“When in the sciences or techniques one states that a certain problem is unsolvable, a rigorous demonstration of such unsolvability is required. And when a scientist submits an article to publication, the least that its referees demand is that it be intelligible. Why? Because rational beings long for understanding and because only clear statements are susceptible to be put to examination to verify whether they are true or false. In the Humanities it is the same, or it should be, but it is not always so. Nietzsche reproached John Stuart Mill's clarity. Henri Bergson, although an intuitionist himself, wrote clearly and declared that "clarity is the philosopher's courtesy."”

— Mario Bunge

Obscurity is rude, because it assumes the interlocutor is incapable of understanding and dialoguing.
"Xenius, Platón y Manolito," newspaper essay (in Spanish) in La Nación, July 9, 2008.
2000s

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Mario Bunge 10

Argentine philosopher and physicist 1919

Saul Gorn (1912–1992) computer scientist

Source: Self-Annihilating Sentences, 1992, p. 1

“A real scientist solves problems, not wails that they are unsolvable.”

Anne McCaffrey book Acorna: The Unicorn Girl

Source: Acorna: The Unicorn Girl

“I am content to be one of the multitude of Christians who do not care much about the doctrine of the Trinity or the historical truth of the gospels. Both as a scientist and as a religious person, I am accustomed to living with uncertainty. Science is exciting because it is full of unsolved mysteries, and religion is exciting for the same reason.”

Freeman Dyson (1923) theoretical physicist and mathematician

The greatest unsolved mysteries are the mysteries of our existence as conscious beings in a small corner of a vast universe.
Progress In Religion (2000)

“What created by a human mind, can be solved by another human mind. From this point of view does not exist and cannot exist unsolved problems in any area of science.”

Yuri Knorozov (1922–1999) Soviet and Russian mesoamericanist (1922-1999)

Profile of Yuri Knorozov http://cemyk.org/pages/en/yuri-knorosov.php

“Understand the problem. What kind of problem is it? There are three main types of problems:
‘Show that …’ or ‘Evaluate …’ questions, in which a certain statement has to be proved true, or a certain expression has to be worked out;
‘Find a…’ or ‘Find all…’ questions, which requires one to find something (or everything) that satisfies certain requirements;
‘Is there a …’ questions, which either require you to prove a statement or provide a counterexample”

Terence Tao (1975) Australian mathematician

and thus is one of the previous two types of problem
Source: Solving Mathematical Problems (2nd ed., 2006), Ch. 1 : Strategies in problem solving

“It's difficult to be rigorous about whether a machine really 'knows', 'thinks', etc., because we're hard put to define these things. We understand human mental processes only slightly better than a fish understands swimming.”

John McCarthy (1927–2011) American computer scientist and cognitive scientist

" The Little Thoughts of Thinking Machines http://www-formal.stanford.edu/jmc/little.html", Psychology Today, December 1983, pp. 46–49. Reprinted in Formalizing Common Sense: Papers By John McCarthy, 1990, ISBN 0893915351
1980s

“Let’s be clear: the work of science has nothing whatever to do with consensus. Consensus is the business of politics. Science, on the contrary, requires only one investigator who happens to be right, which means that he or she has results that are verifiable by reference to the real world. In science consensus is irrelevant. What is relevant is reproducible results. The greatest scientists in history are great precisely because they broke with the consensus.”

Michael Crichton (1942–2008) American author, screenwriter, film producer

Aliens Cause Global Warming (2003)

“The Elements has been considered as offering models of scrupulously rigorous demonstrations. It is certainly true that in point of rigour it compares favourably with its modern rivals; but when examined in the light of strict mathematical logic, it has been pronounced by C. S. Peirce to be "riddled with fallacies." The results are correct only because the writer's experience keeps him on his guard.”

Florian Cajori book A History of Mathematics

Source: A History of Mathematics (1893), p. 37. Reported in Moritz (1914)

“Deep in the human nature there is an almost irresistible tendency to concentrate physical and mental energy on attempts at solving problems that seem to be unsolvable.”

Ragnar Frisch (1895–1973) Norwegian economist

Source: 1970s and later, From Utopian Theory to Practical Applications, 1970, p. 10

“Beyond that frontier are the uncharted areas of science and space, unsolved problems of peace and war, unconquered pockets of ignorance and prejudice, unanswered questions of poverty and surplus.”

John F. Kennedy (1917–1963) 35th president of the United States of America

1960, The New Frontier
Context: But I tell you the New Frontier is here, whether we seek it or not. Beyond that frontier are the uncharted areas of science and space, unsolved problems of peace and war, unconquered pockets of ignorance and prejudice, unanswered questions of poverty and surplus. It would be easier to shrink back from that frontier, to look to the safe mediocrity of the past, to be lulled by good intentions and high rhetoric — and those who prefer that course should not cast their votes for me, regardless of party. But I believe the times demand new invention, innovation, imagination, decision. I am asking each of you to be pioneers on that New Frontier. My call is to the young in heart, regardless of age — to all who respond to the Scriptural call: "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed." For courage — not complacency — is our need today — leadership — not salesmanship. And the only valid test of leadership is the ability to lead, and lead vigorously.

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Mario Bunge 10

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