For a smart material to be able to send out a more complex signal it needs to be nonlinear. If you hit a tuning fork twice as hard it will ring twice as loud but still at the same frequency. That's a linear response. If you hit a person twice as hard they're unlikely just to shout twice as loud. That property lets you learn more about the person than the tuning fork. - When Things Start to Think, 1999.
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Science is simply common sense at its best, that is, rigidly accurate in observation, and merciless to fallacy in logic.
Science is simply common sense at its best, that is, rigidly accurate in observation, and merciless to fallacy in logic.
...there is no prescribed route to follow to arrive at a new idea. You have to make the intuitive leap. read more
...there is no prescribed route to follow to arrive at a new idea. You have to make the intuitive leap. But the difference is that once you've made the intuitive leap you have to justify it by filling in the intermediate steps. In my case, it often happens that I have an idea, but then I try to fill in the intermediate steps and find that they don't work, so I have to give it up.
If a man's wit be wandering, let him study the mathematics. - Essays, 1625.
If a man's wit be wandering, let him study the mathematics. - Essays, 1625.
In physics, you don't have to go around making trouble for yourself - nature does it for you.
In physics, you don't have to go around making trouble for yourself - nature does it for you.
Microsoft isn't evil, they just make really crappy operating systems.
Microsoft isn't evil, they just make really crappy operating systems.
The important thing in science is not so much to obtain new facts as to discover new ways of thinking read more
The important thing in science is not so much to obtain new facts as to discover new ways of thinking about them.
Thinking is the hardest work there is. Which is the probable reason why so few engage in it.
Thinking is the hardest work there is. Which is the probable reason why so few engage in it.
Anyone who attempts to generate random numbers by deterministic means is, of course, living in a state of sin.
Anyone who attempts to generate random numbers by deterministic means is, of course, living in a state of sin.
Half of the modern drugs could well be thrown out of the window, except that the birds might eat them.
Half of the modern drugs could well be thrown out of the window, except that the birds might eat them.
