“Optimism is, in the first instance, a way of explaining failure, not prophesying success. It says that there is no fundamental barrier, no law of nature or supernatural decree, preventing progress. Whenever”
― The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Transform the World
― The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Transform the World
“Whenever we observe anything – a scientific instrument or a galaxy or a human being – what we are actually seeing is a single-universe perspective on a larger object that extends some way into other universes. In”
― The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Transform the World
― The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Transform the World
“Because we are universal explainers, we are not simply obeying our genes. For”
― The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Transform the World
― The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Transform the World
“To interpret dots in the sky as white-hot, million-kilometre spheres, one must first have thought of the idea of such spheres. And then one must explain why they look small and cold and seem to move in lockstep around us and do not fall down. Such ideas do not create themselves, nor can they be mechanically derived from anything: they have to be guessed – after which they can be criticized and tested.”
― The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Transform the World
― The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Transform the World
“Sparta has no philosophers. That’s because the job of a philosopher is to understand things better, which is a form of change, so they don’t want it. Another difference: they don’t honour living poets, only dead ones. Why? Because dead poets don’t write anything new, but live ones do. A third difference: their education system is insanely harsh; ours is famously lax. Why? Because they don’t want their kids to dare to question anything, so that they won’t ever think of changing anything. How”
― The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Transform the World
― The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Transform the World
Chuck’s 2024 Year in Books
Take a look at Chuck’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
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