Quote of the day, mostly related to astronomy.

[messier 111]

We live in a society exquisitely dependent on science and technology, in which hardly anyone knows anything about science and technology.
— Carl Sagan, 1934-1996, American astronomer

[messier 111]

Science is much more than a body of knowledge. It is a way of thinking. Science invites us to let the facts in, even when they don’t conform to our preconceptions.
— Carl Sagan, 1934-1996, American astronomer

[messier 111]

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
— Arthur Clarke, 1917-2008, British Sci-Fi writer

[messier 111]

The simplest schoolboy is now familiar with truths for which Archimedes would have sacrificed his life.
— Ernest Renan, 1823-1892, French philosopher & historian

[messier 111]

Science, my lad, is made up of mistakes, but they are mistakes which it is useful to make, because they lead little by little to the truth.
— Jules Verne, 1826-1905, French writer

[messier 111]

The sad thing about artificial intelligence is that it lacks artifice and therefore intelligence.
— Jean Baudrillard, 1929-2007, French intellectual

[messier 111]

Science is a wonderful thing if one does not have to earn one's living at it.
— Albert Einstein, 1879-1955, German-Jewish physicist

[messier 111]

When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong.
— Arthur Clarke, 1917-2008, British Sci-Fi writer

[messier 111]

Where the frontier of science once was is now the center.
— Georg Christoph Lichtenberg, 1742-1799, German author of maxims

[messier 111]

Science may set limits to knowledge, but should not set limits to imagination.
— Bertrand Russell, 1872-1970, British philosopher

[messier 111]

The aim of science is not to open the door to infinite wisdom, but to set some limit on infinite error.
— Bertolt Brecht, 1898-1956, German writer

[messier 111]

Science knows only one commandment: contribute to science.
— Bertolt Brecht, 1898-1956, German writer

[messier 111]

The origin of all science is in the desire to know causes; and the origin of all false science and imposture is in the desire to accept false causes rather than none; or, which is the same thing, in the unwillingness to acknowledge our own ignorance.
— William Hazlitt , 1778-1830, English essayist & critic

[messier 111]

The essence of technology is by no means anything technological.
— Martin Heidegger, 1889-1976, German philosopher

[messier 111]

Technology is basically neutral. It's kind of like a hammer. The hammer doesn't care whether you use it to build a house, or whether a torturer uses it to crush somebody's skull.
— Noam Chomsky, 1928-, American linguist, philosopher, social activist

[messier 111]

As modern physics started with the Newtonian revolution, so modern philosophy starts with what one might call the Cartesian Catastrophe. The catastrophe consisted in the splitting up of the world into the realms of matter and mind, and the identification of “mind” with conscious thinking.
— Arthur Koestler, 1905-1983, Hungarian-British writer

[messier 111]

I am trying to awake the energy contained in the air. These are the main sources of energy. What is considered as empty space is just a manifestation of matter that is not awakened.
— Nikola Tesla, 1856-1943, Serbian-American inventor

[messier 111]

The beginning of everything is atoms and void, and everything else is perception.
Αρχάς είναι των όλων ατόμους και κενόν, τα δ’ άλλα πάντα νενομίσθαι.

— Democritus, 470-370 BC, Ancient Greek philosopher

[messier 111]

Never seem more learned than the people you are with. Wear your learning like a pocket watch and keep it hidden. Do not pull it out to count the hours, but give the time when you are asked.
— Lord Chesterfield, 1694-1773, English statesman & writer

[messier 111]

Uncertainty that comes from knowledge (knowing what you don't know) is different from uncertainty coming from ignorance.
— Isaac Asimov, 1920-1992, American Sci-Fi writer