“The concept of change baffled them.”
Source: Farnham's Freehold (1964), Chapter 14 (p. 196)
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Robert A. Heinlein 557
American science fiction author 1907–1988Related quotes
ARTnews annual, Volume 31, Art Foundation, 1966, p. 56
1960s
“The poets are in the vanguard of a changed conception of Being.”
“The whole aspect of the universe changes with this new conception.”
Kropotkin here may be refering to the French scientist Joseph Fourier, and not the French social philosopher Charles Fourier
Anarchism: Its Philosophy and Ideal (1896)
Context: The whole aspect of the universe changes with this new conception. The idea of force governing the world, of pre-established law, preconceived harmony, disappears to make room for the harmony that Fourier had caught a glimpse of: the one which results from the disorderly and incoherent movements of numberless hosts of matter, each of which goes its own way and all of which hold each other in equilibrium.
“Characteristic of our times are the concepts of complexity, growth and change.”
Source: Systems Engineering Tools, (1965), p. 1
In science, this change has been manifested by a gradual transition from the traditional view, which insists that uncertainty is undesirable in science and should be avoided by all possible means, to an alternative view, which is tolerant of uncertainty and insists that science cannot avoid it. According to the traditional view, science should strive for certainty in all its manifestations (precision, specificity, sharpness, consistency, etc.); hence, uncertainty (imprecision, nonspecificity, vagueness, inconsistency,etc.) is regarded as unscientific. According to the alternative (or modem) view, uncertainty is considered essential to science; it is not only an unavoidable plague, but it has, in fact, a great utility.
Source: Fuzzy sets and fuzzy logic (1995), p. 1.
quoted in Classic Essays on Twentieth-Century Music, ISBN 0028645812
Source: Lyonesse Trilogy (1983-1989), The Green Pearl (1985), Chapter 1, section 4 (p. 367)
My Disillusionment in Russia (1923)
Context: Its first ethical precept is the identity of means used and aims sought. The ultimate end of all revolutionary social change is to establish the sanctity of human life, the dignity of man, the right of every human being to liberty and wellbeing. Unless this be the essential aim of revolution, violent social changes would have no justification. For external social alterations can be, and have been, accomplished by the normal processes of evolution. Revolution, on the contrary, signifies not mere external change, but internal, basic, fundamental change. That internal change of concepts and ideas, permeating ever-larger social strata, finally culminates in the violent upheaval known as revolution.
