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's often better to read first-rate science fiction than second-rate science - it's far more stimulating, and perhaps no more likely to be wrong.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Reading high-quality science fiction can be more stimulating and insightful than lesser-quality scientific work.
The quote by Martin Rees emphasizes the value of engaging with imaginative literature, particularly first-rate science fiction, which often challenges existing ideas and inspires creative thought. Rees suggests that reading great science fiction can stimulate intellectual curiosity and exploration just as much, if not more so, than certain scientific texts, especially those that lack depth or originality.
Themes
Science FictionLiteratureImaginationScienceStimulating
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in discussions about the importance of creativity in scientific fields.
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
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.
Martin ReesRead
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