Learn One Thing A Day

Today I want to talk about... (I have always wanted to use this meme :) )   People believing in aliens' existence, think of them as much more technologically and maybe physically than we are... but have you ever thought about the consequences if this were the case? The Italian Physicist Enrico Fermi (1901-1954) did and he defined what came to be known as the Fermi's paradox. ( Enrico Fermi , from wikipedia ) The story goes that, one day back on the 1940's, a group of atomic scientists, including the famous Enrico Fermi, were sitting around talking, when the subject turned to extraterrestrial life. Fermi is supposed to have then asked, "So? Where is everybody?" What he meant was: If there are all these billions of planets in the universe that are capable of supporting life, and millions of intelligent species out there, then how come none has visited earth? This the Fermi's Paradox . [Ref. 1] "Fermi realized that any civ...

"The significant problems we face cannot be solved by the same level of thinking that created them" Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

Today, thanks to Sheldon Cooper of " The Big Bang Theory " (episode 20 season 7 The Relationship Diremption ), I learned a very nice little story. As Sheldon says, the Persian poet Attar of Nishapur (c. 1145 - c. 1221) records the fable of a powerful king who asks an assembled group of wise men to create a ring that will make him happy when he is sad (and vice versa). After deliberation the sages hand him a simple ring with the words " This too will pass " etched on it, which has the desired effect. ( Picture : ring with the " this too shall pass " inscription is on sale on Amazon) Googling around, I learned that the story is actually narrated by other authors too, and its true origin remains uncertain. The sentence and in general the story of an "Eastern monarch" was included in a speech given on September 30, 1859, by Abraham Lincoln before the Wisconsin State Agricultural Society in Milwaukee : It is said an Eastern monar...

There is always some madness in love. But there is also always some reason in madness. (source: wikipedia ) Friedrich Nietzsche (1844 - 1900), " On Reading and Writing " Nietzsche was a German philologist, philosopher, cultural critic, poet and composer.

Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement. Jim Horning (1942 - 2003), American computer scientist. Quite true!

All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. This very nice and famous quote is attributed to Edmund Burke (1729-1797) an Irish political philosopher and statesman. However, wikipedia says something interesting about it: This is probably the most quoted statement attributed to Burke, and an extraordinary number of variants of it exist, but all without any definite original source. These very extensively used remarks may be based on a paraphrase of some of Burke's ideas, but he is not known to have ever declared them in so succinct a manner in any of his writings. They may have been adapted from these lines of Burke's in his Thoughts on the Cause of Present Discontents (1770): "When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle." Anyway, I definitely agree with the content of the sentence, whatever its origin is.

Patience has its limits. Take it too far, and it's cowardice. George Jackson (1941 - 1971)

"Example is not the main thing in influencing others. It is the only thing." Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965) theologian, organist, philosopher, physician, and medical missionary.

The whole sense of the book might be summed up the following words: what can be said at all can be said clearly, and what we cannot talk about we must pass over in silence. Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889 – 1951) was an Austrian-born philosopher who spent much of his life in England.

There are in fact two things, science and opinion; the former begets knowledge, the latter ignorance. Hippocrates (460 BC - 377 BC), an ancient Greek physician of the Age of Pericles (Classical Greece),  and is considered one of the most outstanding figures in the history of medicine.

Science may set limits to knowledge, but should not set limits to imagination. Bertrand Russell (1872 - 1970)

To be conscious that you are ignorant is a great step to knowledge. Benjamin Disraeli (1804 - 1881) British Conservative politician, writer, aristocrat and dandy who twice served as Prime Minister.

"Tis better to have loved and lost / Than never to have loved at all" This is another English commonplace that is actually a quotation of the English poet Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (1809-1892). (source: wikipedia ) Other quotes are available here: Lord Tennyson . Stay tuned!

After all is said and done, a hell of a lot more is said than done. Slashdot

All men by nature desire knowledge. Aristotle (384 BC - 322 BC), Metaphysics

The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not "Eureka!" (I found it!) but "That's funny ..." Isaac Asimov (1920-1992), American author and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, best known for his works of science fiction and for his popular science books.

"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts." (source marxists.org ) Bertrand Arthur William Russell (1872-1970), British nobleman, philosopher, logician, mathematician, historian, and social critic.

Recently I read a very nice book that I warmly recommend to all of you: The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery (1900-1944) . It's a wonderful book for children but - and especially - for adults too. Too many causes for reflection about friendship, dreams, the way we live, the things we think are important (but aren't!) ... everything in a so small book! A must to read! To give you a taste of the book, I report the dedication of the author to his best friend: To Leon Werth I ask the indulgence of the children who may read this book for dedicating it to a grown−up. I have a serious reason: he is the best friend I have in the world. I have another reason: this grown−up understands everything, even books about children. I have a third reason: he lives in France where he is hungry and cold. He needs cheering up. If all these reasons are not enough, I will dedicate the book to the child from whom this grown−up grew. All grown−ups were once children−− although fe...

   (image from http://uweanimation.blogspot.com ) "If, in some cataclysm, all scientific knowledge were to be destroyed, and only one sentence passed on to the next generation of creatures, what statement would contain the most information in the fewest words? I believe it is the atomic hypothesis (or atomic fact , or whatever you wish to call it) that all things are made of atoms — little particles that move around in perpetual motion, attracting each other when they are a little distance apart, but repelling upon being squeezed into one another. In that one sentence you will see an enormous amount of information about the world, if just a little imagination and thinking are applied."     Richard Feynman (1918-1988), Lectures on Physics (vol. 1) ---> For other posts on this blog about Richard Feynman click here

Today I heard one of the three famous " laws " of the British science (fiction) writer Arthur Charles Clarke (1917 - 2008) and I have thought to the report  them here :) ( image source ) 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. The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible. Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. The third sentence is probaly the most famous one and if you look around you, its value and validity will appear still extremely relevant, don't you think?