. . . by natural selection our mind has adapted itself to the conditions of the external world. It has adopted the geometry most advantageous to the species or, in other words, the most convenient. Geometry is not true, it is advantageous.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes that our understanding of reality is shaped by practical benefits rather than absolute truth.
Henri Poincare suggests that our cognitive framework and perceptions of the world have evolved through natural selection for survival. The 'geometry' of our minds denotes our interpretative models, which prioritize convenience and utility over an objective truth. Thus, what we consider 'true' is often merely what is most beneficial for our species.
In practice
In a discussion about how different cultures interpret reality based on practical needs.
When the logician has resolved each demonstration into a host of elementary operations, all of them correct, he will not yet be in possession of the whole reality, that indefinable something that constitutes the unity ... Now pure logic cannot give us this view of the whole; it is to intuition that we must look for it.
It is a misfortune for a science to be born too late when the means of observation have become too perfect. That is what is happening at this moment with respect to physical chemistry; the founders are hampered in their general grasp by third and fourth decimal places.
A scientist worthy of his name, about all a mathematician, experiences in his work the same impression as an artist; his pleasure is as great and of the same nature.
The mathematical facts worthy of being studied are those which, by their analogy with other facts, are capable of leading us to the knowledge of a physical law. They reveal the kinship between other facts, long known, but wrongly believed to be strangers to one another.
What is a good definition? For the philosopher or the scientist, it is a definition which applies to all the objects to be defined, and applies only to them; it is that which satisfies the rules of logic. But in education it is not that; it is one that can be understood by the pupils.
Most striking at first is the appearance of sudden illumination, a manifest sign of long unconscious prior work.
I'm an atheist and I thank God for it.
Our judgment ripens; our imagination decays. We cannot at once enjoy the flowers of the Spring of life and the fruits of its Autumn.
A: There is no grand scheme of things. B: If there were a grand scheme of things, the fact – the fact – that we are not equipped to perceive it, either by natural or supernatural means, is a nightmarish obscenity. C: The very notion of a grand scheme of things is a nightmarish obscenity.
when she thought it over afterwards it occurred to her that she ought to have wondered at this, but at the time it all seemed quite natural
When the tyrant has disposed of foreign enemies by conquest or treaty, and there is nothing more to fear from them, then he is always stirring up some war or other, in order that the people may require a leader.
We adore titles and heredities in our hearts and ridicule them with our mouths. This is our democratic privilege.
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