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
Vegetation is really controlling what happens...whereas the emphasis in the climate models has always been on the atmosphere.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote highlights the significant role vegetation plays in influencing climate, contrary to the traditional focus on atmospheric factors.
Freeman Dyson emphasizes that vegetation has a crucial control over environmental changes, particularly climate, suggesting that models which prioritize atmospheric elements may overlook the impact of plant life. By recognizing the interconnectedness of vegetation and climate, he calls for a broader understanding of ecological dynamics that includes both atmospheric and terrestrial systems, which are vital for accurate climate modeling.
Themes
VegetationClimateEcologyAtmosphereEnvironment
In practice
Example use cases
In a climate change conference discussion to highlight the importance of both vegetation and atmosphere.
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
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When we have any function, whether it's language or vision or cognitive functions like memory, we aren't dealing with a straight line to the brain that says 'This is what I do.' The brain builds a network of connections, a network of neurons that have a particular role in that function.
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The latest authors, like the most ancient, strove to subordinate the phenomena of nature to the laws of mathematics.
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Contaminated water is not a problem limited to Flint. Think of New Jersey, where school fountains were found to contain unsafe levels of lead. Or the EPA's 33,000 superfund sites, which are highly-polluted areas that require long-term clean-up operations. The problem is so large that it feels insurmountable.
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Growing up in Hampton, the face of science was brown like mine.
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