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
What the world needs is a small, compact, flexible fusion technology that could make electricity where and when it is needed. The existing fusion program is leading to a huge source of centralized power, at a price that nobody except a government can afford.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the need for accessible and practical fusion energy solutions that can generate electricity on demand.
Freeman Dyson highlights the critical need for a new approach to fusion energy that prioritizes flexibility and affordability. He critiques the current centralized fusion programs that are expensive and primarily supported by government funding, urging for innovation that allows for localized energy production that meets the needs of consumers efficiently.
Themes
FusionEnergyTechnologyElectricitySustainabilityAffordability
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech on renewable energy solutions, one could reference this quote to highlight the potential of innovative fusion technology.
More from Freeman Dyson
All quotes →Biology 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
Of all my inventions, I liked the phonograph best
Thomas A. EdisonRead
With our technology, with objects, literally three people in a garage can blow away what 200 people at Microsoft can do. Literally can blow it away. Corporate America has a need that is so huge and can save them so much money, or make them so much money, or cost them so much money if they miss it, that they are going to fuel the object revolution.
Steve JobsRead
Even before smart phones and the Internet, we had many ways to distract our selves. Now that's compounded by a factor of trillions.
Jon Kabat-ZinnRead
I wanted to create a toolkit which I would have wanted as an entrepreneur to use these principles of psychology in product design. Some startups totally forget the trigger. In some, the action is too complicated. Others don't have a variable reward, which maintains mystery.
Nir EyalRead
An invention has to make sense in the world it finishes in, not in the world it started.
Tim O'ReillyRead
Somehow in the last 100 years, every time there is a problem of getting more spectrum, there is a technology that comes along that solves that problem.
Martin CooperRead