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General_Aphorisms

Past History

"The Past Is History. The Future Is a Mystery. Today Is a Gift. That’s Why It’s Called the Present."
  • Source: Traditional. Not clearly identified. Sometimes attributed to Eleanor Roosevelt, Barbara De Angelis, Joan Rivers, Bill Keane, Emily Dickinson, Liz Curtis Higgs, Babatunde Olatunji, Susan Barkdoll, Nicholas L. Santowassa, Abigail Van Buren, or Alice Morse Earle.
Keywords: Past_quotes History_quotes Future_quotes Mystery_quotes Call_quotes Present_quotes Today_quotes Gift_quotes

David_Bohm

Extraphysical Principles

“There is no reason why an extraphysical general principle is necessarily to be avoided, since such principles could conceivably serve as useful working hypotheses. For the history of scientific research is full of examples in which it was very fruitful indeed to assume that certain objects or elements might be real, long before any procedures were known which would permit them to be observed directly.”
  • Source: David Bohm in the paper “A Suggested Interpretation of the Quantum Theory in Terms of ‘Hidden’ Variables. II”. Published January 1952 in Physical Review volume 35 issue 2.
Keywords: Reason_quotes Extraphysical_quotes Physical_quotes General_quotes Principle_quotes Avoid_quotes Conceive_quotes Serve_quotes Useful_quotes Working_quotes Hypothesis_quotes History_quotes Science_quotes Research_quotes Example_quotes Fruitful_quotes Assumption_quotes Object_quotes Element_quotes Real_quotes Procedure_quotes Know_quotes Permit_quotes Observation_quotes Direct_quotes

Robert_N_Britcher

Module Specialization

“Centuries of experience and common sense dictate that a module be specialized, that it do one thing or one set of related things, like the liver or the heart...”
  • Source: Britcher, Robert N. (1999). The Limits of Software: People, Projects, and Perspectives. Reading, MA: Addison Wesley. ISBN 0-201-43323-0. Page 43.
Keywords: History_quotes Experience_quotes Common_Sense_quotes Module_quotes Specialization_quotes Relational_quotes Liver_quotes Heart_quotes Cohesion_quotes Coupling_quotes Century_quotes Dictate_quotes One_quotes Set_quotes Relate_quotes

Fred_Brooks

History Studies What Does Not Work

“The most potent reason to study design history is to learn what doesn’t work, and why.”
  • 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 25.
Keywords: Study_quotes History_quotes Design_quotes Failure_quotes Uselessness_quotes Potent_quotes Reason_quotes Learning_quotes Work_quotes

George_E_P_Box

Slow Progress

“History shows that the human animal has always learned but progress used to be very slow. This was because learning often depended on the chance coming together of a potentially informative event on the one hand and a perceptive observer on the other. Scientific method accelerated that process.”
  • Source: George E.P. Box, in the article ‘Total Quality: Its Origins and its Future’, published 1995 at the Center for Quality and Productivity Improvement.
Keywords: History_quotes Learning_quotes Humanity_quotes Progress_quotes Chance_quotes Randomness_quotes Perception_quotes Observation_quotes Scientific_Method_quotes Show_quotes Animal_quotes Slow_quotes Depend_quotes Potential_quotes Information_quotes Event_quotes Hand_quotes Acceleration_quotes Process_quotes

Richard_Clarke_Cabot

Write Barbarously

"Scientists, economists, and historians often write barbarously."
Keywords: Writing_quotes Science_quotes History_quotes Economics_quotes Barbarous_quotes

Daniel_Dennett

History of Philosophy

"The history of philosophy is in large measure the history of very smart people making very tempting mistakes, and if you don’t know the history, you are doomed to making the same darn mistakes all over again."
  • Source: Daniel C. Dennett, from the book 'Intuition Pumps and Other Tools for Thinking', 2013, WW Norton, ISBN 978-0-393-24068-9 (e-book), chapter 1.
Keywords: History_quotes Philosophy_quotes Intellectualism_quotes People_quotes Mistake_quotes Repeatability_quotes Smart_quotes Tempt_quotes Doom_quotes

Dwight_D_Eisenhower

Long Lane of History

“During the long lane of the history yet to be written, America knows that this world of ours, ever growing smaller, must avoid becoming a community of dreadful fear and hate, and be, instead, a proud confederation of mutual trust and respect. Such a confederation must be one of equals. The weakest must come to the conference table with the same confidence as do we, protected as we are by our moral, economic, and military strength. That table, though scarred by many past frustrations, cannot be abandoned for the certain agony of the battlefield.”
  • Source: Dwight D. Eisenhower, Farewell address (17 January 1961).
Keywords: Lane_quotes Long_quotes History_quotes America_quotes World_quotes Community_quotes Fear_quotes Hate_quotes Pride_quotes Confederation_quotes Trust_quotes Respect_quotes Equal_quotes Weakness_quotes Conference_quotes Table_quotes Negotiation_quotes Confidence_quotes Protection_quotes Moral_quotes Economics_quotes Military_quotes Frustration_quotes Abandon_quotes Agony_quotes Pain_quotes Battlefield_quotes

Richard_Feynman

Cargo Cult

“...there have been many experiments running rats through all kinds of mazes, and so on — with little clear result. But in 1937 a man named Young did a very interesting one. He had a long corridor with doors all along one side where the rats came in, and doors along the other side where the food was. He wanted to see if he could train rats to go to the third door down from wherever he started them off. No. The rats went immediately to the door where the food had been the time before. The question was, how did the rats know, because the corridor was so beautifully built and so uniform, that this was the same door as before? Obviously there was something about the door that was different from the other doors. So he painted the doors very carefully, arranging the textures on the faces of the doors exactly the same. Still the rats could tell. Then he thought maybe they were smelling the food, so he used chemicals to change the smell after each run. Still the rats could tell. Then he realized the rats might be able to tell by seeing the lights and the arrangement in the laboratory like any commonsense person. So he covered the corridor, and still the rats could tell. He finally found that they could tell by the way the floor sounded when they ran over it. And he could only fix that by putting his corridor in sand. So he covered one after another of all possible clues and finally was able to fool the rats so that they had to learn to go to the third door. If he relaxed any of his conditions, the rats could tell. Now, from a scientific standpoint, that is an A-number-one experiment. That is the experiment that makes rat-running experiments sensible, because it uncovers the clues that the rat is really using — not what you think it's using. And that is the experiment that tells exactly what conditions you have to use in order to be careful and control everything in an experiment with rat-running. I looked into the subsequent history of this research. The next experiment, and the one after that, never referred to Mr. Young. They never used any of his criteria of putting the corridor on sand, or of being very careful. They just went right on running rats in the same old way, and paid no attention to the great discoveries of Mr. Young, and his papers are not referred to, because he didn't discover anything about rats. In fact, he discovered all the things you have to do to discover something about rats. But not paying attention to experiments like that is a characteristic of cargo cult science.”
  • Source: "Cargo Cult Science", adapted from a 1974 Caltech commencement address; also published in Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!, p. 345.
    • Feynman, R. P. (1974). In Feynman, R. P. (1974, June). Cargo Cult Science. Science and Engineering.
Keywords: Cargo_quotes Cult_quotes Experiment_quotes Rat_quotes Maze_quotes Result_quotes Door_quotes Smell_quotes Sight_quotes Sound_quotes Clue_quotes Control_quotes Attention_quotes Ignore_quotes Ignorance_quotes Discovery_quotes Corridor_quotes Food_quotes Train_quotes Immediate_quotes Time_quotes Question_quotes Know_quotes Uniform_quotes Obvious_quotes Different_quotes Paint_quotes Arrange_quotes Texture_quotes Face_quotes Think_quotes Chemical_quotes Change_quotes Run_quotes Realize_quotes Light_quotes Laboratory_quotes Common_quotes Sense_quotes Person_quotes Cover_quotes Floor_quotes Fool_quotes Relax_quotes Condition_quotes Science_quotes Standpoint_quotes Uncover_quotes Careful_quotes Look_quotes History_quotes Research_quotes Refer_quotes Criteria_quotes Sand_quotes Old_quotes Fact_quotes Characteristic_quotes

Samuel_C_Florman

Despair

“From the beginning of recorded time, we find evidence of despair, melancholy, and ennui. We find also an abundance of greed, treachery, vulgarity, and stupidity. Absorbed as we are in our own problems, we tend to forget how replete history is with wars, feuds, floods, plagues, fires, massacres, tortures, slavery, the wasting of cities, and the destruction of libraries.”
  • 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 6, page 74.
Keywords: Beginning_quotes Record_quotes Time_quotes Find_quotes Evidence_quotes Despair_quotes Melancholy_quotes Ennui_quotes Abundance_quotes Greed_quotes Treachery_quotes Vulgarity_quotes Stupidity_quotes Absorb_quotes Problem_quotes Forget_quotes Replete_quotes History_quotes War_quotes Feud_quotes Flood_quotes Plague_quotes Fire_quotes Massacre_quotes Torture_quotes Slavery_quotes Waste_quotes City_quotes Destruction_quotes Library_quotes

Gordon_Glegg

Engineers and Designers Are Human

“Throughout this book we have talked about 'designers' and 'engineers' and sought, by analysing their work, to find general and helpful maxims. But there is a danger in doing this, for we may forget that a 'designer' or 'engineer' is first and foremost a human being. A human being who designs or engineers has, in addition, a wide range of complicated and interacting emotions. It is easy to become emotionally involved in a new invention and so resent criticism of it even when that criticism, if heeded, would turn a failure into a success. Confidence may be blinded by conceit or undermined by an inferiority complex. History has shown that many new inventions were not inventions at all; they were re-inventions. The idea was not new but the determination to press through with it was. Character is the foundation of ability. Develop as large a safety margin as you can against such things as laziness, impatience, prejudice and arrogance and all the other human failings that inhibit constructive achievement in all spheres, especially that of creative engineering design.”
  • Source: Glegg, G. L. (1969). The Design of Design. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN: 978-0-511-79996-9. Chapter 6, page 92.
Keywords: Design_quotes Engineering_quotes Work_quotes Maxim_quotes Danger_quotes Forget_quotes Humanity_quotes Complexity_quotes Emotion_quotes Invention_quotes Criticism_quotes Resentment_quotes Failure_quotes Success_quotes Confidence_quotes Conceit_quotes Inferior_quotes History_quotes Idea_quotes Determination_quotes Character_quotes Ability_quotes Safe_quotes Lazy_quotes Impatience_quotes Prejudice_quotes Arrogance_quotes Achievement_quotes Sphere_quotes Creativity_quotes Analyze_quotes Human_quotes Interacting_quotes Heed_quotes Blind_quotes Reinvention_quotes Inhibit_quotes Constructive_quotes

Thomas_Gold

Knowledge Rules

“In no subject is there a rule, compliance with which will lead to new knowledge or better understanding. Skilful observations, ingenious ideas, cunning tricks, daring suggestions, laborious calculations, all these may be required to advance a subject. Occasionally the conventional approach in a subject has to be studiously followed; on other occasions it has to be ruthlessly disregarded. Which of these methods, or in what order they should be employed is generally unpredictable. Analogies drawn from the history of science are frequently claimed to be a guide; but, as with forecasting the next game of roulette, the existence of the best analogy to the present is no guide whatever to the future. The most valuable lesson to be learnt from the history of scientific progress is how misleading and strangling such analogies have been, and how success has come to those who ignored them.”
  • Source: Thomas Gold, 'Cosmology', in Arthur Beer (ed.), Vistas in Astronomy (1956), Vol. 2, 1722.
Keywords: Rule_quotes Subject_quotes Compliance_quotes Knowledge_quotes Understanding_quotes Skill_quotes Observation_quotes Idea_quotes Trick_quotes Courage_quotes Labor_quotes Status_Quo_quotes Creativity_quotes Prediction_quotes Analogy_quotes History_quotes Science_quotes Game_quotes Success_quotes Ingenious_quotes Cunning_quotes Daring_quotes Suggest_quotes Calculation_quotes Conventional_quotes Approach_quotes Order_quotes Follow_quotes Ruthless_quotes Disregard_quotes Method_quotes Unpredictable_quotes Guide_quotes Forecast_quotes Roulette_quotes Existence_quotes Present_quotes Future_quotes Value_quotes Learn_quotes Progress_quotes Mislead_quotes Strangle_quotes Ignore_quotes

Yuval_Noah_Harari

AI and Religion

“At the heart of every religion lies the fantasy of connecting to a superhuman and infallible intelligence. This is why... studying the history of religion is highly relevant to present-day debates about AI.”
  • 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 71. ISBN 978-0593734247.
Keywords: Artificial_Intelligence_quotes AI_quotes Artificial_quotes Intelligence_quotes Superhuman_quotes Infallible_quotes Study_quotes History_quotes Religion_quotes Relevant_quotes Present_quotes Day_quotes Debate_quotes God_quotes

Stephen_Hawking

Indefinite Past

“In classical physics, the past is assumed to exist as a definite series of events, but according to quantum physics, the past, like the future, is indefinite and exists only as a spectrum of possibilities. Even the universe as a whole has no single past or history.”
  • Source: Hawking & Mlodinow, Scientific American, October 2010.
Keywords: Classical_quotes Physics_quotes Past_quotes Series_quotes Quantum_quotes Future_quotes Indefinite_quotes Existence_quotes Spectrum_quotes Possibility_quotes Probability_quotes Universe_quotes History_quotes Multiverse_quotes Assume_quotes Event_quotes

Extraterrestrials

“[On the possibility of contact with an alien civilization:] I think it would be a disaster. The extraterrestrials would probably be far in advance of us. The history of advanced races meeting more primitive people on this planet is not very happy, and they were the same species. I think we should keep our heads low.”
  • Source: Stephen Hawking on an appearance in the National Geographic Channel program “Naked Science: Alien Contact”. As quoted in The New York Times in the 2004-11-24 issue.
Keywords: Extraterrestrial_quotes Possibility_quotes Contact_quotes Alien_quotes Civilization_quotes Disaster_quotes Far_quotes Advance_quotes History_quotes Race_quotes Meet_quotes Primitive_quotes People_quotes Happy_quotes Species_quotes Keep_quotes Head_quotes Low_quotes

Robert_Heinlein

History

“A generation which ignores history has no past — and no future.”
  • Source: Written by Robert A. Heinlein in the book “Time Enough for Love”, published in 1973 by Putnam's Sons, ISBN: 0-399-11151-4. ISBN: 9781101503072 (ebook). Page 250 (Kindle edition).
Keywords: Generation_quotes Ignore_quotes History_quotes Past_quotes Future_quotes

Grace_Hopper

Past and Future

“I've always been more interested in the future than in the past.”
  • Source: As quoted in The Reader's Digest, October 1994, p. 185.
Keywords: Time_quotes History_quotes Past_quotes Future_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

Andrew_Hui

Aphorism Genre

“The shortest of genres — the aphorism... A basic unit of intelligible thought, this microform has persisted across world cultures and histories, from Confucius to Twitter... Opposed to the babble of the foolish, the redundancy of bureaucrats, the silence of mystics, in the aphorism nothing is superfluous, every word bears weight.”
  • Source: From the book “A Theory of the Aphorism from Confucius to Twitter” by Andrew Hui. Published in 2019 by Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0691188959. Introduction, page 1.
Keywords: Short_quotes Genre_quotes Aphorism_quotes Basic_quotes Unit_quotes Intelligible_quotes Thought_quotes Microform_quotes Persist_quotes Across_quotes Culture_quotes History_quotes Confucius(topic)_quotes Twitter_quotes Oppose_quotes Babble_quotes Foolish_quotes Redundant_quotes Bureaucrat_quotes Silence_quotes Mystic_quotes Nothing_quotes Superfluous_quotes Word_quotes Bear_quotes Weight_quotes

Karl_Marx

Feminine Ferment

“Everyone who knows anything of history also knows that great social revolutions are impossible without the feminine ferment. Social progress may be measured precisely by the social position of the fair sex (plain ones included).”
  • Source: Letter to Ludwig Kugelmann, dated 12 December 1868.
Keywords: History_quotes Feminism_quotes Revolution_quotes Impossibility_quotes Progress_quotes Society_quotes Measurement_quotes Gender_quotes Attractiveness_quotes Social_quotes Feminine_quotes Ferment_quotes Precision_quotes Fair_quotes Sex_quotes Plain_quotes Inclusion_quotes

John_von_Neumann

Language Historical

“It is only proper to realize that language is largely a historical accident... It is only reasonable to assume that logics and mathematics are similarly historical, accidental forms of expression.”
  • Source: John von Neumann. (1958). The Computer and the Brain (1st ed.). New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. Part 2, page 81.
Keywords: Language_quotes History_quotes Logic_quotes Mathematics_quotes Accident_quotes Expression_quotes Assumption_quotes Form_quotes Reason_quotes

David_E_Nye

History Not Rhetorical

“Yet it does not follow that historical arguments should be regarded as rhetorical exercises. To say that the past is not perfectly knowable does not make it infinitely malleable.”
  • 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, page 7.
Keywords: History_quotes Argument_quotes Regard_quotes Exercise_quotes Past_quotes Perfect_quotes Knowledge_quotes Infinite_quotes Malleable_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

George_Sarton

Scientific Progress

“No history of civilization can be tolerably complete which does not give considerable space to the explanation of scientific progress. If we had any doubts about this, it would suffice to ask ourselves what constitutes the essential difference between our and earlier civilizations. Throughout the course of history, in every period, and in almost every country, we find a small number of saints, of great artists, of men of science. The saints of today are not necessarily more saintly than those of a thousand years ago; our artists are not necessarily greater than those of early Greece; they are more likely to be inferior; and of course, our men of science are not necessarily more intelligent than those of old; yet one thing is certain, their knowledge is at once more extensive and more accurate. The acquisition and systematization of positive knowledge is the only human activity which is truly cumulative and progressive. Our civilization is essentially different from earlier ones, because our knowledge of the world and of ourselves is deeper, more precise, and more certain, because we have gradually learned to disentangle the forces of nature, and because we have contrived, by strict obedience to their laws, to capture them and to divert them to the gratification of our own needs.”
  • Source: George (Alfred Léon) Sarton, Introduction to the History of Science (1927), Vol. 1, 3-4.
Keywords: History_quotes Civilization_quotes Tolerance_quotes Completion_quotes Explanation_quotes Science_quotes Progress_quotes Doubt_quotes Sufficient_quotes Constitute_quotes Essential_quotes Differences_quotes Early_quotes Course_quotes Period_quotes Country_quotes Small_quotes Saint_quotes Great_quotes Art_quotes Intelligence_quotes Old_quotes Year_quotes Greece_quotes Inferior_quotes Knowledge_quotes Extension_quotes Accuracy_quotes Acquire_quotes System_quotes Positive_quotes Humanity_quotes Activity_quotes True_quotes Cumulative_quotes World_quotes Depth_quotes Precision_quotes Certainty_quotes Gradual_quotes Learning_quotes Disentangle_quotes Force_quotes Nature_quotes Contrive_quotes Strict_quotes Obedience_quotes Law_quotes Capture_quotes Divergence_quotes Gratify_quotes Need_quotes Progressive_quotes

Herbert_Simon

Engineering and Design

“Historically and traditionally, it has been the task of the science disciplines to teach about natural things: how they are and how they work. It has been the task of engineering schools to teach about artificial things: how to make artifacts that have desired properties and how to design.”
Keywords: History_quotes Tradition_quotes Task_quotes Science_quotes Discipline_quotes Teaching_quotes Natural_quotes Work_quotes Engineering_quotes Artificial_quotes Artifact_quotes Desire_quotes Property_quotes Design_quotes School_quotes

Patrick_Vlaskovits

Faster Horse

“However, even if Ford didn’t verbalize his thoughts on customers’ ostensible inability to communicate their unmet needs for innovative products — history indicates that Henry Ford most certainly did think along those lines... Henry Ford froze the design of the Model T... Ford had no compelling reason to innovate in any other sphere other than cost and price reduction... But everything changed with the onset of the innovations introduced by General Motors in the 1920s, which took the direct opposite of Henry Ford’s tack of “Any color … so long as it is black” and is best summed up by Alfred Sloan’s consumer-research driven “A Car for Every Purse and Purpose”... In 1921, the Ford Motor Company sold about 2/3 of all the cars built in the U.S. By 1926, this share had fallen to approximately 1/3. And in 1927, when Ford belatedly responded (at tremendous financial cost and internal strife) to changes in the market’s tastes and competitive innovation by shutting down production temporarily to re-tool his factories and bring the Model A to the market, that percentage fell to about 15%... Yes, some customers in certain types of businesses are quite capable of verbalizing precisely what sort of innovative product one could build and sell them. And of course, customers in other types of businesses are wholly incapable of verbalizing, with any sort of fidelity whatsoever, what they need and why they need it. An innovator should have understanding of one’s customers and their problems via empirical, observational, anecdotal methods or even intuition. They should also feel free to ignore customers’ inputs. Because by now it should be clear that Ford’s adherence to his vision of the mass-market car and how to materialize that vision was instrumental in both his early success in growing Ford Motor Company as well as his later failure to respond in a timely and effective manner to rapid innovation in the marketplace.”'
Keywords: Ford(topic)_quotes Sloan(topic)_quotes Verbalize_quotes Thinking_quotes Customer_quotes Requirements_quotes Ostensible_quotes Inability_quotes Communication_quotes Unmet_quotes Need_quotes Innovation_quotes Product_quotes History_quotes Freeze_quotes Design_quotes Model_T_quotes Automobile_quotes Compel_quotes Sphere_quotes Cost_quotes Price_quotes Reduction_quotes Change_quotes General_Motors_quotes Consumer_quotes Research_quotes Opposite_quotes Color_quotes Black_quotes Car_quotes Purse_quotes Ford_Motor_quotes Build_quotes United_States_quotes Share_quotes Market_quotes Belated_quotes Respond_quotes Tremendous_quotes Financial_quotes Internal_quotes Strife_quotes Taste_quotes Competition_quotes Shut_quotes Production_quotes Tool_quotes Factory_quotes Model_A_quotes Percentage_quotes Type_quotes Business_quotes Capable_quotes Precise_quotes Sort_quotes Sell_quotes Incapable_quotes Fidelity_quotes What_quotes Why_quotes Understand_quotes Problem_quotes Empirical_quotes Observation_quotes Anecdotal_quotes Method_quotes Intuition_quotes Feel_quotes Free_quotes Ignore_quotes Input_quotes Clear_quotes Adherence_quotes Vision_quotes Mass_quotes Innovator_quotes Materialize_quotes Instrumental_quotes Success_quotes Early_quotes Grow_quotes Later_quotes Failure_quotes Timely_quotes Effective_quotes Manner_quotes Rapid_quotes Marketplace_quotes Horse_quotes Faster_quotes

Gerald_Weinberg

Knowledge Came Slowly

“In ages past, the knowledge came very slowly, and one man in his life was not likely to see much change other than that wrought by nature. The controlled incorporation of arsenic into copper to make bronze took several thousand years to develop; the substitution of tin for the more dangerous arsenic took another thousand or two. In our modern age, laboratories turn out an alloy a day, or more, with properties made to order. The alloying of metals led to the rise and fall of civilizations, but the changes were too slow to be appreciated. A truer blade meant victory over the invaders, but changes were local and slow enough to be absorbed by a million tiny adjustments without destroying the species. With an alloy a day, we can no longer be sure. Science and engineering have been the catalysts for the unprecedented speed and magnitude of change. The physicist shows us how to harness the power of the nucleus; the chemist shows us how to increase the quantity of our food; the geneticist shows us how to improve the quality of our children. But science and engineering have been unable to keep pace with the second-order effects produced by their first-order victories. The excess heat from the nuclear generator alters the spawning pattern of fish, and, before adjustments can be made, other species have produced irreversible changes in the ecology of the river and its borders. The pesticide eliminates one insect only to the advantage of others that may be worse, or the herbicide clears the rain forest for farming, but the resulting soil changes make the land less productive than it was before. And of what we are doing to our progeny, we still have only ghastly hints. Some have said the general systems movement was born out of the failures of science, but it would be more accurate to say the general systems approach is needed because science has been such a success. Science and technology have colonized the planet, and nothing in our lives is untouched. In this changing, they have revealed a complexity with which they are not prepared to deal. The general systems movement has taken up the task of helping scientists unravel complexity, technologists to master it, and others to learn to live with it.”
  • Source: Weinberg, Gerald (2011-04-07). An Introduction to General Systems Thinking (Kindle Locations 264-267). Weinberg & Weinberg. Kindle Edition.
Keywords: History_quotes Knowledge_quotes Slow_quotes Humanity_quotes Life_quotes Change_quotes Nature_quotes Arsenic_quotes Copper_quotes Bronze_quotes Technology_quotes Tin_quotes Metal_quotes Laboratory_quotes Property_quotes On_Demand_quotes Rise_quotes Fall_quotes Civilization_quotes Appreciation_quotes Victory_quotes Blade_quotes Invader_quotes Adjustment_quotes Species_quotes Science_quotes Engineering_quotes Catalyst_quotes Speed_quotes Physics_quotes Chemistry_quotes Food_quotes Genetics_quotes Quality_quotes Children_quotes Effect_quotes Heat_quotes Fish_quotes Irreversible_quotes Ecology_quotes River_quotes Pesticide_quotes Insect_quotes Herbicide_quotes Forest_quotes Farming_quotes Soil_quotes Productivity_quotes Progeny_quotes System_quotes Failure_quotes Accuracy_quotes Colonize_quotes Planet_quotes Earth_quotes Complexity_quotes Preparation_quotes Man_quotes Nucleus_quotes Quantity_quotes Second-order_quotes First-order_quotes Nuclear_quotes Generator_quotes Alter_quotes Spawn_quotes Pattern_quotes Border_quotes Eliminate_quotes Advantage_quotes Worse_quotes Rain_quotes Land_quotes Ghastly_quotes Hint_quotes General_quotes Approach_quotes Success_quotes Accurate_quotes Say_quotes Untouch_quotes Reveal_quotes Master_quotes Learn_quotes

T_H_White

Learning Cure for Sadness

“‘The best thing for being sad,’ replied Merlyn, beginning to puff and blow, ‘is to learn something. That is the only thing that never fails. You may grow old and trembling in your anatomies, you may lie awake at night listening to the disorder of your veins, you may miss your only love, you may see the world about you devastated by evil lunatics, or know your honour trampled in the sewers of baser minds. There is only one thing for it then — to learn. Learn why the world wags and what wags it. That is the only thing which the mind can never exhaust, never alienate, never be tortured by, never fear or distrust, and never dream of regretting. Learning is the thing for you. Look at what a lot of things there are to learn — pure science, the only purity there is. You can learn astronomy in a lifetime, natural history in three, literature in six. And then, after you have exhausted a milliard lifetimes in biology and medicine and theocriticism and geography and history and economics — why, you can start to make a cartwheel out of the appropriate wood, or spend fifty years learning to begin to learn to beat your adversary at fencing. After that you can start again on mathematics, until it is time to learn to plough.’”
  • Source: White, T. H. (2011). The Once and Future King | 1939. New York, NY: Penguin. ISBN 9781101657546.
Keywords: Best_quotes Sad_quotes Begin_quotes Puff_quotes Blow_quotes Learning_quotes Failure_quotes Grow_quotes Old_quotes Tremble_quotes Anatomy_quotes Lie_quotes Awake_quotes Night_quotes Listening_quotes Disorder_quotes Vein_quotes Miss_quotes Love_quotes See_quotes World_quotes Devastate_quotes Evil_quotes Honor_quotes Trample_quotes Sewer_quotes Base_quotes Mind_quotes Why_quotes Wag_quotes Exhaust_quotes Alienate_quotes Torture_quotes Fear_quotes Distrust_quotes Dreaming_quotes Regret_quotes Look_quotes Pure_quotes Science_quotes Astronomy_quotes Lifetime_quotes Natural_quotes History_quotes Literature_quotes Biology_quotes Medicine_quotes Theocriticism_quotes Geography_quotes Economics_quotes Start_quotes Cartwheel_quotes Appropriate_quotes Wood_quotes Beat_quotes Adversary_quotes Fencing_quotes Mathematics_quotes Time_quotes Plow_quotes

E_O_Wilson

Unbroken Advance in Mental Ability

“The increase in brain size and refinement of stone artifacts point to an unbroken advance in mental ability over the last two or three million years. ... No organ in the history of life has grown faster.”
  • Source: Chapter 4. On Human Nature (1978). On Human Nature; written by Edward O. Wilson; first edition; published in 1978 by Cambridge University Press; ISBN 0674634411.
Keywords: Increase_quotes Brain_quotes Size_quotes Refine_quotes Stone_quotes Artifact_quotes Point_quotes Unbroken_quotes Advance_quotes Mental_quotes Ability_quotes Over_quotes Million_quotes Year_quotes Organ_quotes History_quotes Life_quotes Grow_quotes Fast_quotes

Knowledge is the Ultimate Emancipator

“Pure knowledge is the ultimate emancipator. It equalizes people and sovereign states, erodes the archaic barriers of superstition and promises to lift the trajectory of cultural evolution. But I do not believe that it can change the ground rules of human behavior or alter the main course of history's predictable trajectory.”
  • Source: Chapter 4 (Emergence). On Human Nature (1978). On Human Nature; written by Edward O. Wilson; first edition; published in 1978 by Cambridge University Press; ISBN 0674634411.
Keywords: Pure_quotes Knowledge_quotes Ultimate_quotes Emancipator_quotes Equalize_quotes People_quotes Sovereign_quotes State_quotes Erode_quotes Archaic_quotes Barrier_quotes Change_quotes Ground_quotes Rule_quotes Human_quotes Behavior_quotes Superstition_quotes Promise_quotes Lift_quotes Trajectory_quotes Culture_quotes Evolution_quotes Believe_quotes Alter_quotes Main_quotes Course_quotes History_quotes Predict_quotes

Passion Desire Truth

“If history and science have taught us anything, it is that passion and desire are not the same as truth.”
  • Source: p. 262 Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge (1998). The Unity of Knowledge (1998). Vintage Books. ISBN: 9780679450771. ISBN: 9780679768678.
Keywords: History_quotes Science_quotes Teach_quotes Passion_quotes Desire_quotes Same_quotes Truth_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

Shoshana_Zuboff

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

Technological Innovations

“History reveals the power of certain technological innovations to transform the mental life of an era -- the feelings, sensibilities, perceptions, expectations, assumptions, and, above all, possibilities that define a community. From the social influence of the medieval castle,' to the coming of the printed book, to the social and physical upheaval associated with the rise of the automobile -- each specific example serves to drive home a similar message. An important technological innovation is not usefully thought of as a unitary cause eliciting a series of discrete effects. Instead, it can be seen as an alteration of the material horizon of our world, with transformative implications for both the contours and the interior texture of our lives. Technology makes the world a new place...”
  • Source: Zuboff, S. (1988). In The Age Of The Smart Machine: The Future Of Work And Power. New York, NY: Basic Books, p. 388. ISBN:0465032125.
Keywords: History_quotes Power_quotes Technology_quotes Innovation_quotes Transformation_quotes Feeling_quotes Sensibility_quotes Perception_quotes Expectation_quotes Assumption_quotes Possibility_quotes Community_quotes Society_quotes Influence_quotes Castle_quotes Medieval_quotes Printing_quotes Book_quotes Physical_quotes Upheaval_quotes Automobile_quotes Thinking_quotes Causality_quotes Effect_quotes Alteration_quotes Material_quotes Life_quotes World_quotes Change_quotes Mental_quotes Life_quotes Message_quotes Unitary_quotes Elicit_quotes Series_quotes Discrete_quotes Horizon_quotes Transform_quotes Implication_quotes Contour_quotes Interior_quotes Texture_quotes New_quotes Place_quotes

Technology Change

“To fully grasp the way in which a major new technology can change the world... it is necessary to consider both the manner in which it creates intrinsically new qualities of experience and the way in which new possibilities are engaged by the often-conflicting demands of social, political, and economic interests in order to produce a 'choice.' To concentrate only on intrinsic change and the texture of an emergent mentality is to ignore the real weight of history and the diversity of interests that pervade collective behavior. However, to narrow all discussion of technological change to the play of these interests overlooks the essential power of technology to reorder the rules of the game and thus our experience as players. Moreover, these two dimensions of technological change, the intrinsic and the contingent, need to be understood, not separately, but in relation to one another. The same innovation that abstracts work and increases its intellectual content, thus enhancing the learning of lower level employees... can also, within the context of the choices by which it is adapted, be experienced as a new source of divisiveness and control.”
  • 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: Technology_quotes Change_quotes World_quotes Consideration_quotes Intrinsic_quotes Quality_quotes Experience_quotes Possibility_quotes Conflict_quotes Demand_quotes Society_quotes Political_quotes Economics_quotes Interest_quotes Choice_quotes Concentration_quotes Emergence_quotes Thinking_quotes Mental_quotes History_quotes Diversity_quotes Collectivism_quotes Behavior_quotes Discussion_quotes Power_quotes Rule_quotes Game_quotes Play_quotes Contingent_quotes Understanding_quotes Relationship_quotes Innovation_quotes Abstraction_quotes Work_quotes Intellectualism_quotes Learning_quotes Employee_quotes Divisiveness_quotes Control_quotes Grasp_quotes Way_quotes Major_quotes New_quotes Manner_quotes Create_quotes Engage_quotes Texture_quotes Real_quotes Weight_quotes Pervade_quotes Narrow_quotes Overlook_quotes Reorder_quotes Player_quotes Dimension_quotes Increase_quotes Enhance_quotes Lower_quotes Level_quotes Context_quotes Adapt_quotes Source_quotes
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