Comments at A Clean Well-Lighted Place for Books, San Francisco, California (5 February 2004)
“Those who adhere to the past won't be able to cope with the future.”
Willy Brandt (1913–1992) German social-democratic politician; Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany
Die Zukunft wird nicht gemeistert von denen, die am Vergangenen kleben.
speech at the extraordinary convention of the Social Democratic Party of Germany on 18 November 1971, book source: "Reden und Interviews: Herbst 1971 bis Frühjahr 1973", Hoffmann und Campe, 1973, p. 25.
“Doubtless the day is far in the future when we shall be able to solve such historical enigmas.”
June Downey (1875–1932) American psychologist
August 1909, Popular Science Monthly Volume 75, Article:"The Varificational Factor in Handwriting", p. 156
F. W. de Klerk (1936) South African politician
Speech to the Good-will Foundation (9 March 1991)
1990s
Gregory Bateson (1904–1980) English anthropologist, social scientist, linguist, visual anthropologist, semiotician and cyberneticist
Source: Mind and Nature, a necessary unity, 1988, p. 29
Aung San Suu Kyi (1945) State Counsellor of Myanmar and Leader of the National League for Democracy
Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought Acceptance Speech (2013)
Theo de Raadt (1968) systems software engineer
[Interview: Staying on the cutting edge, http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/10/07/1097089476287.html, 2004-10-08, 2007-09-15, The Age]
Julian Huxley (1887–1975) English biologist, philosopher, author
Transhumanism (1957)
Context: As a result of a thousand million years of evolution, the universe is becoming conscious of itself, able to understand something of its past history and its possible future. This cosmic self-awareness is being realized in one tiny fragment of the universe — in a few of us human beings. Perhaps it has been realized elsewhere too, through the evolution of conscious living creatures on the planets of other stars. But on this our planet, it has never happened before.
John Nash (1928–2015) American mathematician and Nobel Prize laureate
Autobiographical essay (1994)
Context: Statistically, it would seem improbable that any mathematician or scientist, at the age of 66, would be able through continued research efforts, to add much to his or her previous achievements. However I am still making the effort and it is conceivable that with the gap period of about 25 years of partially deluded thinking providing a sort of vacation my situation may be atypical. Thus I have hopes of being able to achieve something of value through my current studies or with any new ideas that come in the future.
