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.
technology simple medieval-europe
The technologies which have had the most profound effects on human life are usually simple.
minorities majority global-warming
In the history of science it has often happened that the majority was wrong and refused to listen to a minority that later turned out to be right.
technology gambling damnation
If we had a reliable way to label our toys good and bad, it would be easy to regulate technology wisely. But we can rarely see far enough ahead to know which road leads to damnation. Whoever concerns himself with big technology, either to push it forward or to stop it, is gambling in human lives.
gaps climate global-warming
When I listen to the public debates about climate change, I am impressed by the enormous gaps in our knowledge, the sparseness of our observations and the superficiality of our theories.
technology needs generations
Lucky individuals in each generation find technology appropriate to their needs.
humor problem characteristics
It is characteristic of all deep human problems that they are not to be approached without some humor and some bewilderment.
technology office racing
Many of the technologies that are now racing ahead most rapidly, replacing human workers in factories and offices with machines, making stockholders richer and workers poorer, are indeed tending to accentuate the existing inequalities in the distribution of wealth.