Listen, three eyes," he said, "don't you try to outweird me, I get stranger things than you free with my breakfast cereal.
Douglas AdamsRead
From another direction he felt the sensation of being a sheep startled by a flying saucer, but it was virtually indistinguishable from the feeling of being a sheep startled by anything else it ever encountered, for they were creatures who learned very little on their journey through life, and would be startled to see the sun rising in the morning, and astonished by all the green stuff in the fields.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects on the simplicity and naivety of creatures, suggesting that they often fail to learn from experiences.
In this quote, Douglas Adams uses the metaphor of sheep being startled to illustrate how those who lack awareness and curiosity may go through life without truly understanding their surroundings. The comparison to being startled by a flying saucer highlights the absurdity of their ignorance, as they react to familiar situations as if they are entirely new and shocking, indicating a missed opportunity for growth and learning.
Themes
IgnoranceLearningAwarenessNaivetyGrowth
In practice
Example use cases
During a discussion on education, one might use this quote to highlight the importance of experiential learning.
More from Douglas Adams
All quotes →"What's so unpleasant about being drunk?" "Ask a glass of water."
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Protect me from knowing what I don't need to know. Protect me from even knowing that there are things to know that I don't know. Protect me from knowing that I decided not to know about the things that I decided not to know about. Amen. [...] Lord, lord, lord. Protect me from the consequences of the above prayer.
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Computers are still technology because we are still wrestling with it: it's still being invented; we're still trying to work out how it works. There's a world of game interaction to come that you or I wouldn't recognise. It's time for the machines to disappear. The computer's got to disappear into all of the things we use.
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What the computer in virtual reality enables us to do is to recalibrate ourselves so that we can start seeing those pieces of information that are invisible to us but have become important for us to understand.
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We are stuck with technology when all we really want is just stuff that works. How do you recognize something that is still technology? A good clue is if it comes with a manual.
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