It is hard to think of practical applications of the black hole. Because practical applications are so remote, many people assume we should not be interested. But this quest to understand the world is what defines us as human beings.
Interpretation
The study of black holes may seem impractical, but it is fundamental to our nature as humans to seek understanding of the universe.
Yuri Milner highlights that while understanding black holes may not have immediate practical applications, the pursuit of knowledge and the quest to comprehend the universe is a defining characteristic of humanity. This reflects a deeper philosophical stance on the value of curiosity and exploration, suggesting that the drive to seek understanding is intrinsic to being human, regardless of the tangible benefits that may arise from it.
In practice
During a lecture on astrophysics, one could use this quote to inspire students to pursue research in seemingly abstract areas.
Fundamental physics is like an art more or less. It's completely non-practical, and you can't use it for anything. But it's about the universe and how the world came into being. It's very remote from your daily life and mine, and yet it defines us as human beings.
When I left NASA, I was looking at how you could use space technologies for developing countries' work.
Mathematics is a more powerful instrument of knowledge than any other that has been bequeathed to us by human agency.
It's becoming clear that in a sense the cosmos provides the only laboratory where sufficiently extreme conditions are ever achieved to test new ideas on particle physics. The energies in the Big Bang were far higher than we can ever achieve on Earth. So by looking at evidence for the Big Bang, and by studying things like neutron stars, we are in effect learning something about fundamental physics.
Every student of science, even if he cannot start his journey where his predecessors left off, can at least travel their beaten track more quickly than they could while they were clearing the way: and so before his race is run, he comes to virgin forest and becomes himself a pioneer.
We came all this way to explore the Moon, and the most important thing is that we discovered the Earth.
Why is there space rather than no space? Why is space three-dimensional? Why is space big? We have a lot of room to move around in. How come it's not tiny? We have no consensus about these things. We're still exploring them.
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