Understanding quotes

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Russell_L_Ackoff

Wisdom Understanding Knowledge

“There can be no wisdom without understanding and no understanding without knowledge.”
  • Source: Russell L. Ackoff in “From Data to Wisdom” published 1988 in the Journal of Applied Systems Analysis, volume 16. Transcript of the presidential address to ISGSR, June 1988.
Keywords: Wisdom_quotes Understanding_quotes Knowledge_quotes

Douglas_Adams

Scientific Method

“The invention of the scientific method and science is, I'm sure we'll all agree, the most powerful intellectual idea, the most powerful framework for thinking and investigating and understanding and challenging the world around us that there is, and it rests on the premise that any idea is there to be attacked. If it withstands the attack then it lives to fight another day and if it doesn't withstand the attack then down it goes. Religion doesn't seem to work like that.”
  • Source: Douglas Adams. From the speech entitled "Is There an Artificial God?"; spoken on 1998-09; spoken at the "Digital Biota 2" conference' held at Magdelene College Cambridge; online at http://www.biota.org/people/douglasadams/ (accessed 2017).
Keywords: Scientific_Method_quotes Invention_quotes Science_quotes Agreement_quotes Power_quotes Intellectual_quotes Idea_quotes Framework_quotes Thinking_quotes Investigation_quotes Understanding_quotes Challenge_quotes World_quotes Premise_quotes Attack_quotes Fight_quotes Day_quotes Down_quotes Religion_quotes

David_Auerbach

Model Ontologies

“It is the irony of the data age that computers, with little to no understanding of the models they are employing, are increasingly acting as primary arbiters of the ontologies employed by humans.”
  • Source: David Auerbach, in the article “Bitwise: A Life in Code” published in 2019 in Communications of the ACM, Volume 62, Issue 9 (September). DOI: 10.1145/3347864.
Keywords: Irony_quotes Data_quotes Age_quotes Computer_quotes Understanding_quotes Model_quotes Employ_quotes Act_quotes Primary_quotes Arbiter_quotes Ontology_quotes Human_quotes

Jim_Baggott

The Fact Principle

“The Fact Principle. Our knowledge and understanding of empirical reality are founded on verified scientific facts derived from careful observation and experiment. But the facts themselves are not theory-neutral. Observation and experiment are simply not possible without reference to a supporting theory of some kind.”
  • Source: Baggott, Jim. Farewell to Reality: How Modern Physics Has Betrayed the Search for Scientific Truth (p. 12). Pegasus Books. New York, NY.
Keywords: Fact_quotes Principle_quotes Knowledge_quotes Understanding_quotes Empirical_quotes Reality_quotes Verification_quotes Science_quotes Observation_quotes Experiment_quotes Theory_quotes Abstraction_quotes

F_Terry_Baker

Software Management Support

“While the components of the methodology are relatively easy to learn and apply, they are most successful when the management of the organization understands and encourages the process.”
  • Source: Baker, F. T. (1975). Software Management Through Improved Programming Technology. ACM ’75: Proceedings of the 1975 Annual Conference, 286–287. https://doi.org/10.1145/800181.810346
Keywords: Programming_quotes Software_Management_quotes Methodology_quotes Management_quotes Component_quotes Relative_quotes Easy_quotes Learning_quotes Apply_quotes Success_quotes Organization_quotes Understanding_quotes Encourage_quotes Process_quotes

Bible_Verses

Wisdom and Understanding (Proverbs 3:13)

(13) “Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding.”
Keywords: Happy_quotes Find_quotes Wisdom_quotes Understanding_quotes Man_quotes

Niels_Bohr

Shocking Quantum

“Anyone who is not shocked by quantum mechanics has not fully understood it.”
  • Source: Frequently attributed to Niels Bohr, although when or where Bohr actually originally said or wrote this is seemingly unknown. For example, Bruce Rosenblum and Fred Kuttner attribute this quote to Bohr on page 13 of their book ‘Quantum Enigma: Physics Encounters Consciousness’ published in 2006 by Oxford University Press.
Keywords: Physics_quotes Quantum_quotes Comprehension_quotes Shock_quotes Mechanics_quotes Full_quotes Understanding_quotes

Robert_N_Britcher

Programming and Engineering

“Some aspects of programming will remain forever beyond the grasp of classical engineering. Programming is too much like writing, too personal and private, too much under the spell of hyperbole, marketing, and self-aggrandizement.”
  • Source: Britcher, Robert N. (1999). The Limits of Software: People, Projects, and Perspectives. Reading, MA: Addison Wesley. ISBN 0-201-43323-0. Page 208.
Keywords: Programming_quotes Classical_quotes Engineering_quotes Software_Engineering_quotes Writing_quotes Privacy_quotes Hyperbole_quotes Marketing_quotes Aggrandizement_quotes Craft_quotes Aspect_quotes Remain_quotes Forever_quotes Beyond_quotes Grasp_quotes Understanding_quotes Personal_quotes Spell_quotes Self_quotes

C_West_Churchman

Society Complex

“It is sheer nonsense to expect that any human being has yet been able to attain such insight into the problems of society that he can really identify the central problems and determine how they should be solved. The systems in which we live are far too complicated as yet for our intellectual powers and technology to understand.”
  • Source: C. West Churchman in the book The Systems Approach (1968), p. x.
Keywords: System_quotes Humanity_quotes Nonsense_quotes Expectation_quotes Understanding_quotes Insight_quotes Problem_quotes Society_quotes Solution_quotes Complexity_quotes Intellectualism_quotes Technology_quotes

W_Edwards_Deming

People Manager

"A manager of people needs to understand that all people are different. This is not ranking people."
  • Source: W. Edwards Deming. The New Economics for Industry, Government, Education (1993).
Keywords: Management_quotes Human_quotes Differences_quotes Understanding_quotes Rank_quotes Average_quotes People_quotes

David_Deutsch

Program It Understand It

"If you can’t program it, you haven’t understood it."
  • Source: David Deutsch, The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Transform the World (2011).
Keywords: Programming_quotes Requirements_quotes Understanding_quotes

Edsger_Wybe_Dijkstra

Information Knowledge Understanding Wisdom

“May, in spite of all distractions generated by technology, all of you succeed in turning information into knowledge, knowledge into understanding, and understanding into wisdom.”
Keywords: Technology_quotes Information_quotes Knowledge_quotes Understanding_quotes Wisdom_quotes Distraction_quotes Generate_quotes Succeed_quotes Turn_quotes

Peter_Drucker

Change as Order

“We no longer even understand the question whether change is by itself good or bad, ... We start out with the axiom that it is the norm. We do not see change as altering the order... We see change as being order itself - indeed the only order we can comprehend today is a dynamic, a moving, a changing one.”
  • Source: Peter F. Drucker, “Landmarks of Tomorrow: A Report on the New 'Post-Modern' World”, New York: Harper & Row, 1959. p. 22.
Keywords: Long_quotes Understanding_quotes Question_quotes Change_quotes Good_quotes Bad_quotes Start_quotes Axiom_quotes Norms_quotes Alteration_quotes Order_quotes Being_quotes Comprehend_quotes Dynamic_quotes Move_quotes

Denis_Dutton

Capacity of Genius

“The continuous capacity of genius to surpass understanding remains a human constant.”
  • Source: Dutton, D. (2004). “The continuous capacity of genius to surpass understanding remains a human constant.” In Dutton (2004). An article. Entitled Of Human Accomplishment. Written by Denis Dutton. Published during 2004-02. Online at [1]. Published in a magazine. Entitled The New Criterion.
Keywords: Continuous_quotes Capacity_quotes Genius_quotes Understanding_quotes Humanity_quotes Surpass_quotes

Albert_Einstein

Illusion of Comprehension

“Time and again the passion for understanding has led to the illusion that man is able to comprehend the objective world rationally by pure thought without any empirical foundations — in short, by metaphysics.”
  • Source: Albert Einstein, ‘On the Generalised Theory of Gravitation’, Scientific American, April 1950, p. 182.
Keywords: Time_quotes Passion_quotes Understanding_quotes Illusion_quotes Man_quotes Comprehension_quotes Objectivity_quotes World_quotes Rational_quotes Pure_quotes Thinking_quotes Empirical_quotes Foundation_quotes Short_quotes Metaphysics_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

Richard_Feynman

No One Understands Quantum

“I think it is safe to say that no one understands quantum mechanics. Do not keep saying to yourself, if you can possibly avoid it, 'But how can it possibly be like that?' because you will go down the drain into a blind alley from which nobody has yet escaped. Nobody knows how it can be like that.”
  • Source: Richard Feynman, in The Character of Physical Law (1965).
Keywords: Safe_quotes Understanding_quotes Quantum_quotes Comprehension_quotes Drain_quotes Blind_quotes Alley_quotes Escape_quotes Knowledge_quotes Think_quotes Say_quotes Possible_quotes Mechanics_quotes Down_quotes

Galileo

Universe Mathematical

“The universe...stands continually open to our gaze, but it cannot be understood unless one first learns to comprehend the language and interpret the characters in which it is written. It is written in the language of mathematics...”
  • Source: Galileo Il Saggiatore (1623)
Keywords: Universe_quotes Continuous_quotes Gaze_quotes Perception_quotes Understanding_quotes Learning_quotes Comprehension_quotes Language_quotes Interpretation_quotes Character_quotes Symbol_quotes Writing_quotes Mathematics_quotes Galilean_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

Robert_M_Graham

Wright Brothers Construction

“We tend to go on for years, with tremendous investments to find that the system, which was not well understood to start with, does not work as anticipated. We build systems like the Wright brothers built airplanes — build the whole thing, push it off the cliff, let it crash, and start over again.”
Keywords: Software_Engineering_quotes System_quotes Investment_quotes Cost_quotes Understanding_quotes Requirements_quotes Anticipation_quotes Prediction_quotes Airplane_quotes Cliff_quotes Crash_quotes Repeatability_quotes Tend_quotes Year_quotes Work_quotes Build_quotes WrightBrothers_quotes

Hermann_von_Helmholtz

Movement and Perception

“Each movement we make by which we alter the appearance of objects should be thought of as an experiment designed to test whether we have understood correctly the invariant relations of the phenomena before us.”
  • Source: Helmholtz (1878) The Facts of Perception
Keywords: Movement_quotes Perception_quotes Object_quotes Experiment_quotes Testing_quotes Understanding_quotes Relationship_quotes Phenomena_quotes Ivariant_quotes Appearance_quotes Design_quotes

Douglas_Hofstadter

Artificial Intelligence Art Problems

“Artificial Intelligence, when it reaches the level of human intelligence — or even if it surpasses it — will still be plagued by the problems of art, beauty, and simplicity, and will run up against these things constantly in its own search for knowledge and understanding.”
  • Source: Hofstadter, Douglas R. (1979). Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid. Written by Douglas R. Hofstadter. Basic Books, New York, NY. ISBN 13: 978-046502656-2. ISBN 10: 046502656-7. Chapter 20. Page 695.
Keywords: Artificial_quotes Intelligence_quotes Reach_quotes Level_quotes Human_quotes Surpass_quotes Plague_quotes Problem_quotes Art_quotes Beauty_quotes Simplicity_quotes Run_quotes Up_quotes Against_quotes Constant_quotes Search_quotes Knowledge_quotes Understanding_quotes Artificial_Intelligence_quotes

Carl_Jung

Dream Language

“Dreams pave the way for life, and they determine you without you understanding their language.”
  • Source: Written by Carl G. Jung in ‘The Red Book’, also known as ‘Liber Novus’, which was originally written from 1914 to 1930. It was first published in 2009 by W. W. Norton in a facsimile edition, complete with an English translation. The edition used here is the book ‘The Red Book: Liber Novus: A Reader's Edition’, written by C. G. Jung, edited with an introduction by Sonu Shamdasani, translated by Mark Kyburz, John Peck, and Sonu Shamdasani; published by W. W. Norton in 2012; ISBN 978-0393089080; Page 133.
Keywords: Dream_quotes Pave_quotes Way_quotes Life_quotes Determine_quotes Understanding_quotes Language_quotes Symbol_quotes

Daniel_O'Shiel

Philosopher

“Perhaps a philosopher is just a contributor to wisdom, by understanding and revolutionizing some understanding or element in our world; and thus, not restricted to the academic professional ‘philosophy’.”
Keywords: Philosophy_quotes Contribute_quotes Wisdom_quotes Understanding_quotes Revolution_quotes Element_quotes World_quotes Restrict_quotes Academic_quotes Professional_quotes

Richard_Pascale

Unintended Consequences

“Unintended consequences get to the heart of why you never really understand an adaptive problem until you have solved it. Problems morph and ‘solutions’ often point to deeper problems. In social life, as in nature, we are walking on a trampoline. Every inroad reconfigures the environment we tread on.”
  • Source: Richard T. Pascale, Jerry Sternin, Monique Sternin (2010). “The Power of Positive Deviance: How Unlikely Innovators Solve the World's Toughest Problems”, p.192, Boston, MA: Harvard Business Press
Keywords: Unintentional_quotes Consequence_quotes Heart_quotes Understanding_quotes Adaptation_quotes Problem_quotes Solution_quotes Morph_quotes Point_quotes Deep_quotes Sociology_quotes Nature_quotes Walk_quotes Trampoline_quotes Environment_quotes Tread_quotes Inroad_quotes Reconfigure_quotes

Roger_Penrose

Mind

“My point of view entails that it is our present lack of understanding of the fundamental laws of physics that prevents us from coming to grips with the concept of ‘mind’ in physical or logical terms.”
  • Source: Written by Roger Penrose in the book “The Emperor's New Mind: Concerning Computers, Minds, and the Laws of Physics” published in 1989 by Oxford University Press, Oxford, England. Kindle Edition; Page 4. ISBN: 978-0-19-286198-6.
Keywords: Lack_quotes Understanding_quotes Fundamental_quotes Law_quotes Physics_quotes Prevent_quotes Come_quotes Grip_quotes Concept_quotes Mind_quotes Physical_quotes Logical_quotes Term_quotes

Alan_Perlis

Understanding Code

“It is easier to write an incorrect program than understand a correct one.”
Keywords: Programming_quotes Easy_quotes Incorrect_quotes Correctness_quotes Program_quotes Understanding_quotes Writing_quotes

Understanding Programs

“To understand a program you must become both the machine and the program.”
Keywords: Understanding_quotes Program_quotes Programming_quotes Become_quotes Machine_quotes

Reading Programs

“Perhaps if we wrote programs from childhood on, as adults we'd be able to read them.”
Keywords: Reading_quotes Understanding_quotes Program_quotes Programming_quotes Children_quotes Adult_quotes Writing_quotes Perhaps_quotes

Modularity

“Wherever there is modularity there is the potential for misunderstanding: Hiding information implies a need to check communication.”
Keywords: Module_quotes Potential_quotes Understanding_quotes Misunderstanding_quotes Hiding_quotes Information_quotes Imply_quotes Check_quotes Communication_quotes Need_quotes

Steven_Pinker

Computational Mind

“The mind is a system of organs of computation, designed by natural selection to solve the kinds of problems our ancestors faced in their foraging way of life, in particular, understanding and outmaneuvering objects, animals, plants, and other people.”
  • Source: Steven Pinker (1997). How the Mind Works. New York, NY: W. W. Norton. ISBN 978-0-393-06973-0; eISBN 978-0-393-06973-0. Chapter 1 Section Reverse-Engineering the Psyche.
Keywords: Mind_quotes System_quotes Computation_quotes Organ_quotes Design_quotes Natural_Selection_quotes Solution_quotes Kind_quotes Problem_quotes Ancestor_quotes Forage_qoutes Way_quotes Life_quotes Understanding_quotes Maneuver_quotes Object_quotes Evolution_quotes Animal_quotes Plant_quotes People_quotes Prehistoric_quotes

Learning

“But learning is not a surrounding gas or force field, and it does not happen by magic. It is made possible by innate machinery designed to do the learning... To understand learning, we need new ways of thinking to replace the prescientific metaphors — the mixtures and forces, the writing on slates and sculpting of blocks of marble.”
  • Source: Steven Pinker (1997). How the Mind Works. New York, NY: W. W. Norton. ISBN 978-0-393-06973-0; eISBN 978-0-393-06973-0. Chapter 1 Section Reverse-Engineering the Psyche.
Keywords: Learning_quotes Surround_quotes Gas_quotes Force_quotes Field_quotes Happen_quotes Magic_quotes Possibility_quotes Innate_quotes Machine_quotes Design_quotes Do_quotes Understanding_quotes Way_quotes Thinking_quotes Replace_quotes Science_quotes Prescience_quotes Metaphor_quotes Mix_quotes Writing_quotes Slate_quotes Block_quotes Marble_quotes Sculpting_quotes

Henri_Poincaré

Scientific Language

“All the scientist creates in a fact is the language in which he enunciates it. If he predicts a fact, he will employ this language, and for all those who can speak and understand it, his prediction is free from ambiguity. Moreover, this prediction once made, it evidently does not depend upon him whether it is fulfilled or not.”
  • Source: The Value of Science (1905), in The Foundations of Science: Science and Hypothesis, The Value of Science, Science and Method(1946), trans. by George Bruce Halsted, 332.
Keywords: Science_quotes Language_quotes Create_quotes Fact_quotes Enunciate_quotes Prediction_quotes Employment_quotes Speak_quotes Understanding_quotes Free_quotes Ambiguity_quotes Dependence_quotes Fullfill_quotes Evident_quotes

Karl_Popper

Theory Personality

“Understanding a theory has, indeed, much in common with understanding a human personality. We may know or understand a man's system of dispositions pretty well; that is to say, we may be able to predict how he would act in a number of different situations. But since there are infinitely many possible situations, of infinite variety, a full understanding of a man's dispositions does not seem to be possible.”
  • Source: Karl Raimund Popper, Objective Knowledge: an Evolutionary Approach (1972), 299.
Keywords: Understanding_quotes Theory_quotes Common_quotes Humanity_quotes Personality_quotes Knowledge_quotes System_quotes Disposition_quotes Prediction_quotes Differences_quotes Situation_quotes Infinity_quotes Possibility_quotes Variety_quotes Full_quotes Possible_quotes

Carl_Sagan

Science Arouses Wonder

“Science arouses a soaring sense of wonder. But so does pseudoscience. Sparse and poor popularizations of science abandon ecological niches that pseudoscience promptly fills. If it were widely understood that claims to knowledge require adequate evidence before they can be accepted, there would be no room for pseudoscience.”
  • Source: Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark (1996), 6.
Keywords: Science_quotes Arise_quotes Soar_quotes Wonder_quotes Pseudoscience_quotes Sparse_quotes Poor_quotes Popularity_quotes Abandon_quotes Ecology_quotes Niche_quotes Prompt_quotes Fill_quotes Wide_quotes Understanding_quotes Claim_quotes Knowledge_quotes Requirements_quotes Adequate_quotes Evidence_quotes Before_quotes Acceptance_quotes Room_quotes

Technology Decisions

“...we live in an age based on science and technology with formidable technological powers... and if we don't understand it, by we I mean the general public, if it's something that - 'Oh, I'm not good at that. I don't know anything about it' then who is making all the decisions about science and technology that are going to determine what kind of future our children live in?”
  • Source: Carl Sagen speaking in an video entitled 'CARL SAGEN - A Way of Thinking' posted on YouTube at https://youtu.be/J1cNaFG1VII , at 00:00:22 in video. Retrieved 2021-02-09.
Keywords: Life_quotes Age_quotes Base_quotes Science_quotes Technology_quotes Formidable_quotes Power_quotes Understanding_quotes Generality_quotes Public_quotes Good_quotes Knowledge_quotes Decision_quotes Determine_quotes Kind_quotes Future_quotes Children_quotes

Technology Understanding

“... we've arranged the society based on science and technology in which nobody understands anything about science and technology. And this combustible mixture of ignorance and power sooner or later is gonna blow up in our faces.”
  • Source: Carl Sagen speaking in an video entitled 'CARL SAGEN - A Way of Thinking' posted on YouTube at https://youtu.be/J1cNaFG1VII , at 00:01:05 in video. Retrieved 2021-02-09.
Keywords: Arrangement_quotes Society_quotes Science_quotes Technology_quotes Understanding_quotes Combustible_quotes Mix_quotes Ignorance_quotes Power_quotes Soon_quotes Later_quotes Blow_quotes Face_quotes

Science Thinking

“Science is more than a body of knowledge. It's a way of thinking. A way of skeptically interrogating the universe with a fine understanding of the human fallibility. If we are not able to ask skeptical questions to interrogate those who tell us that something is true, to be skeptical of those in authority, then we are up for grabs for the next charlatan, political or religious, who comes ambling along. It is a thing that Jefferson laid great stress on. It wasn't enough he said to enshrine some rights in a constitution or bill of rights. The people had to be educated and they have to practice their skepticism and education. Otherwise we don't run the government. The government runs us.”
  • Source: Carl Sagen speaking in an video entitled 'CARL SAGEN - A Way of Thinking' posted on YouTube at https://youtu.be/J1cNaFG1VII , at 00:01:25 in video. Retrieved 2021-02-09.
Keywords: Science_quotes Body_quotes Knowledge_quotes Thinking_quotes Truth_quotes Skeptical_quotes Interrogate_quotes Understanding_quotes Human_quotes Fallibility_quotes Question_quotes Tell_quotes Authority_quotes Grab_quotes Charlatan_quotes Political_quotes Religion_quotes Amble_quotes Jefferson_quotes Lay_quotes Stress_quotes Great_quotes Enshrine_quotes Rights_quotes Constitution_quotes Bill_quotes People_quotes Education_quotes Practice_quotes Run_quotes Government_quotes Way_quotes

Wilfrid_Sellars

Aim of Philosophy

“The aim of philosophy, abstractly formulated, is to understand how things in the broadest possible sense of the term hang together in the broadest possible sense of the term.”
Keywords: Aim_quotes Philosophy_quotes Abstraction_quotes Formula_quotes Understanding_quotes Broad_quotes Possibility_quotes Sense_quotes Term_quotes Hang_quotes Together_quotes

Rebecca_Shafir

Misunderstanding

“Here’s an alarming fact: of approximately eight hundred thousand words in the English language, we use about eight hundred on a regular basis. Those eight hundred words have fourteen thousand meanings. By division there are about seventeen meanings per word. In other words, we have a one-in-seventeen chance of being understood as we intended. Perhaps you’ve heard of Chisholm’s Third Law — If you explain something so clearly that no one can misunderstand, someone will.”
  • Source: From the book “The Zen of Listening: Mindful Communication in the Age of Distraction”, written by Rebecca Z. Shafir, published by Quest Books in 2003. ISBN: ‎978-0835608268,
Keywords: Alarm_quotes Fact_quotes Appoximate_quotes Word_quotes English_quotes Language_quotes Meaning_quotes Chance_quotes Understanding_quotes Intend_quotes Chisholm(topic)_quotes Law_quotes Explain_quotes Clear_quotes Misunderstanding_quotes

Herbert_Simon

Organization and Market Economy

“The economic units in capitalist societies are mostly business firms, which are themselves hierarchic organizations, some of enormous size, that make almost negligible use of markets in their internal functioning. Roughly eighty percent of the human economic activity in the American economy, usually regarded as almost the epitome of a "market" economy, takes place in the internal environments of business and other organizations and not in the external, between-organization environments of markets. To avoid misunderstanding, it would be appropriate to call such a society an organization-&-market economy; for in order to give an account of it we have to pay as much attention to organizations as to markets.”
Keywords: Economics_quotes Unit_quotes Capitalism_quotes Society_quotes Business_quotes Firm_quotes Hierarchy_quotes Organization_quotes Enormous_quotes Size_quotes Negligible_quotes Market_quotes Internal_quotes Function_quotes Human_quotes America_quotes Economy_quotes Epitome_quotes Environment_quotes External_quotes Understanding_quotes Appropriate_quotes Account_quotes Pay_quotes Attention_quotes

Computer Programming as Data Structures

“When we write a computer program in any language except machine language, we are really not writing down processes but data structures. These data structures are then interpreted or compiled into processes, that is, into machine-language instructions that the computer can understand and execute. Nevertheless, for most purposes, it is convenient for us simply to ignore the translation step and to treat the computer programs in higher-level languages as representing processes.”
Keywords: Writing_quotes Programming_quotes Computer_quotes Program_quotes Language_quotes Exception_quotes Machine_quotes Process_quotes Data_quotes Structure_quotes Interpretation_quotes Compilation_quotes Instruction_quotes Understanding_quotes Execution_quotes Purpose_quotes Convenience_quotes Simplicity_quotes Ignore_quotes Translation_quotes Step_quotes Treat_quotes High_quotes Level_quotes Representation_quotes

Problem Solving and Understanding

“Efforts to solve a problem must be preceded by efforts to understand it.”
Keywords: Effort_quotes Solution_quotes Problem_quotes Precede_quotes Understanding_quotes

Understanding Problems

“Understanding problems in domains that have rich semantics requires prior knowledge of the domain.”
Keywords: Understanding_quotes Problem_quotes Domain_quotes Rich_quotes Semantic_quotes Requirements_quotes Prior_quotes Knowledge_quotes

Upton_Sinclair

Salary and Understanding

“It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it!”
  • Source: Sinclair Jr., U.B. (1935). 'I, Candidate for Governor: And How I Got Licked' University of California Press, 1994, p. 109.
Keywords: Difficulty_quotes Man_quotes Understanding_quotes Salary_quotes Dependency_quotes

Baruch_Spinoza

Understanding Things and God

“The more we understand particular things, the more do we understand God.”
Keywords: Deity_quotes Comprehension_quotes Science_quotes Understanding_quotes Particular_quotes Thing_quotes God_quotes

John_Steinbeck

All Information Not In

“It is not enough to say that we cannot know or judge because all the information is not in. The process of gathering knowledge does not lead to knowing. A child's world spreads only a little beyond his understanding while that of a great scientist thrusts outward immeasurably. An answer is invariably the parent of a great family of new questions. So we draw worlds and fit them like tracings against the world about us, and crumple them when we find they do not fit and draw new ones.”
  • Source: John Steinbeck, In John Steinbeck and Edward Flanders Ricketts, Sea of Cortez: a Leisurely Journal of Travel and Research (1941), 165-66.
Keywords: Say_quotes Knowledge_quotes Judgment_quotes Information_quotes Process_quotes Gather_quotes Lead_quotes Children_quotes World_quotes Spread_quotes Understanding_quotes Scientist_quotes Thrust_quotes Outward_quotes Immeasurable_quotes Answer_quotes Invariant_quotes Parent_quotes Family_quotes Question_quotes Draw_quotes Fit_quotes Trace_quotes Crumple_quotes Find_quotes

Gerald_Weinberg

Vending Machines

“When the vending machines had been in the common room, a large crowd always hovered around them — but not particularly for fol-de-rol, as the manager had so quickly assumed... Informal mechanisms always exist and it is dangerous to change things without understanding them.”
  • Source: Chapter 4. Weinberg, G. M. (2011). The Psychology of Computer Programming (Silver anniversary edition) | 1971. Weinberg & Weinberg.
Keywords: Programming_quotes Vending_quotes Machine_quotes Common_quotes Room_quotes Crowd_quotes Group_quotes Manager_quotes Informal_quotes Mechanism_quotes Change_quotes Risk_quotes Understanding_quotes Cooperation_quotes Danger_quotes Fol-de-rol_quotes Quick_quotes Assume_quotes Exist_quotes

Amateur and Professional Programmers

“The amateur... is looking for a way to get the job done. If he runs into difficulty, all he wants is to surmount it — the manner of doing so is of little consequence. Not so, however, for the professional. She may well be aware of numerous ways of circumnavigating the problem at hand. She may even employ one of them for the immediate purpose of getting the job done. But her work does not stop there; it begins there. It begins because she must understand why she did not understand, in order that she may prepare herself for the programs she may someday write which will require that understanding. The amateur, then, is learning about his problem... The professional, conversely, is learning about her profession — programming — and the problem being programmed is only one incidental step in her process of development.”
  • Source: Chapter 7. Weinberg, G. M. (2011). The Psychology of Computer Programming (Silver anniversary edition) | 1971. Weinberg & Weinberg.
Keywords: Amateur_quotes Professional_quotes Job_quotes Difficulty_quotes Circumnavigation_quotes Problem_quotes Work_quotes Understanding_quotes Program_quotes Programming_quotes Programmer_quotes Preparation_quotes Process_quotes Development_quotes Look_quotes Way_quotes Surmount_quotes Manner_quotes Do_quotes Little_quotes Consequence_quotes Numerous_quotes Hand_quotes Employ_quotes Immediate_quotes Purpose_quotes Stop_quotes Begin_quotes Order_quotes Write_quotes Someday_quotes Require_quotes Learning_quotes Converse_quotes Profession_quotes Incidental_quotes Step_quotes

Eugene_Wigner

Miracle of Mathematics

“The miracle of the appropriateness of the language of mathematics for the formulation of the laws of physics is a wonderful gift which we neither understand nor deserve.”
  • Source: Eugene Paul Wigner, In 'The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics in the Natural Sciences,' Communications in Pure and Applied Mathematics (Feb 1960), 13, No. 1 (February 1960). Collected in Eugene Paul Wigner, A.S. Wightman (ed.), Jagdish Mehra (ed.), The Collected Works of Eugene Paul Wigner (1955), Vol. 6, 535.
Keywords: Miracle_quotes Appropriate_quotes Language_quotes Mathematics_quotes Natural_quotes Science_quotes Formulation_quotes Law_quotes Physics_quotes Wonderful_quotes Gift_quotes Understanding_quotes Deserve_quotes Unreasonable_quotes Effectiveness_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

Information and Automating

“To the extent that technology is used only to intensify the automaticity of work, it can reduce skill levels and dampen the urge toward more participatory and decentralized forms of management... However, this approach cannot exploit the unique power of an informating technology. In contrast, an approach to technology deployment that emphasizes its informating capacity uses technology to do far more than routinize, fragment, or eliminate jobs. It uses the new technology to increase the intellectual content of work at virtually every organizational level, as the ability to decipher explicit information and make decisions informed by that understanding becomes broadly distributed among organizational members.”
  • Source: Zuboff, S. (1988). In The Age Of The Smart Machine: The Future Of Work And Power. New York, NY: Basic Books, p. 243. ISBN:0465032125.
Keywords: Informating_quotes Information_quotes Technology_quotes Automation_quotes Skill_quotes Deskilling_quotes Participation_quotes Decentralization_quotes Management_quotes Work_quotes Intensity_quotes Exploitation_quotes Elimination_quotes Employment_quotes Deployment_quotes Job_quotes Intellectualism_quotes Organization_quotes Decision_quotes Explicit_quotes Understanding_quotes Comprehension_quotes Distributed_quotes Empowerment_quotes Extent_quotes Intensify_quotes Reduce_quotes Dampen_quotes Urge_quotes Form_quotes Approach_quotes Exploit_quotes Unique_quotes Power_quotes Informate_quotes Emphasizes_quotes Capacity_quotes Far_quotes Routine_quotes Fragment_quotes Eliminate_quotes Increase_quotes Level_quotes Ability_quotes Decipher_quotes Broad_quotes Member_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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