At the heart of quantum mechanics is a rule that sometimes governs politicians or CEOs-as long as no one is watching, anything goes.
Interpretation
The quote suggests that the behavior of people in power can be unpredictable and unprincipled when they believe they are not being observed.
Lawrence M. Krauss highlights a parallel between the principles of quantum mechanics and the behavior of authority figures like politicians and CEOs. Just as quantum mechanics allows for particles to exist in multiple states until observed, individuals in power may exhibit questionable actions behind closed doors, revealing a tendency towards unaccountability when they think there is no oversight. This observation raises ethical concerns about leadership and integrity.
In practice
In a speech about corporate ethics, one might say: 'As Lawrence M. Krauss pointedly illustrates, in leadership, integrity is paramount - especially when no one is watching.'
The one experience that I hope every student has at some point in their lives is to have some belief you profoundly, deeply hold, proved to be wrong because that is the most eye-opening experience you can have, and as a scientist, to me, is the most exciting experience I can ever have.
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The ultimate arbiter of truth is experiment, not the comfort one derives from one's a priori beliefs, nor the beauty or elegance one ascribes to one's theoretical models.
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The illusion of purpose and design is perhaps the most pervasive illusion about nature that science has to confront on a daily basis.
A star is drawing on some vast reservoir of energy by means unknown to us. This reservoir can scarcely be other than the subatomic energy which, it is known exists abundantly in all matter; we sometimes dream that man will one day learn how to release it and use it for his service. The store is well nigh inexhaustible, if only it could be tapped. There is sufficient in the Sun to maintain its output of heat for 15 billion years.
People make their own fates, and if enough of us make our fate to be space explorers, perhaps we can actually get some space exploration done.
A fundamental principle of information theory is that you can’t guarantee outcomes… in order for an experiment to yield knowledge, it has to be able to fail. If you have guaranteed experiments, you have zero knowledge
It would be wrong to assume that one must stay with a research programme until it has exhausted all its heuristic power, that one must not introduce a rival programme before everybody agrees that the point of degeneration has probably been reached.
Autoimmunity is probably the next frontier. The majority of cases of autoimmune disease result from a complex genetic problem that has environmental influences. It is a colossal task for the immune system to maintain tolerance to self and yet be ready to react to everything in the world around us.
In the long run, curiosity-driven research just works better... Real breakthroughs come from people focusing on what they're excited about.
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