“Existence proofs always trump theory. That’s engineering.”
Source: Short fiction, The Man Who Sold The Moon (2014), p. 135
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Cory Doctorow53
Canadian-British blogger, journalist, and science fiction a… 1971Related quotes
“The proof of a theory is in its reasoning, not in its sponsorship”
Ludwig von Mises (1881–1973) austrian economist
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Grady Booch (1955) American software engineer
Grady Booch, Robert A. Maksimchuk, Michael W. Engle (2007) Object-Oriented Analysis and Design with Applications Chapter 6.
Leonid Kantorovich (1912–1986) Russian mathematician
"On one class of functional equations" (1936), as cited in: O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F., " Leonid Kantorovich http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Kantorovich.html", MacTutor History of Mathematics archive, University of St Andrews
Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–1895) English biologist and comparative anatomist
Source: 1860s, Evidence as to Man's Place in Nature (1863), Ch.2, p. 128
Charles Krauthammer (1950–2018) American journalist
2010s, 2016, Donald Trump and the fitness threshold (2016)
Context: Donald Trump, the man who defied every political rule and prevailed to win his party’s nomination, last week took on perhaps the most sacred political rule of all: Never attack a Gold Star family. Not just because it alienates a vital constituency but because it reveals a shocking absence of elementary decency and of natural empathy for the most profound of human sorrows — parental grief.
Why did Trump do it? It wasn’t a mistake. It was a revelation. It’s that he can’t help himself. His governing rule in life is to strike back when attacked, disrespected or even slighted. To understand Trump, you have to grasp the General Theory: He judges every action, every pronouncement, every person by a single criterion — whether or not it/he is “nice” to Trump.
Jane Roberts (1929–1984) American Writer
Session 410, Page 284
The Early Sessions: Sessions 1-42, 1997, The Early Sessions: Book 8
“You have no proof of this,” I said.
“No. But a theory must be tested to be disproved, Mr Bastable.”
Michael Moorcock (1939) English writer, editor, critic
Book 1, Chapter 8 “A Decision in Cold Blood” (p. 233)
Oswald Bastable, The Land Leviathan (1974)
“Futility is the defining characteristic of life. Pain is proof of existence”
Stephen R. Donaldson (1947) Novelist
Thomas Covenant