I believe that the extraordinary should be pursued. But extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. |
I can find in my undergraduate classes, bright students who do not know that the stars rise and set at night, or even that the Sun is a star. |
I don’t feel rejected by the sky. I’m a part of it- tiny, to be sure, but everything is tiny compared to that overwhelming immensity. |
I maintain there is much more wonder in science than in pseudoscience. And in addition, to whatever measure this term has any meaning, science has the additional virtue, and it is not an inconsiderable one, of being true. |
I worry that, especially as the Millennium edges nearer, pseudo-science and superstition will seem year by year more tempting, the siren song of unreason more sonorous and attractive. |
If we long to believe that the stars rise and set for us, that we are the reason there is a Universe, does science do us a disservice in deflating our conceits? |
If we long to believe that the stars rise and set for us, that we are the reason there is a Universe, does science do us a disservice in deflating our conceits? |
If we long to believe that the stars rise and set for us, that we are the reason there is a Universe, does science do us a disservice in deflating our conceits? |
If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe. |
Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere. |
In science it often happens that scientists say, 'You know that's a really good argument; my position is mistaken', and then they would actually change their minds and you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. It doesn't happen |
It is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring. |
It is of interest to note that while some dolphins are reported to have learned English - up to fifty words used in correct context - no human being has been reported to have learned dolphinese. |
It seems to me what is called for is an exquisite balance between two conflicting needs: the most skeptical scrutiny of all hypotheses that are served up to us and at the same time a great openness to new ideas. If you are only skeptical, then no new ideas make it through to you. On the other hand, if you are open to the point of gullibility and have not an ounce of skeptical sense in you, then you cannot distinguish useful ideas from the worthless ones. |
It's better to light a candle then to curse the darkness. |