Tom LA

“In the shooter hypothesis, a good marksman shoots at a target, creating a hole every ten centimeters. Now suppose the surface of the target is inhabited by intelligent, two-dimensional creatures. Their scientists, after observing the universe, discover a great law: “There exists a hole in the universe every ten centimeters.” They have mistaken the result of the marksman’s momentary whim for an unalterable law of the universe. The farmer hypothesis, on the other hand, has the flavor of a horror story: Every morning on a turkey farm, the farmer comes to feed the turkeys. A scientist turkey, having observed this pattern to hold without change for almost a year, makes the following discovery: “Every morning at eleven, food arrives.” On the morning of Thanksgiving, the scientist announces this law to the other turkeys. But that morning at eleven, food doesn’t arrive; instead, the farmer comes and kills the entire flock.”
― Liu Cixin, The Three-Body Problem

“La poesia appare come il luogo della ricerca ideale delle "parole giuste". In realtà la poesia è proprio il luogo in cui vengono a mancare le parole. È proprio da qui, da questa insufficienza, da questa mancanza - di bellezza, di giustizia, di felicità, di coraggio e chissà di che altro - da questa miseria delle parole nel tempo della nostra vita, che inizia il movimento della poesia.”
― Gian Mario Villalta

“None of us actually lives as though there were no truth. Our problem is more with the notion of a single, unchanging truth.
The word 'true' suggest a relationship between things: being true to someone or something, truth as loyalty, or something that fits, as two surfaces may be said to be 'true.' It is related to 'trust,' and is fundamentally a matter of what one believes to be the case. The Latin word verum (true) is cognate with a Sanskrit word meaning to choose or believe: the option one chooses, the situation in which one places one's trust. Such a situation is not an absolute - it tells us not only about the chosen thing, but also about the chooser. It cannot be certain: it involves an act of faith and it involves being faithful to one's intentions.”
― Iain McGilchrist, The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World

“It's been said that life is a series of contradictions. Or, then again, maybe it isn't.”
― James Hold, Out of Texas 2 : Chariots of the Texans