One factor that has remained constant through all the twists and turns of the history of physical science is the decisive importance of the mathematical imagination.
Freeman DysonRead
The total disorder in the universe, as measured by the quantity that physicists call entropy, increases steadily over time. Also, the total order in the universe, as measured by the complexity and permanence of organized structures, also increases steadily over time.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The universe shows a continual increase in both disorder (entropy) and order (complexity).
Freeman Dyson highlights the dual nature of the universe's evolution, where the chaotic tendency of entropy increases over time, representing disorder, while simultaneously, complex structures, representing order, also become more established. This duality suggests a profound relationship between chaos and order in the cosmos, leading to a richer understanding of how the universe operates.
Themes
EntropyOrderChaosComplexityUniverse
In practice
Example use cases
In a lecture on thermodynamics, one might quote Dyson to illustrate the concept of entropy.
More from Freeman Dyson
All quotes βBiology is now bigger than physics, as measured by the size of budgets, by the size of the workforce, or by the output of major discoveries; and biology is likely to remain the biggest part of science through the twenty-first century.
Freeman DysonRead
As a working hypothesis to explain the riddle of our existence, I propose that our universe is the most interesting of all possible universes, and our fate as human beings is to make it so
Freeman DysonRead
It's not going to be just humans colonizing space, it's going to be life moving out from the Earth, moving it into its kingdom. And the kingdom of life, of course, is going to be the universe.
Freeman DysonRead
The bottom line for mathematicians is that the architecture has to be right. In all the mathematics that I did, the essential point was to find the right architecture. It's like building a bridge. Once the main lines of the structure are right, then the details miraculously fit. The problem is the overall design.
Freeman DysonRead
For some days I quietly worked out in my own mind the metaphysics of Cosmic Unity. The more I thought about it, the more convinced I became that it was the living truth. It was logically incontrovertible. It provided for the first time a firm foundation for ethics. It offered mankind the radical change of heart and mind that was our only hope of peace at a time of desperate danger. Only one small problem remained. I must find a way to convert the world to my way of thinking.
Freeman DysonRead
Similar quotes
No amounts of stone and bone could yield the kinds of information that the paintings gave so freely.
Mary LeakeyRead
Astronomy leads us to a unique event, a universe which was created out of nothing, and delicately balanced to provide exactly the conditions required to support life. In the absence of an absurdly improbable accident, the observations of modern science seem to suggest an underlying, one might say, supernatural plan.
Arno Allan PenziasRead
The work of science is to substitute facts for appearances, and demonstrations for impressions.
John RuskinRead
Everything was so new - the whole idea of going into space was new and daring. There were no textbooks, so we had to write them.
Katherine JohnsonRead
Science is a cooperative enterprise spanning the generations. It's the passing of a torch from teacher to student to teacher. A community of minds, reaching back to antiquity and forward to the stars.
Neil Degrasse TysonRead
With its billions of interconnected neurons, whose interactions change from millisecond to millisecond, the human brain is an archetypal complex system.
Miguel NicolelisRead