“Science may be weird and incomprehensible--more weird and less comprehensible than any theology--but science works. It gets results. It can fly you to Saturn, slingshotting you around Venus and Jupiter on the way. We may not understand quantum theory (heaven knows, I don't), but a theory that predicts the real world to ten decimal places cannot in any straightforward sense be wrong.” KnowsWorldWayMayRealHeavenResultsTheoryTenTheologyWorking ItReal WorldQuantumStraightforwardVenusJupiterQuantum TheorySaturnDecimals Author:Richard Dawkins
“For the theory-practice iteration to work, the scientist must be, as it were, mentally ambidextrous; fascinated equally on the one hand by possible meanings, theories, and tentative models to be induced from data and the practical reality of the real world, and on the other with the factual implications deducible from tentative theories, models and hypotheses.” WorldRealHandsRealityPracticeTheoryModelsScientistPracticalsDataReal WorldFascinatedHypothesisImplicationsFactualAmbidextrous Book:The collected works of George E.P. Box Source: The collected works of George E.P. Box
“We come finally, however, to the relation of the ideal theory to real world, or "real" probability. If he is consistent a man of the mathematical school washes his hands of applications. To someone who wants them he would say that the ideal system runs parallel to the usual theory: "If this is what you want, try it: it is not my business to justify application of the system; that can only be done by philosophizing; I am a mathematician". In practice he is apt to say: "try this; if it works that will justify it".” IfsMenWorldWantTryingRealDoneHandsRunningSchoolPracticeTheoryIdealsRelationMathematicsMathWhat You WantMathematicalConsistentJustifyReal WorldApplicationUsualMathematicianProbabilityParallels Author:John Edensor Littlewood
“I think the problem in the Republican Party is really not money. I think they've got lots of it. I think it is theory of the case - why are we here, what is our message, how to connect to the real world.” ThinkingWorldRealProblemPartyCasesTheoryRepublicanMessagesReal WorldRepublican Party Author:Bob Woodward
“Someone once defined a social problem as a situation in which the real world differs from the theories of intellectuals. To the intelligentsia, it follows, as the night follows the day, that it is the real world that is wrong and which needs to change.” WorldNeedsRealProblemNightSocialSituationTheoryDefinedReal WorldNeed A ChangeSocial Problems Book:Ever Wonder Why?: and Other Controversial Essays Source: Ever Wonder Why?: and Other Controversial Essays
“I just think too many nice things have happened in string theory for it to be all wrong. Humans do not understand it very well, but I just don't believe there is a big cosmic conspiracy that created this incredible thing that has nothing to do with the real world.” ThinkingWorldBelieveHumansWellsRealBigsNiceHappenedTheoryIncrediblesStringsReal WorldCosmicConspiracyNice ThingsString Theory Author:Edward Witten
“General Systems Theory is a name which has come into use to describe a level of theoretical model-building which lies somewhere between the highly generalized constructions of pure mathematics and the specific theories of the specialized disciplines. Mathematics attempts to organize highly general relationships into a coherent system, a system however which does not have any necessary connections with the "real" world around us. It studies all thinkable relationships abstracted from any concrete situation or body of empirical knowledge.” WorldDoeRealUseBodyLyingNamesLevelsSituationStudyBuildingTheoryDisciplinePureModelsConnectionsMathematicsReal WorldConstructionConcreteOrganizeTheoreticalThinkableSystems Theory Author:Kenneth E. Boulding
“President Obama is like a lost man who refuses to ask for directions. That's because he has never worked in the real world with people who create real jobs. He operates on theories and an ideology that is incapable of achieving his goals.” PeopleMenWorldRealJobsAsksLostGoalPresidentAchieveTheoryRefuseIdeologyReal WorldPresident ObamaIncapableReal Jobs Author:Cal Thomas
“The possibility that stock value in aggregate can become irrationally high is contrary to the hard-form "efficient market" theory that many of you once learned as gospel from your mistaken professors of yore. Your mistaken professors were too much influenced by "rational man" models of human behavior from economics and too little by "foolish man" models from psychology and real-world experience.” MenWorldHumansLittlesRealHardFormValuesPsychologyToo MuchPossibilityTheoryBehaviorModelsEconomicsContraryFoolishRationalProfessorsReal WorldEfficientMistakenHuman BehaviorFoolish ManEfficient Markets Author:Charlie Munger
“Experience has shown repeatedly that a mathematical theory with a rich internal structure generally turns out to have significant implications for the understanding of the real world, often in ways no one could have envisioned before the theory was developed.” WorldWayRealTurnsUnderstandingRichTheoryStructureSignificantMathematicalInternalsReal WorldImplications Author:William Thurston
“Finding a single investment that will return 20% per year for 40 years tends to happen only in dreamland. In the real world, you uncover an opportunity, and then you compare other opportunities with that. And you only invest in the most attractive opportunities. That's your opportunity cost. That's what you learn in freshman economics. The game hasn't changed at all. That's why Modern Portfolio Theory is so asinine.” WorldYearsRealHappensOpportunityGamesModernChangedTheoryReturnCostFindingsEconomicsInvestmentCompareAttractiveReal WorldPortfoliosFreshmanDreamlandOpportunity Cost Author:Charlie Munger
“This is often the way it is in physics - our mistake is not that we take our theories too seriously, but that we do not take them seriously enough. It is always hard to realize that these numbers and equations we play with at our desks have something to do with the real world. Even worse, there often seems to be a general agreement that certain phenomena are just not fit subjects for respectable theoretical and experimental effort.” WorldWayRealHardEnoughPlaySeemsCertainRealizingNumbersEffortMistakeSubjectsTheoryFitPhysicsAgreementReal WorldDesksEquationsTheoreticalRespectable Author:Steven Weinberg