you must choose. That is one point cleared. But your happiness? Let us weigh gain and loss in calling heads that God is. Reckon these two chances: if you win, you win all; if you lose, you lose naught. Then do not hesitate, wager that He is.”
  • Source: Blaise Pascal, Pensées (1670), Section I, aphorism 223. In H. F. Stewart (ed.), Pascal's Pensées (1950), 117-119.
Keywords: Game_quotes Infinity_quotes Distance_quotes Head_quotes Tail_quotes Wager_quotes Chance_quotes Reason_quotes Option_quotes Embark_quotes Choice_quotes Concern_quotes Loss_quotes Truth_quotes Good_quotes Stake_quotes Will_quotes Knowledge_quotes Happiness_quotes Nature_quotes Shun_quotes Error_quotes Misery_quotes Suffering_quotes Gain_quotes God_quotes Deity_quotes Winning_quotes Hesitate_quotes Weigh_quotes

Alan_Perlis

Error-Free Programs

“There are two ways to write error-free programs; only the third one works.”
Keywords: Error_quotes Free_quotes Quality_quotes Defect_quotes Program_quotes Programming_quotes Writing_quotes Work_quotes Way_quotes

Computing Fun

“I think that it's extraordinarily important that we in computer science keep fun in computing. When it started out, it was an awful lot of fun. Of course, the paying customers got shafted every now and then, and after a while we began to take their complaints seriously. We began to feel as if we really were responsible for the successful, error-free perfect use of these machines. I don't think we are. I think we're responsible for stretching them, setting them off in new directions, and keeping fun in the house. I hope the field of computer science never loses its sense of fun. Above all, I hope we don't become missionaries. Don't feel as if you're Bible salesmen. The world has too many of those already. What you know about computing other people will learn. Don't feel as if the key to successful computing is only in your hands. What's in your hands, I think and hope, is intelligence: the ability to see the machine as more than when you were first led up to it, that you can make it more.”
  • Source: Quoted in The Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs by Hal Abelson, Gerald Jay Sussman and Julie Sussman (McGraw-Hill, 2nd edition, 1996).
Keywords: Thinking_quotes Importance_quotes Computer_Science_quotes Computing_quotes Fun_quotes Pay_quotes Customer_quotes Shaft_quotes Complaint_quotes Serious_quotes Responsibility_quotes Success_quotes Error_quotes Error-Free_quotes Perfect_quotes Machine_quotes Quality_quotes Defect_quotes Stretch_quotes Innovation_quotes New_quotes Direction_quotes House_quotes Field_quotes Loss_quotes Sense_quotes Missionary_quotes Evangelism_quotes Bible_quotes Salesman_quotes World_quotes Knowledge_quotes Learning_quotes Feel_quotes Key_quotes Hand_quotes Intelligence_quotes Ability_quotes Sight_quotes First_quotes Extraordinary_quotes Science_quotes Learn_quotes

Michael_Polanyi

Scientific Method Elucidation

“Almost every major systematic error which has deluded men for thousands of years relied on practical experience. Horoscopes, incantations, oracles, magic, witchcraft, the cures of witch doctors and of medical practitioners before the advent of modern medicine, were all firmly established through the centuries in the eyes of the public by their supposed practical successes. The scientific method was devised precisely for the purpose of elucidating the nature of things under more carefully controlled conditions and by more rigorous criteria than are present in the situations created by practical problems.”
  • Source: Michael Polanyi, Personal Knowledge (1958), 183.
Keywords: Major_quotes System_quotes Error_quotes Delusion_quotes Humanity_quotes Year_quotes Practical_quotes Experience_quotes Horoscope_quotes Incantation_quotes Oracle_quotes Magic_quotes Witchcraft_quotes Cure_quotes Witch-Doctor_quotes Medical_quotes Practitioner_quotes Modern_quotes Medicine_quotes Firm_quotes Establish_quotes Century_quotes Eye_quotes Public_quotes Suppose_quotes Success_quotes Scientific_Method_quotes Devise_quotes Precision_quotes Purpose_quotes Elucidate_quotes Nature_quotes Careful_quotes Control_quotes Condition_quotes Rigorous_quotes Criteria_quotes Present_quotes Situation_quotes Create_quotes Problem_quotes Thousand_quotes Doctor_quotes Science_quotes Method_quotes

Karl_Popper

Irresponsible Dreams

“The history of science, like the history of all human ideas, is a history of irresponsible dreams, of obstinacy, and of error. But science is one of the very few human activities — perhaps the only one — in which errors are systematically criticized and fairly often, in time, corrected. This is why we can say that, in science, we often learn from our mistakes, and why we can speak clearly and sensibly about making progress there. In most other fields of human endeavour there is change, but rarely progress ... And in most fields we do not even know how to evaluate change.”
  • Source: Karl Raimund Popper, From Conjectures and Refutations: The Growth of Scientific Knowledge (1963), 216. Reproduced in Karl Popper, Truth, Rationality and the Growth of Scientific Knowledge (1979), 9.
Keywords: History_quotes Science_quotes Humanity_quotes Idea_quotes Irresponsible_quotes Dreaming_quotes Obstinate_quotes Error_quotes Activity_quotes System_quotes Criticism_quotes Often_quotes Time_quotes Correction_quotes Learning_quotes Mistake_quotes Speak_quotes Clear_quotes Sensibility_quotes Progress_quotes Field_quotes Endeavour_quotes Change_quotes Evaluation_quotes

Willard_Van_Orman_Quine

Science as a Tool

“As an empiricist I continue to think of the conceptual scheme of science as a tool, ultimately, for predicting future experience in the light of past experience. Physical objects are conceptually imported into the situation as convenient intermediaries - not by definition in terms of experience, but simply as irreducible posits comparable, epistemologically, to the gods of Homer. For my part I do, qua lay physicist, believe in physical objects and not in Homer's gods; and I consider it a scientific error to believe otherwise. But in point of epistemological footing the physical objects and the gods differ only in degree and not in kind. Both sorts of entities enter our conception only as cultural posits. The myth of physical objects is epistemologically superior to most in that it has proved more efficacious than other myths as a device for working a manageable structure into the flux of experience.”
  • Source: From A Logical Point of View (1953), p. 44.
Keywords: Empirical_quotes Thinking_quotes Conceptual_quotes Scheme_quotes Science_quotes Tool_quotes Prediction_quotes Future_quotes Experience_quotes Light_quotes Past_quotes Physical_quotes Object_quotes Import_quotes Situation_quotes Convenience_quotes Intermediary_quotes Definition_quotes Term_quotes Irreducible_quotes Posit_quotes Compare_quotes Epistemology_quotes God_quotes Myth_quotes Part_quotes Physics_quotes Belief_quotes Error_quotes Point_quotes Degree_quotes Kind_quotes Entity_quotes Culture_quotes Superior_quotes Proof_quotes Effectiveness_quotes Device_quotes Management_quotes Structure_quotes Flux_quotes Homer(topic)_quotes Efficacious_quotes

Bertrand_Russell

Exact Science Approximate

“Although this may seem a paradox, all exact science is dominated by the idea of approximation. When a man tells you that he knows the exact truth about anything, you are safe in inferring that he is an inexact man. Every careful measurement in science is always given with the probable error ... every observer admits that he is likely wrong and knows about how much wrong he is likely to be.”
  • Source: Bertrand Russell, In The Scientific Outlook (1931, 2009), 42
Keywords: Paradox_quotes Seem_quotes Exact_quotes Science_quotes Domination_quotes Idea_quotes Approximation_quotes Humanity_quotes Truth_quotes Safe_quotes Inference_quotes Inexact_quotes Careful_quotes Measurement_quotes Probability_quotes Error_quotes Observation_quotes Wrong_quotes Knowledge_quotes Man_quotes

Albert_Speer

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

Shannon_Vallor

AI Longtermism

“What longtermists and effective altruists have in common... is the utilitarian view that morality is a happiness optimization problem, a matter of running the numbers. Conveniently for AI enthusiasts... For a virtue ethicist like me, there are profound dangers and moral errors in any view of morality that separates it from humane feeling, relational bonds, and social context, reducing it to a mere computation of net happiness units.”
  • Source: From the book “The AI Mirror” by Shannon Vallor. Published 2024 by Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0197759066. Chapter 3, page 77.
Keywords: AI_quotes Artificial_quotes Intelligence_quotes Longtermism_quotes Effective_quotes Altruist_quotes Common_quotes Utilitarian_quotes View_quotes Morality_quotes Happiness_quotes Optimization_quotes Problem_quotes Matter_quotes Run_quotes Number_quotes Convenient_quotes Enthusiast_quotes Virtue_quotes Ethicist_quotes Profound_quotes Danger_quotes Moral_quotes Error_quotes Separate_quotes Human_quotes Feel_quotes Relational_quotes Bond_quotes Social_quotes Context_quotes Reduce_quotes Mere_quotes Computation_quotes Net_quotes Unit_quotes

William_E_Vaughan

Really Foul Things Up

“To err is human, to really foul things up requires a computer.”

Keywords: Error_quotes Humanity_quotes Foul_quotes Computer_quotes Mistake_quotes Automation_quotes Require_quotes

Gerald_Weinberg

Egoless Programming and Cognitive Dissonance

“Now, what cognitive dissonance has to do with our programming conflict should be vividly clear. A programmer who truly sees his program as an extension of his own ego is not going to be trying to find all the errors in that program. On the contrary, he is going to be trying to prove that the program is correct — even if this means the oversight of errors which are monstrous to another eye.”
  • Source: Chapter 4. Weinberg, G. M. (2011). The Psychology of Computer Programming (Silver anniversary edition) | 1971. Weinberg & Weinberg.
Keywords: Egoless_quotes Cognition_quotes Dissonance_quotes Programming_quotes Conflict_quotes Programmer_quotes Program_quotes Extension_quotes Ego_quotes Self_quotes Error_quotes Debugging_quotes Proof_quotes Correctness_quotes Bias_quotes Oversight_quotes Monster_quotes Eye_quotes Observation_quotes Vivid_quotes Clear_quotes Try_quotes Find_quotes

Egoless Programming and John von Neumann

“Programming groups who have conquered the ego problem do exist and have existed from the earliest days of computing. John von Neumann himself was perhaps the first programmer to recognize his inadequacies with respect to examination of his own work. Those who knew him have said that he was constantly asserting what a lousy programmer he was, and that he incessantly pushed his programs on other people to read for errors and clumsiness. Yet the common image today of von Neumann is of the unparalleled computing genius — flawless in his every action. And indeed, there can be no doubt of von Neumann's genius. His very ability to realize his human limitations put him head and shoulders above the average programmer today. Average people can be trained to accept their humanity — their inability to function like a machine — and to value it and work with others so as to keep it under the kind of control needed if programming is to be successful.”
  • Source: Chapter 4. Weinberg, G. M. (2011). The Psychology of Computer Programming (Silver anniversary edition) | 1971. Weinberg & Weinberg.
Keywords: Egoless_quotes Programming_quotes Group_quotes Conquer_quotes Ego_quotes Computing_quotes Neumann_quotes Programmer_quotes Recognition_quotes Inadequacy_quotes Examination_quotes Peer_Review_quotes Error_quotes Clumsy_quotes Genius_quotes Flawless_quotes Action_quotes Doubt_quotes Ability_quotes Human_Limitations_quotes Training_quotes Humanity_quotes Functional_quotes Machine_quotes Control_quotes Success_quotes Problem_quotes Exist_quotes Earliest_quotes Respect_quotes Work_quotes Constant_quotes Assert_quotes Lousy_quotes Incessant_quotes Push_quotes People_quotes Read_quotes Image_quotes Unparallel_quotes Realize_quotes Human_quotes Limitation_quotes Head_quotes Shoulder_quotes Above_quotes Average_quotes Inability_quotes Value_quotes
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