Physicists have come to realize that mathematics, when used with sufficient care, is a proven pathway to truth.
Science is the process that takes us from confusion to understanding…
Understanding requires insight. Insight must be anchored.
…quantum mechanics—the physics of our world—requires that you hold such pedestrian complaints in abeyance.
…things are the way they are in our universe because if they weren’t, we wouldn’t be here to notice.
Free will is the sensation of making a choice. The sensation is real, but the choice seems illusory. Laws of physics determine the future.
Assessing existence while failing to embrace the insights of modern physics would be like wrestling in the dark with an unknown opponent.
I have long thought that anyone who does not regularly – or ever – gaze up and see the wonder and glory of a dark night sky filled with countless stars loses a sense of their fundamental connectedness to the universe
But, as Einstein once said, “For we convinced physicists, the distinction between past, present, and future is only an illusion, however persistent.”5
… things are the way they are in our universe because if they Weren’t, we would not be here to notice.
…The wonders of life and the universe are mere reflections of microscopic particles engaged in a pointless dance fully choreographed by the laws of physics.
If string theory is right, the microscopic fabric of our universe is a richly intertwined multidimensional labyrinth within which the strings of the universe endlessly twist and vibrate, rhythmically beating out the laws of the cosmos.
String theory envisions a multiverse in which our universe is one slice of bread in a big cosmic loaf. The other slices would be displaced from ours in some extra dimension of space.
Science is a self-correcting discipline that can, in subsequent generations, show that previous ideas were not correct.
Intelligence is the ability to take in information from the world and to find patterns in that information that allow you to organize your perceptions and understand the external world.
I believe the process of going from confusion to understanding is a precious, even emotional, experience that can be the foundation of self-confidence.
The bottom line is that time travel is allowed by the laws of physics.
My mom says: ‘Why aren’t you a doctor?’ and I’m like, ‘I am a doctor!’ and she’s all, ‘No, I mean a real doctor.’ She reads my books, but she says they give her a headache.
When you drive your car, E = mc2 is at work. As the engine burns gasoline to produce energy in the form of motion, it does so by converting some of the gasoline’s mass into energy, in accord with Einstein’s formula.
Nature’s patterns sometimes reflect two intertwined features: fundamental physical laws and environmental influences. It’s nature’s version of nature versus nurture.