Instrument quotes
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Contents
George_Basalla
Edison Phonograph
“Edison resisted efforts to market the phonograph as a musical instrument and concentrated on selling it as a dictating machine.”
- Source: George Basalla in his book ‘The Evolution of Technology’, published 1988 by Cambridge University Press.
Tycho_Brahe
Instruments of Copernicus
“If Nicolaus Copernicus, the distinguished and incomparable master, in this work had not been deprived of exquisite and faultless instruments, he would have left us this science far more well-established.”
- Source: Letter Tycho Brahe (20 Jan 1587) to Christopher Rothman, chief astronomer of the Landgrave of Hesse.
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
Erwin_Schrödinger
Observer Instruments
“The observer is never entirely replaced by instruments; for if he were, he could obviously obtain no knowledge whatsoever.”
- Source: Erwin Schrödinger in the book “Mind and Matter”, chapter 6. Contained within the book “What is Life? The Physical Aspect of the Living Cell with Mind and Matter and Autobiographical Sketches”. Published in 1992 and reprinted in 2013 by Cambridge University Press, New York, NY. ISBN: 9781107604667. Online at <http://strangebeautiful.com/other-texts/schrodinger-what-is-life-mind-matter-auto-sketches.pdf> retrieved 2024. Note: “Mind and Matter” originally published separately in 1944.
- Keywords: Observer_quotes Entire_quotes Replace_quotes Instrument_quotes Obvious_quotes Obtain_quotes Knowledge_quotes
Shoshana_Zuboff
Breed of American Worker
“There is a breed of American worker who cherishes the autonomy and sense of self-control afforded by his or her skills and protected by the union contract. When these workers contemplate the prospect of the socially integrated high-technology workplace, they feel despair. They anticipate a loss of their unique identities, of freedom and autonomy, and of well-defined rights and responsibilities. They fear that without the traditional sources of protection provided by their job descriptions and their contract, they will become prey to every capricious whim of their superiors. They understand that the managers' world requires the body as a political instrument for self-presentation and influence, but they know that these are talents they have not developed and toward which they feel more than a little distaste.”
- Source: Zuboff, S. (1988). In The Age Of The Smart Machine: The Future Of Work And Power. New York, NY: Basic Books, p. 404. ISBN:0465032125.
- Keywords: America_quotes Worker_quotes Autonomy_quotes Self_quotes Control_quotes Skill_quotes Protection_quotes Union_quotes Society_quotes Integration_quotes Technology_quotes Workplace_quotes Despair_quotes Anticipation_quotes Loss_quotes Uniqueness_quotes Identity_quotes Freedom_quotes Rights_quotes Responsibility_quotes Fear_quotes Tradition_quotes Job_quotes Description_quotes Contract_quotes Prey_quotes Supervision_quotes Management_quotes World_quotes Requirements_quotes Body_quotes Political_quotes Instrument_quotes Preservation_quotes Influence_quotes Talent_quotes Development_quotes Disgust_quotes Breed_quotes Capricious_quotes Whim_quotes Superior_quotes Distaste_quotes
