“an unproblematic state is a state without creative thought. Its other name is death.”
― The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Transform the World
― The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Transform the World
“Isaac Asimov’s speculation—The appliances of 2014 will have no electric cords, of course—was completely reasonable, given the physics and the rate of technological improvement up until then. We really, really should have had atomic batteries by now. And guess what? Your iPhone would never need charging, and your Tesla would have a range of 3.5 million miles. It is a possibility.”
― Where Is My Flying Car?: A Memoir of Future Past
― Where Is My Flying Car?: A Memoir of Future Past
“Like an explosive awaiting a spark, unimaginably numerous environments in the universe are waiting out there, for aeons on end, doing nothing at all or blindly generating evidence and storing it up or pouring it out into space. Almost any of them would, if the right knowledge ever reached it, instantly and irrevocably burst into a radically different type of physical activity: intense knowledge-creation, displaying all the various kinds of complexity, universality and reach that are inherent in the laws of nature, and transforming that environment from what is typical today into what could become typical in the future. If we want to, we could be that spark.”
― The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Transform the World
― The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Transform the World
“The ability to create and use explanatory knowledge gives people a power to transform nature which is ultimately not limited by parochial factors, as all other adaptations are, but only by universal laws. This is the cosmic significance of explanatory knowledge – and hence of people, whom I shall henceforward define as entities that can create explanatory knowledge.”
― The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Transform the World
― The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Transform the World
“Some people become depressed at the scale of the universe, because it makes them feel insignificant. Other people are relieved to feel insignificant, which is even worse. But, in any case, those are mistakes. Feeling insignificant because the universe is large has exactly the same logic as feeling inadequate for not being a cow. Or a herd of cows. The universe is not there to overwhelm us; it is our home, and our resource. The bigger the better.”
― The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Transform the World
― The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Transform the World
Saketh’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Saketh’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
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