“The utility of a thought experiment is inversely proportional to the size of its departures from reality.”
Intuition Pumps and Other Tools for Thinking (2013)
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Daniel Dennett86
American philosopher 1942Related quotes
“Greatness of individuality is inversely proportional to the mass of the social aggregate.”
Boris Sidis The Source and Aim of Human Progress
The Source and Aim of Human Progress (1919)
“Passion was inversely proportional to the amount of real information available.”
Gregory Benford book Timescape
Source: Timescape (1980), Chapter 14 (p. 182, known as Benford's law of controversy)
Context: It was an example of what he thought of as the Law of Controversy: Passion was inversely proportional to the amount of real information available.
“Bureaucracy and social harmony are inversely proportional to each other.”
Leon Trotsky book The Revolution Betrayed
Source: The Revolution Betrayed (1936), p. 41
“The severity of the itch is inversely proportional to the ability to reach it.” – Chloe Traeger”
Jill Shalvis (1963) American writer
Source: Head Over Heels
“The time spent on any item of the agenda will be in inverse proportion to the sum involved.”
C. Northcote Parkinson (1909–1993) British naval historian
Source: Parkinson's Law: and Other Studies in Administration. (1957), p. 24. : Popularly known as Parkinson's Law of Triviality).
Erwin Schrödinger (1887–1961) Austrian physicist
italics in the original
DISCUSSION OF PROBABILITY RELATIONS BETWEEN SEPARATED SYSTEMS (1935)