The scientists who attack mainstream religion, rather than striving for peaceful coexistence with it, damage science, and also weaken the fight against fundamentalism.
Martin ReesRead
It is astonishing that human brains, which evolved to cope with the everyday world, have been able to grasp the counterintuitive mysteries of the cosmos and the quantum.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Human brains are surprising in their ability to understand complex scientific concepts despite evolving for basic survival.
This quote highlights the remarkable capacity of the human brain to comprehend intricate and abstract ideas about the universe and quantum physics, which are far beyond our everyday experiences. It emphasizes how our cognitive abilities have transcended mere survival skills, allowing us to engage with profound scientific truths that challenge our typical understanding of reality.
Themes
Human BrainCosmosQuantumUnderstandingMysteries
In practice
Example use cases
In a lecture about the wonders of the universe, one might mention this quote to inspire students about the potential of human intelligence.
More from Martin Rees
All quotes βLet me say that I don't see any conflict between science and religion. I go to church as many other scientists do. I share with most religious people a sense of mystery and wonder at the universe and I want to participate in religious ritual and practices because they're something that all humans can share.
Martin ReesRead
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.
Martin ReesRead
In the beginning there were only probabilities. The universe could only come into existence if someone observed it. It does not matter that the observers turned up several billion years later. The universe exists because we are aware of it.
Martin ReesRead
Collective human actions are transforming, even ravaging, the biosphere - perhaps irreversibly - through global warming and loss of biodiversity.
Martin ReesRead
The bedrock nature of space and time and the unification of cosmos and quantum are surely among science's great 'open frontiers.' These are parts of the intellectual map where we're still groping for the truth - where, in the fashion of ancient cartographers, we must still inscribe 'here be dragons.'
Martin ReesRead
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A physicist is just an atom's way of looking at itself.
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