Freeman Dyson
Freeman Dyson
Freeman John Dyson FRSis an English-born American theoretical physicist and mathematician, known for his work in quantum electrodynamics, solid-state physics, astronomy and nuclear engineering. He is professor emeritus at the Institute for Advanced Study, a Visitor of Ralston College, and a member of the Board of Sponsors of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists...
really-amazing
It's us that's really amazing.
brain kind computer
The brain, being analog, is able to grasp images so much better. The brain is just designed for comparing images and some patterns - patterns in space and patterns in time - which we do amazingly well. Computers can do it, too, but not in anything like the same kind of flexibility.
brain trying
We won't really understand the brain until we can make models of it which are analog rather than digital, which nobody seems to be trying very much.
mistake thinking big-mistake
I think it's a big mistake to decide too soon what you're going to do with your life.
mistake thinking mathematics
I think the biggest misconception is that everybody has to learn mathematics. That seems to be a complete mistake.
different window science-and-religion
Science and religion are, of course, two different ways of looking at the universe; and it's the same universe with two different windows.
miracle done different
As far as I can see, our concentration of different abilities in one species - there's nothing I can see that in this Darwinian evolution that could've done that. So it seems to be a miracle of some sort.
world wonderful
The world is just - it's wonderful when you look at all the detail. It's just amazing.
progress
It's amazing how much progress there's been in China, and also India. Those are the places that really matter - they're half of the world's population. They're the places where things are enormously better now than they were 50 years ago. And I don't see anything that's going to stop that.
teacher children kids
All the time worrying about pushing the children and getting them to be mathematically literate and all that stuff. It's terribly hard on the kids. It's also hard on the teachers. And I think it's totally useless.
long too-late sense-of-humor
So long as you have courage and a sense of humor, it is never too late to start life afresh.
prayer hands giving
After sketching his program for the scientific revolution that he foresaw, Bacon ends his account with a prayer: "Humbly we pray that this mind may be steadfast in us, and that through these our hands, and the hands of others to whom thou shalt give the same spirit, thou wilt vouchsafe to endow the human family with new mercies". That is still a good prayer for all of us as we begin the twenty-first century.
progress damage done
Ethical progress is the only cure for the damage done by scientific progress.
science engineering ideas
A good scientist is a person with original ideas. A good engineer is a person who makes a design that works with as few original ideas as possible. There are no prima donnas in engineering.