To test a perfect theory with imperfect instruments did not impress the Greek philosophers as a valid way to gain knowledge.
Interpretation
The pursuit of knowledge should be done with the right tools, or the results may be flawed.
Isaac Asimov highlights the fundamental issue of relying on inadequate methods or instruments when attempting to validate a theory. The Greek philosophers valued precision in their quest for knowledge, suggesting that to derive accurate understanding, one must employ appropriate and effective means of investigation.
In practice
This quote can be used in a lecture about scientific methods in research.
Democracy cannot survive overpopulation. Human dignity cannot survive it. Convenience and decency cannot survive it. As you put more and more people into the world, the value of life not only declines, but it disappears. It doesn't matter if someone dies.
Science does not promise absolute truth, nor does it consider that such a thing necessarily exists. Science does not even promise that everything in the Universe is amenable to the scientific process.
Democracy cannot survive overpopulation.
Although the time of death is approaching me, I am not afraid of dying and going to Hell or (what would be considerably worse) going to the popularized version of Heaven. I expect death to be nothingness and, for removing me from all possible fears of death, I am thankful to atheism.
A subtle thought that is in error may yet give rise to fruitful inquiry that can establish truths of great value.
During the century after Newton, it was still possible for a man of unusual attainments to master all fields of scientific knowledge. But by 1800, this had become entirely impracticable.
There is nothing wrong with underlining personal agency, but there is something unfair about using personal responsibility as a basis for assigning blame while simultaneously denying those who are being blamed the opportunity to exert agency in their lives
For over 200 years after the adoption of the Second Amendment, it was uniformly understood as not placing any limit on either federal or state authority to enact gun control legislation.
Prohibition is an attempted cure that makes matters worse - for both the addict and the rest of us.
She liked to imagine that when she passed the world looked after her, but she also knew how anonymous she was.
To practice Zen or the Martial Arts, you must live intensely, wholeheartedly, without reserve - as if you might die in the next instant
The message of psychedelics is that culture can be re-engineered as a set of emotional and spiritual values rather than products. This is terrifying news.
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