Jeff Sullivan

“Because even if the universe is lifespan is calculable, the variety of life that is generated within it is not. The buildings we have erected, the art and music and verse we have composed, the very lives we’ve led: none of them could have been predicted, because none of them was inevitable. Our universe might have slid into equilibrium admitting nothing more than a quiet hiss. The fact that it spawned such plenitude is a miracle, one that is matched only by your universe giving rise to you.
Though I am long dead as you read this, explorer, I offer to you a valediction. Contemplate the marvel that is existence, and rejoice that you are able to do so. I feel I have the right to tell you this because, as I am inscribing these words, I am doing the same.” (56-57)”
― Ted Chiang, Exhalation

“The Principle of Optimism
All evils are caused by insufficient knowledge.”
― David Deutsch, The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Transform the World

“Remember that just because other people agree or disagree with you doesn’t make you right or wrong—the only thing that matters is the correctness of your analysis and judgment.”
― Charles T. Munger, Poor Charlie’s Almanack: The Essential Wit and Wisdom of Charles T. Munger

“Optimism (in the sense that I have advocated) is the theory that all failures – all evils – are due to insufficient knowledge.”
― David Deutsch, The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Transform the World