“People are so overwhelmed with the prestige of their instruments that they consider their personal judgement of hardly any account.” PeopleAccountsInstrumentsJudgementOverwhelmedPrestige Author:Wyndham Lewis
“Fresh pitsand, however, in spite of all its excellence in concrete structures, is not equally useful in stucco, the richness of which, when the lime and straw are mixed with such sand, will cause it to crack as it dries on account of the great strength of the mixture. But river sand, though useless in "signinum" on account of its thinness, becomes perfectly solid in stucco when thoroughly worked by means of polishing instruments.” MeanCausesRiversAccountsInstrumentsStructureExcellenceUselessSpiteSandCracksConcreteMixturesRichnessStrawsLimesThinness Author:Marcus Vitruvius Pollio
“What the Agency [CIA] does is ordered by the President and the NSC [National Security Council]. The Agency neither makes decisions on policy nor acts on its own account. It is an instrument of the President.” DoePresidentDecisionSecurityPolicyAccountsInstrumentsAgencyNational SecurityCouncilCiaSecurity Council Author:Philip Agee
“Science has to be understood in its broadest sense, as a method for apprehending all observable reality, and not merely as an instrument for acquiring specialized knowledge.” WisdomRealityScienceUnderstandingKnowledgeUnderstoodAccountsMethodInstrumentsObservationComprehendingAcquiring Knowledge Author:Alexis Carrel
“Even in Europe a change has sensibly taken place in the mind of man. Science has liberated the ideas of those who read and reflect, and the American example has kindled feelings of right in the people. An insurrection has consequently begun of science talents and courage against rank and birth, which have fallen into contempt. It has failed in its first effort, because the mobs of the cities, the instrument used for its accomplishment, debased by ignorance, poverty and vice, could not be restrained to rational action. But the world will soon recover from the panic of this first catastrophe.” PeopleMenWorldMindFirstsIdeasFeelingsActionScienceUsedChangeEffortCitiesPovertyTakenTalentExampleIgnoranceBirthEuropeAccountsInstrumentsVicesRationalFallenAccomplishmentContemptPanicCatastropheLiberatedInsurrection Book:The portable Thomas Jefferson Source: The portable Thomas Jefferson
“We are too prone to make technological instruments the scapegoats for the sins of those who wield them. The products of modern science are not in themselves good or bad; it is the way they are used that determines their value.” WayScienceUsedValuesSinModernProductsAccountsInstrumentsDetermineTechnologicalModern ScienceScapegoat Author:David Sarnoff
“But science is the great instrument of social change, all the greater because its object is not change but knowledge, and its silent appropriation of this dominant function, amid the din of political and religious strife, is the most vital of all the revolutions which have marked the development of modern civilisation.” SciencePoliticalSocialChangeReligiousKnowledgeGreaterModernObjectsRevolutionDevelopmentCivilizationAccountsFunctionInstrumentsSilentDominantStrifeSocial ChangeCivilisationAppropriation Author:Arthur Balfour
“The historian of science may be tempted to claim that when paradigms change, the world itself changes with them. Led by a new paradigm, scientists adopt new instruments and look in new places. even more important, during revolutions, scientists see new and different things when looking with familiar instruments in places they have looked before. It is rather as if the professional community had been suddenly transported to another planet where familiar objects are seen in a different light and are joined by unfamiliar ones as well.” IfsWorldWellsLooksMayImportantDifferentLightScienceCommunityObjectsPlanetsRevolutionScientistAccountsClaimsInstrumentsFamiliarTemptationChanging The WorldDifferent ThingsHistorianTemptedParadigmUnfamiliarNew Places Author:Thomas Kuhn
“The science and technology which have advanced man safely into space have brought about startling medical advances for man on earth. Out of space research have come new knowledge, techniques and instruments which have enabled some bedridden invalids to walk, the totally deaf to hear, the voiceless to talk, and, in the foreseeable future, may even make it possible for the blind to "see."” MenMayEarthScienceSpaceWalksKnowledgeTechnologyPossibilityResearchAccountsInstrumentsBlindMedicineTechniqueMedicalDeafScience And TechnologyVoicelessNew KnowledgeMedical Advances Author:Hubertus Strughold
“Elaborate apparatus plays an important part in the science of to-day, but I sometimes wonder if we are not inclined to forget that the most important instrument in research must always be the mind of man.” IfsMenMindImportantSometimesPlayScienceForgetWonderResearchAccountsInstruments Book:The Art of Scientific Investigation Source: The Art of Scientific Investigation