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Quote by Samuel Butler

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The Notebooks of Samuel Butler

This book offers a glimpse into the thoughts and musings of Samuel Butler, showcasing his intellectual pursuits and personal insights throughout his life. more

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Samuel Butler
Samuel Butler

Samuel Butler was an English poet celebrated for his satirical and philosophical works. Living during the English Renaissance, he is known for his wit and critical thinking. Butler's poetry often reflected on the human condition and the complexities of society. more

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“Computers and rocket ships are examples of invention, not of understanding. ... All that is needed to build machines is the knowledge that when one thing happens, another thing happens as a result. It's an accumulation of simple patterns. A dog can learn patterns. There is no "why&rdqo"; in those examples. We don't understand why electricity travels. We don't know why light travels at a constant speed forever. All we can do is observe and record patterns.”

KnowsLightHappensScienceUnderstandingCan DoSimpleResultsKnowledgeForeverRecordsOne ThingDogExampleNeededComputerMachinesConstantPatternsSpeedThings HappenInventionShipsElectricityRocketsAccumulation
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“If [science] tends to thicken the crust of ice on which, as it were, we are skating, it is all right. If it tries to find, or professes to have found, the solid ground at the bottom of the water it is all wrong. Our business is with the thickening of this crust by extending our knowledge downward from above, as ice gets thicker while the frost lasts; we should not try to freeze upwards from the bottom.”

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Book:The Essential Samuel Butler
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“Let us suppose the mind to be, as we say, white paper, void of all characters, without any ideas; how comes it to be furnished? Whence comes it by that vast store which the busy and boundless fancy of man has painted on it with an almost endless variety? Whence has it all the materials of reason and knowledge? To this I answer, in one word, from experience.”

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