You can prove anything you want by coldly logical reason---if you pick the proper postulates.
Interpretation
This quote suggests that one can arrive at any conclusion through logical reasoning, provided the initial assumptions are carefully chosen.
Isaac Asimov's quote highlights the power and potential pitfalls of logical reasoning. It emphasizes that while logic is a strong tool for proving arguments, the conclusions drawn are significantly influenced by the foundational assumptions or postulates. This serves as a cautionary reminder that our beliefs and proofs can be shaped to suit particular narratives depending on the starting points we choose.
In practice
This quote can be used in a debate to highlight the importance of questioning assumptions underpinning an argument.
Democracy cannot survive overpopulation. Human dignity cannot survive it. Convenience and decency cannot survive it. As you put more and more people into the world, the value of life not only declines, but it disappears. It doesn't matter if someone dies.
Science does not promise absolute truth, nor does it consider that such a thing necessarily exists. Science does not even promise that everything in the Universe is amenable to the scientific process.
Democracy cannot survive overpopulation.
Although the time of death is approaching me, I am not afraid of dying and going to Hell or (what would be considerably worse) going to the popularized version of Heaven. I expect death to be nothingness and, for removing me from all possible fears of death, I am thankful to atheism.
A subtle thought that is in error may yet give rise to fruitful inquiry that can establish truths of great value.
During the century after Newton, it was still possible for a man of unusual attainments to master all fields of scientific knowledge. But by 1800, this had become entirely impracticable.
In more than one respect, the exploring of the Solar System and homesteading other worlds constitutes the beginning, much more than the end, of history.
It was the darndest thing I've ever seen. It was big, it was very bright, it changed colors and it was about the size of the moon.. We watched it for ten minutes, but none of us could figure out what it was. One thing's for sure, I'll never make fun of people who say they've seen unidentified objects in the sky.
Quality without science and research is absurd. You can't make inferences that something works when you have 60 percent missing data.
Nature allows only experimental situations to occur which can be described within the framework of the formalism of quantum mechanics
Many discoveries are reserved for ages still to come . . . . Our universe is a sorry little affair unless it has in it something for every age to investigate.
A theory should not attempt to explain all the facts, because some of the facts are wrong
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