You insist that there is something a machine cannot do. If you tell me precisely what it is a machine cannot do, then I can always make a machine which will do just that.
John Von NeumannRead
Truth is much too complicated to allow anything but approximations.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Truth is complex and cannot be fully captured, only approximated.
This quote by John Von Neumann suggests that the concept of truth is inherently intricate and multifaceted, making it impossible to articulate it in absolute terms. Instead, we can only understand and present truths as approximations or simplified versions, acknowledging the limitations of our knowledge and perception.
Themes
TruthComplexityApproximationUnderstandingPhilosophy
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about the nature of science and its limitations, you might say this quote to emphasize the need for humility in our understanding of complex truths.
More from John Von Neumann
All quotes βThe sciences do not try to explain, they hardly even try to interpret, they mainly make models. By a model is meant a mathematical construct which, with the addition of certain verbal interpretations, describes observed phenomena. The justification of such a mathematical construct is solely and precisely that it is expected to work-that is, correctly to describe phenomena from a reasonably wide area.
John Von NeumannRead
Anyone who attempts to generate random numbers by deterministic means is, of course, living in a state of sin.
John Von NeumannRead
Any one who considers arithmetical methods of producing random digits is, of course, in a state of sin. For, as has been pointed out several times, there is no such thing as a random number - there are only methods to produce random numbers, and a strict arithmetic procedure of course is not such a method.
John Von NeumannRead
It would appear that we have reached the limits of what it is possible to achieve with computer technology, although one should be careful with such statements, as they tend to sound pretty silly in 5 years.
John Von NeumannRead
Technological possibilities are irresistible to man. If man can go to the moon, he will. If he can control the climate, he will.
John Von NeumannRead
Similar quotes
...nature seems very conversant with the rules of pure mathematics, as our own mathematicians have formulated them in their studies, out of their own inner consciousness and without drawing to any appreciable extent on their experience of the outer world.
James JeansRead
Men decided that it was better to pay taxes than to fight among themselves; better to pay tribute to one magnificent robber than to bribe them all.
Will DurantRead
Government power must be dispersed. If government is to exercise power, better in the county than in the state, better in the state than in Washington. If I do not like what my local community does, be it in sewage disposal, or zoning, or schools, I can move to another local community, and though few may take this step, the mere possibility acts as a check. If I do not like what Washington imposes, I have few alternatives in this world of jealous nations.
Milton FriedmanRead
All I wanted and all Neal wanted and all anybody wanted was some kind of penetration into the heart of things where, like in a womb, we could curl up and sleep the ecstatic sleep that Burroughs was experiencing with a good big mainline shot of M. and advertising executives in NY were experiencing with twelve Scotch & Sodas in Stouffers before they made the drunkard's train to Westchester---but without hangovers.
Jack KerouacRead
Brothers, he who dies here dies in the radiance of the future, and we are entering a tomb all flooded with the dawn.
Victor HugoRead
We live in capitalism, its power seems inescapable - but then, so did the divine right of kings. Any human power can be resisted and changed by human beings. Resistance and change often begin in art. Very often in our art, the art of words.
Ursula K. Le GuinRead