Arthur C. Clarke? Stanley Kubrick? Mark Twain? J. B. S. Haldane? Question for Quote Investigator: Rapid computer hardware and software developments combined with extreme speculations about a technological singularity have led some science fiction writers to complain that envisioning the future has become too difficult. I am reminded of the following disclaimer for a novel: …
Category Archives: J.B.S. Haldane
Quote Origin: The Universe Is Not Only Queerer Than We Suppose, But Queerer Than We Can Suppose
Arthur Eddington? J. B. S. Haldane? Werner Heisenberg? Arthur C. Clarke? Stanley Kubrick? J. B. Priestly Question for Quote Investigator: The physics of quantum mechanics, relativity theory, and string theory are mind-bending. Scientists have made remarkable strides in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries; yet, some believe that the progress will stop before the completion of …
Quote Origin: I Suppose the Process of Acceptance Will Pass through the Usual Four Stages
J. B. S. Haldane? Louis Agassiz? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: The British geneticist J. B. S. Haldane stated that interesting new truths were resisted, and acceptance required traversal through a series of four stages. During the first stage the new fact or theory was rejected as nonsense. Are you familiar with Haldane’s quotation on …
Quote Origin: He Was Prepared To Lay Down His Life for Eight Cousins or Two Brothers
J. B. S. Haldane? John Maynard Smith? W. D. Hamilton? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Kin selection is an important and sometimes controversial idea in genetics. The prominent biologist J. B. S. Haldane reportedly said: I would gladly give up my life for two brothers or eight cousins. I have been unable to find a …
Quote Origin: The Creator Has an Inordinate Fondness for Beetles
Charles Darwin? J.B.S. Haldane? Stephen Gould? Apocryphal? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: I have been studying rain forests and came across the following passage in a New York Times article: Charles Darwin surmised that the Creator must be inordinately fond of beetles: the earth is home to some 30 million different species of them. The …
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