Physics is very muddled again at the moment; it is much too hard for me anyway, and I wish I were a movie comedian or something like that and had never heard anything about physics!
Interpretation
The quote expresses frustration with the complexity of physics and a longing for a simpler, more entertaining profession.
Wolfgang Pauli humorously reflects on the challenges and frustrations of understanding advanced physics, admitting that it feels overly complicated for him. His wish to be a movie comedian instead highlights a desire for a simpler, more enjoyable life, contrasting the heavy intellectual burden of scientific inquiry.
In practice
Use this quote to highlight the challenges faced in advanced studies during a seminar.
The layman always means, when he says "reality" that he is speaking of something self-evidently known; whereas to me it seems the most important and exceedingly difficult task of our time is to work on the construction of a new idea of reality.
That's not right. That's not even wrong.
The fact that the author thinks slowly is not serious, but the fact that he publishes faster than he thinks is inexcusable.
What really matters for me is ... the more active role of the observer in quantum physics ... According to quantum physics the observer has indeed a new relation to the physical events around him in comparison with the classical observer, who is merely a spectator.
I confess, that very different from you, I do find sometimes scientific inspiration in mysticism ... but this is counterbalanced by an immediate sense for mathematics.
This isn't right. This isn't even wrong.
We need to download scientific journals and upload them to file-sharing networks.
I cannot give any scientist of any age better advice than this: the intensity of a conviction that a hypothesis is true has no bearing over whether it is true or not.
The God of the Bible is also the God of the genome. He can be worshipped in the cathedral or in the laboratory. His creation is majestic, awesome, intricate, and beautiful.
I think the reason people are dealing with science less well now than 50 years ago is that it has become so complicated.
... chemistry is a trade for people without enough imagination to be physicists.
My expertise is the space program and what it should be in the future based on my experience of looking at the transitions that we've made between pre-Sputnik days and getting to the moon.
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