“In the past scientists have repeatedly reached “intellectual closure” on inadequate pictures of the universe, and underestimated its scale.”

—  Frank Wilczek

"Multiversality" (2013)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "In the past scientists have repeatedly reached “intellectual closure” on inadequate pictures of the universe, and under…" by Frank Wilczek?
Frank Wilczek photo
Frank Wilczek49
physicist 1951

Related quotes

Max Tegmark photo

“[W]e've repeatedly underestimated not only the size of our cosmos, but also the power of our human mind to understand it.”

Max Tegmark book Our Mathematical Universe

Our Mathematical Universe: My Quest for the Ultimate Nature of Reality (2014)

“A clue to the future must lie in the past... every scientist, and everyone with intellectual curiosity, can learn something useful from a brief study of the history of atomism.”

Lancelot Law Whyte (1896–1972) Scottish industrial engineer

Essay on Atomism: From Democritus to 1960 (1961), p.4

Jonathan Maberry photo

“Closure isn't closure until someone's ready to close the door.”

Jonathan Maberry book Rot & Ruin

Source: Rot & Ruin

Victor Frederick Weisskopf photo

“The question of the origin of the universe is one of the most exciting topics for a scientist to deal with. It reaches far beyond its purely scientific significance, since it is related to human existence, to mythology, and to religion. Furthermore, it deals with questions are connected with the fundamental structure of matter, with elementrary particles.”

Victor Frederick Weisskopf (1908–2002) Austrian-born American theoretical physicist

[Victor F. Weisskopf, American Scientist, The Origin of the Universe: An introduction to recent theoretical developments that are linking cosmology and particle physics, 71, 5, September-October 1983, 473–480, http://www.jstor.org/stable/27852239]

“Two polar groups: at one pole we have the literary intellectuals, at the other scientists, and as the most representative, the physical scientists. Between the two a gulf of mutual incomprehension.”

C. P. Snow book The Two Cultures

Source: The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution (1959), P. 4

F. Scott Fitzgerald photo

“It is sadder to find the past again and find it inadequate to the present than it is to have it elude you and remain forever a harmonious conception of memory.”

F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940) American novelist and screenwriter

Robert A. Heinlein photo

“There is no such thing as luck; there is only adequate or inadequate preparation to cope with a statistical universe.”

Robert A. Heinlein book Have Space Suit—Will Travel

Source: Have Space Suit—Will Travel (1958), Chapter 2

Augusten Burroughs photo

“All children should be loved, protected, nurtured --emotionally and intellectually-- respected, and never, under any circumstances, underestimated.”

Augusten Burroughs (1965) American writer

Source: This Is How: Surviving What You Think You Can't

“Teachers are expected to reach unattainable goals with inadequate tools. The miracle is that at times they accomplish this impossible task.”

Haim Ginott (1922–1973) psychologist

Ginott, H. G. (1972). Teacher and child. New York: Macmillan.

William James photo

“Creatures extremely low in the intellectual scale may have conception. All that is required is that they should recognize the same experience again.”

William James (1842–1910) American philosopher, psychologist, and pragmatist

Source: 1890s, The Principles of Psychology (1890), Ch. 12
Context: Creatures extremely low in the intellectual scale may have conception. All that is required is that they should recognize the same experience again. A polyp would be a conceptual thinker if a feeling of 'Hello! thingumbob again!' ever flitted through its mind.

Related topics