“The death of God left the angels in a strange position. They were overtaken suddenly by a fundamental question. One can attempt to imagine the moment. How did they look at the instant the question invaded them, flooding the angelic consciousness, taking hold with terrifying force? The question was, "What are angels?" New to questioning, unaccustomed to terror, unskilled in aloneness, the angels (we assume) fell into despair.” LooksMomentsLeftForceConsciousnessImaginePositionStrangeDespairAngelFundamentalsAssumingTerrorInstantQuestioningAngelicFlooding Book:Sixty stories Source: Sixty stories
“Adults often assume that most learning is the result of teaching and that exploratory, spontaneous learning is unusual. But actually, spontaneous learning is more fundamental.” ResultsTeachingAdultsFundamentalsAssumingUnusualSpontaneous Author:Alison Gopnik
“If P=NP, then the world would be a profoundly different place than we usually assume it to be. There would be no special value in “creative leaps,” no fundamental gap between solving a problem and recognizing the solution once it's found. Everyone who could appreciate a symphony would be Mozart; everyone who could follow a step-by-step argument would be Gauss; everyone who could recognize a good investment strategy would be Warren Buffett.” IfsWorldDifferentProblemWould BeValuesFoundStepsCreativeSpecialSolutionsArgumentAppreciateFundamentalsStrategyAssumingInvestmentGapsLeapRecognizingSymphonyDifferent PlaceBuffettWarren Buffet Author:Scott Aaronson
“In this modern world of ours many people seem to think that science has somehow made such religious ideas as immortality untimely or old fashioned. I think science has a real surprise for the skeptics. Science, for instance, tells us that nothing in nature, not even the tiniest particle, can disappear without a trace. Nature does not know extinction. All it knows is transformation. If God applies this fundamental principle to the most minute and insignificant parts of His universe, doesn't it make sense to assume that He applies it to the masterpiece of His creation, the human soul?” PeopleIfsThinkingKnowsWorldHumansDoeMadeIdeasRealSoulSeemsUniverseReligiousPrinciplesModernMinutesCreationTransformationFundamentalsAssumingSurpriseDisappearInstanceMake SenseImmortalityMasterpieceOld FashionedInsignificantExtinctionModern WorldParticlesHuman SoulSkepticFundamental PrinciplesWithout A Trace Author:Wernher von Braun
“I believe that I have really found the relationship between gravitation and electricity, assuming that the Miller experiments are based on a fundamental error. Otherwise, the whole relativity theory collapses like a house of cards.” BelieveWholeFoundHouseI BelieveTheoryFundamentalsAssumingErrorsExperimentsCardsCollapseElectricityRelativityGravitationHouse Of Cards Author:Albert Einstein
“There will be some fundamental assumptions which adherents of all the variant systems within the epoch unconsciously presuppose. Such assumptions appear so obvious that people do not know what they are assuming because no other way of putting things has ever occurred to them. With these assumptions a certain limited number of types of philosophic systems are possible, and this group of systems constitutes the philosophy of the epoch.” PeopleKnowsWayPhilosophyCertainNumbersGroupsTypeFundamentalsAssumingObviousAssumptionEpochPhilosophic Book:Science and the Modern World Source: Science and the Modern World
“I reject what I see as flat-footed accounts of the fundamental structure of the world, where we somehow assume that, because ordinary experience involves middle-sized objects in space and time, that fundamental reality must be essentially like that.” WorldRealitySpaceMiddleObjectsOrdinaryAccountsFundamentalsStructureAssumingRejectsFlatsTime And Space Author:L.A. Paul
“Finally, assuming that many of those are fulfilled, which won't be easy in tight budget times, we're taking the supply side at the basic research level, because that's where government is absolutely fundamental.” GovernmentEasySidesLevelsResearchFundamentalsAssumingBudgetsFulfilledBasic Research Author:Bill Gates
“My feeling is that a human being or any complex organism has a system of cognitive structures that develop much in the way the physical organs of the body develop. That is, in their fundamental character they are innate; their basic form is determined by the genetic structure of the organism. Of course, they grow under particular environmental conditions, assuming a specific form that admits of some variation. Much of what is distinctive among human beings is a specific manner in which a variety of shared cognitive structures develop.” WayHumansCharacterFeelingsBodyFormCoursesGrowsHuman BeingsConditionsParticularFundamentalsStructureAssumingComplexesEnvironmentalDeterminedVarietyOrgansOrganismsInnateVariationCognitiveDistinctive Author:Noam Chomsky
“Most people assume that women are responsible for households and child care. Most couples operate that way - not all. That fundamental assumption holds women back.” PeopleWayChildrenCareCoupleResponsibleFundamentalsAssumingAssumptionHouseholdChild Care Author:Sheryl Sandberg
“Like most modern Americans, I assume individuality is not only a fundamental value, but a goal in life, an art form.” ArtFormValuesGoalModernFundamentalsAssumingIndividualityLife Goal Author:Howard Rheingold