Strong quotes
From Motley Bytes Wiki
Contents
Dietrich_Bonhoeffer
Stupidity Power
“Upon closer observation, it becomes apparent that every strong upsurge of power in the public sphere, be it of a political or a religious nature, infects a large part of humankind with stupidity. It would even seem that this is virtually a sociological-psychological law. The power of the one needs the stupidity of the other.”
- Source: From the paper “An Account at the Turn of the Year 1942-1943” by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, contained within the book “Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Volume 8: Letters and Papers from Prison” edited by John W. Gruchy, et al. Published in 2009 by Fortress Press.
- Keywords: Stupid_quotes Close_quotes Observation_quotes Apparent_quotes Every_quotes Strong_quotes Upsurge_quotes Power_quotes Public_quotes Sphere_quotes Political_quotes Religious_quotes Nature_quotes Infect_quotes Large_quotes Part_quotes Humankind_quotes Seem_quotes Virtual_quotes Sociology_quotes Psychology_quotes Law_quotes One_quotes Other_quotes
Mihaly_Csikszentmihalyi
True Believer
“The true believer is not really interacting with the belief system; he usually lets his psychic energy be absorbed by it. From this submission nothing new can come; consciousness may attain a welcome order, but it will be an order imposed rather than achieved. At best the self of the true believer resembles a crystal: strong and beautifully symmetrical, but very slow to grow.”
- Source: Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in the book “Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience“, chapter “The Elements of Enjoyment”, page 65. Original content published by Harper Perennial Modern Classics in 1990. Kindle edition published by Harper Collins in 2008. ISBN: 978-0061876721.
- Keywords: True_quotes Believer_quotes Interact_quotes Belief_quotes System_quotes Usual_quotes Psychic_quotes Energy_quotes Absorb_quotes Submission_quotes Consciousness_quotes Attain_quotes Order_quotes Welcome_quotes Impose_quotes Achieve_quotes Self_quotes Resemble_quotes Crystal_quotes Strong_quotes Beautiful_quotes Symmetric_quotes Slow_quotes Grow_quotes
Albert_Einstein
Cosmic Religious Feelings
“It is, therefore, quite natural that the churches have always fought against science and have persecuted its supporters. But, on the other hand, I assert that the cosmic religious experience is the strongest and noblest driving force behind scientific research.”
- Source: Albert Einstein (1930). An article. Entitled Religion and Science. Written by Albert Einstein. Published in New York Times Magazine. Published on 1930-11-09.
Art Science Life
“I believe with Schopenhauer that one of the strongest motives that lead men to art and science is escape from everyday life with its painful crudity and hopeless dreariness, from the fetters of one’s own ever shifting desires. A finely tempered nature longs to escape from personal life into the world of objective perception and thought; this desire may be compared with the townsman’s irresistible longing to escape from his noisy, cramped surroundings into the silence of high mountains, where the eye ranges freely through the still, pure air and fondly traces out the restful contours apparently built for eternity.”
- Source: Words spoken by Albert Einstein in an address to The Physical Society in Berlin in 1918 to honor Max Planck’s 60th birthday, Transcribed into the book 'Essays in Science' in the chapter 'Principles of Research' written by Albert Einstein and translated to english by Alan Harris. Published in 1934 by The Philosophical Library, New York, NY.
- Keywords: Art_quotes Science_quotes Motivation_quotes Life_quotes Pain_quotes Hopeless_quotes Desire_quotes Objectivity_quotes Perception_quotes Thinking_quotes Escape_quotes Schopenhauer(topic)_quotes Strong_quotes Men_quotes Crudity_quotes Dreariness_quotes Fetter_quotes Temper_quotes Nature_quotes Personal_quotes World_quotes Townsman_quotes Irresistible_quotes Noise_quotes Cramped_quotes Surround_quotes Silence_quotes High_quotes Mountain_quotes Eye_quotes Free_quotes Still_quotes Pure_quotes Air_quotes Fond_quotes Trace_quotes Restful_quotes Contour_quotes Build_quotes Eternity_quotes
David_Epstein
Creative Constraints
“That's the thing about constraints that spur creativity: They shut down many possibilities, but stimulate more varied and novel exploration of those that remain... Given complete freedom, our very strong urge is to follow the ‘path of least resistance.’ Specifically, we do only what we have done before, or follow the first example that jumps to mind.”
- Source: David Epstein in the book “Inside the Box: How Constraints Make Us Better”. Published 2026 by Riverhead Books. Page 58. ISBN 978-0593715734 (Ebook).
- Keywords: Thing_quotes Constraint_quotes Spur_quotes Creativity_quotes Shut_quotes Down_quotes Many_quotes Possibility_quotes Stimulate_quotes Variety_quotes Novel_quotes Explore_quotes Remain_quotes Give_quotes Complete_quotes Freedom_quotes Strong_quotes Urge_quotes Follow_quotes Path_quotes Least_quotes Resistance_quotes Do_quotes What_quotes Before_quotes Follow_quotes First_quotes Example_quotes Jump_quotes Mind_quotes
Yuval_Noah_Harari
Self-Skepticism
“The trademark of science is not merely skepticism but self-skepticism, and at the heart of every scientific institution we find a strong self-correcting mechanism.”
- 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 104. ISBN 978-0593734247.
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
Pearl_and_Mackenzie
Strong AI
“The successes of deep learning have been truly remarkable... Nevertheless, deep learning has succeeded primarily by showing that certain questions or tasks we thought were difficult are in fact not. It has not addressed the truly difficult questions that continue to prevent us from achieving humanlike AI. As a result the public believes that ‘strong AI,’ machines that think like humans, is just around the corner or maybe even here already. In reality, nothing could be farther from the truth.”
- Source: Judea Pearl and Dana Mackenzie in “The Book of Why: The New Science of Cause and Effect”. Published by Basic Books of New York, NY in 2018. Chapter 1, page 30. ISBN 978-0465097616 (ebook).
- Keywords: Success_quotes Deep_quotes Learning_quotes Remarkable_quotes Primary_quotes Show_quotes Question_quotes Certain_quotes Task_quotes Thought_quotes Difficult_quotes Fact_quotes Address_quotes Prevent_quotes Achieve_quotes Humanlike_quotes AI_quotes Artificial_quotes Intelligence_quotes Result_quotes Public_quotes Believe_quotes Strong_quotes Machine_quotes Think_quotes Human_quotes Around_quotes Corner_quotes Here_quotes Already_quotes Reality_quotes Nothing_quotes Farther_quotes Truth_quotes
