“Any attempt to dismiss a phenomenon that is not understood merely by explaining it as hallucination becomes irrelevant when a coherent scientific theory can be applied.” TheoryUnderstoodPhenomenonIrrelevantExplainingObjectivityHallucinationsScientific Theory Book:The Self-Aware Universe Source: The Self-Aware Universe
“Theories that diseases are caused by mental states and can be cured by will power, are always an index of how much is not understood about the physical terrain of a disease.” StatesIgnoranceTheoryDiseaseUnderstoodWill PowerTerrain Book:Illness as metaphor Source: Illness as metaphor
“I never understood the theory, once popular among doctors, that blamed mental disorders on too little or too much mother love. My own mother was my darling.” LittlesMotherMy OwnToo MuchTheoryUnderstoodDoctorsDisorderDarlingMother LoveMental Disorder Book:Self-portrait Source: Self-portrait
“There was a time when the newspapers said that only twelve men understood the theory of relativity. I do not believe there ever was such a time ... On the other hand, I think I can safely say that nobody understands quantum mechanics.” ThinkingMenBelieveSaidI CanHandsTheoryUnderstoodMathematicsNewspapersTwelveQuantumMechanicRelativityQuantum PhysicsQuantum MechanicsQuantum TheoryTheories Of Relativity Author:Richard P. Feynman
“I understood, not with my intellect but with my whole being, that no theories of the rationality of existence or of progress could justify such an act; I realized that even if all the people in the world from the day of creation found this to be necessary according to whatever theory, I knew that it was not necessary and that it was wrong. Therefore, my judgments must be based-on what is right and necessary and not on what people say and do; I must judge not according to progress but according to my own heart.” PeopleIfsWorldHeartWholeFoundMy OwnExistenceProgressCreationJudgingTheoryJudgmentUnderstoodIntellectI RealizedJustifyRationality Author:Leo Tolstoy
“Superstring theories provide a framework in which the force of gravity may be united with the other three forces in nature: the weak, electromagnetic and strong forces. Recent progress has shown that the most promising superstring theories follow from a single theory. For the last generation, physicists have studied five string theories and one close cousin. Recently it has become clear that these five or six theories are different limiting cases of one theory which, though still scarcely understood, is the candidate for superunification of the forces of nature.” MayStillsDifferentLastsThreeStrongForceUnitedCasesClearFiveProgressGenerationsTheorySixUnderstoodWeakCandidatesStringsGravityCousinPhysicistFrameworkForces Of NatureString Theory Author:Edward Witten
“Theory said one thing and the experiment said something different, so that was the stimulus that started me going, that there was something there to be explained, which wasn't understood and to try to see why that experiment gave the answer it did, so it was a big opportunity for a young student starting to have actually an experiment which contradicted the theory, so that's was my chance to understand that.” TryingSaidDifferentBigsYoungOpportunityChanceAnswersOne ThingStudentsTheoryUnderstoodStartingExperimentsStimulusYoung Students Author:Freeman Dyson
“He is the so-called father of the modern school of chess; before him, the King was considered a weak piece and players set out to attack the King directly. Steinitz claimed that the King was well able to take care of itself, and ought not to be attacked until one had some other positional advantage. He understood more about the use of squares than Morphy and contributed a great deal more to chess theory.” WellsUseCareAbleSchoolFatherDealsPiecesPlayerModernTheoryOughtKingsUnderstoodAdvantageWeakTake CareChessSquares Author:Bobby Fischer
“Evolutionary theory, properly understood, does not conflict with the idea that God occasionally intervenes in nature - for example, by once or twice causing a beneficial mutation to occur. Biologists have not detected any such interventions despite the data and theory they have assembled about mutation. However, I think it is a mistake to expect biological experiments to be able to detect such one-off acts of divine intervention, especially if those acts occurred in the distant past. Science isn't in that line of work.” IfsThinkingDoeIdeasAblePastLinesMistakeExampleDivineTheoryConflictUnderstoodExperimentsDespiteDataInterventionBeneficialBiologistDivine InterventionMutation Author:Elliott Sober
“Whenever a theory appears to you as the only possible one, take this as a sign that you have neither understood the theory nor the problem which it was intended to solve.” ProblemTheoryUnderstoodSolveLibertarian Author:Karl Popper