The strength of a theory is not what it allows, but what it prohibits; if you can invent an equally persuasive explanation for any outcome, you have zero knowledge.
Eliezer YudkowskyRead
In our skulls, we carry around 3 pounds of slimy, wet, greyish tissue, corrugated like crumpled toilet paper. You wouldn't think, to look at the unappetizing lump, that it was some of the most powerful stuff in the known universe.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the incredible capabilities of the human brain despite its unimpressive appearance.
Eliezer Yudkowsky's quote reflects on the human brain, describing its physical characteristics in an unflattering manner while simultaneously highlighting its immense power and potential. It serves as a reminder that outward appearances can be deceiving, and beneath the surface of something that may seem insignificant lies profound complexity and capability, especially when it comes to the mind's ability to think, create, and innovate.
Themes
BrainPowerPotentialMindIntelligence
In practice
Example use cases
A motivational speech about the untapped potential within us.
More from Eliezer Yudkowsky
All quotes →Your strength as a rationalist is your ability to be more confused by fiction than by reality. If you are equally good at explaining any outcome, you have zero knowledge.
Eliezer YudkowskyRead
If our extinction proceeds slowly enough to allow a moment of horrified realization, the doers of the deed will likely be quite taken aback on realizing that they have actually destroyed the world. Therefore I suggest that if the Earth is destroyed, it will probably be by mistake.
Eliezer YudkowskyRead
[...] intelligent people only have a certain amount of time (measured in subjective time spent thinking about religion) to become atheists. After a certain point, if you're smart, have spent time thinking about and defending your religion, and still haven't escaped the grip of Dark Side Epistemology, the inside of your mind ends up as an Escher painting.
Eliezer YudkowskyRead
The obvious choice isn't always the best choice, but sometimes, by golly, it is. I don't stop looking as soon I find an obvious answer, but if I go on looking, and the obvious-seeming answer still seems obvious, I don't feel guilty about keeping it.
Eliezer YudkowskyRead
When something is universal enough in our everyday lives, we take it for granted to the point of forgetting it exists.
Eliezer YudkowskyRead
Similar quotes
Natural gas emits only half the carbon dioxide of coal when burned, but if methane leaks when oil companies extract it from the ground in a sloppy manner - methane is far more potent a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide - it can wipe out all the advantages of natural gas over coal.
Thomas FriedmanRead
Science has always been my preoccupation and when you think a breakthrough is possible, it is terribly exciting.
James D. WatsonRead
Down to their innate molecular core, cancer cells are hyperactive, survival-endowed, scrappy, fecund, inventive copies of ourselves.
Siddhartha MukherjeeRead
Evolutionary plasticity can be purchased only at the ruthlessly dear price of continuously sacrificing some individuals to death from unfavourable mutations. Bemoaning this imperfection of nature has, however, no place in a scientific treatment of this subject.
Theodosius DobzhanskyRead
We must be careful not to confuse data with the abstractions we use to analyse them.
William JamesRead
We explore because we are curious, not because we wish to develop grand views of reality or better widgets.
Brian CoxRead