“[My father] had this quirky thing of not believing in gravity. And giving me a constant headache about that one. He would say if I showed any interest in gravity, I was becoming a dupe of the system. He could see indications I was beginning to believe in it.” IfsGivingBelieveFatherInterestBecomingConstantGravityIndicationHeadacheQuirkyDupes Author:Paul Laffoley
“I would say [to my father], "Why don't you actually take some courses in physics instead of saying [you are not believing in gravity]?" But he would never do it. Businessmen for some reason or other, think, because they're successful in a single direction, that they know everything. You know what I mean? You ever meet people like that?” PeopleThinkingKnowsBelieveMeanReasonCoursesFatherSuccessfulPhysicsGravityBusinessman Author:Paul Laffoley
“The Babson Institute, which is now an actual university, was started by this guy [my father] who also had a problem with believing in gravity. And so he started the Babson Institute in New Boston, New Hampshire, which then moved to Gloucester. Each year they have a competition of one thousand dollars for one thousand words of an essay on gravity. That's the way they do it.” WayYearsBelieveProblemGuyFatherThousandMovedDollarsCompetitionUniversityGravityEssaysThis GuyBostonInstituteHampshireNew HampshireGloucester Author:Paul Laffoley
“Forms of energy from nature gave my father trouble. He refused to believe he was going to die. He had these weird delusions. It's amazing. Along with all the great thoughts, he had all this funny stuff.” BelieveFormDiesFatherEnergyStuffTroubleDelusionFunny Stuff Author:Paul Laffoley
“My father would conclude his dissertations by saying, "Of course, [Albert] Einstein never believed in gravity. It was a distortion of space." And so my father couldn't believe that an attraction at a distance was a reality.” BelieveRealityCoursesFatherSpaceDistanceAttractionGravityDistortionDissertation Author:Paul Laffoley
“You know, in the suburbs, most people believe in gravity, but they don't have much of a sense of humor.” PeopleKnowsBelieveSense Of HumorGravitySuburbs Author:Paul Laffoley
“I would have private conversations with [Buckminster Fuller]. I once had an argument, for four hours, about the existence of the Mobius strip. Because he believed in the Klein Bottle, you see. And I said, "How in hell can you claim to believe in the Klein Bottle and think that the Mobius strip is dubious?" He said, "Well, it's a torus." I don't know what he had in his mind as a mathematical background, because I don't think he got topology. Because, in other words, the Mobius strip didn't have angles in it.” ThinkingKnowsMindBelieveWellsSaidHoursExistenceHellFourConversationArgumentClaimsBackgroundsMathematicalBottlesAngleDubiousBuckminster FullerTopology Author:Paul Laffoley
“I said, "Well, why do you believe in the Klein Bottle?" He said, "Because I can imagine it." I said, "You don't have to imagine a Mobius strip. It's right there in front of you!" But [Buckminster Fuller] couldn't see how that could involve a cross cap, meaning something that couldn't be reduced to a two-dimensional surface. Which it does. It's because he was thinking that the matrix was the thing that a fly could walk over the edge of, like a torus.” ThinkingBelieveWellsDoeSaidI CanTwoWalksImagineFrontsCrossesEdgesSurfaceBottlesCapsBecause I CanOver The EdgeBuckminster FullerMeaning Something Author:Paul Laffoley
“[Nikola Tesla] said he had no interest in the spiritual. He didn't believe in telepathy, didn't believe in any of that stuff, didn't believe in any religion, and he just thought all these people were being superstitious and wanted them to go away. And in that way he was very close to H.P. Lovecraft, who was almost a believing atheist.” PeopleWayBelieveSaidWantedSpiritualStuffInterestAtheistGoing AwaySuperstitiousTelepathyTeslaLovecraft Author:Paul Laffoley
“I think [H. P. Lovecraft] knew the whole gamut. He just didn't believe any of it! He probably liked to use the esoteric stuff because he knew it would tick people off and freak them out.” PeopleThinkingBelieveWholeUseStuffFreakTickEsotericLovecraft Author:Paul Laffoley
“The whole theory of what Satan is, it's Lucifer, the highest of the seraphim, the bearer of God's light, who at a certain point comes to believe he is what is being revealed to him.” BelieveWholeLightCertainTheoryHighestSatanLucifer Author:Paul Laffoley
