Hugh Everett's work has been described by many people in terms of many worlds, the idea being that every one of the various alternative histories, branching histories, is assigned some sort of reality. Murray Gell-Mann More Quotes by Murray Gell-Mann More Quotes From Murray Gell-Mann In our work, we are always between Scylla and Charybdis; we may fail to abstract enough, and miss important physics, or we may abstract too much and end up with fictitious objects in our models turning into real monsters that devour us. Murray Gell-Mann important real missing My colleagues in elementary particle theory in many lands [and I] are driven by the usual insatiable curiosity of the scientist, and our work is a delightful game. I am frequently astonished that it so often results in correct predictions of experimental results. How can it be that writing down a few simple and elegant formulae, like short poems governed by strict rules such as those of the sonnet or the waka, can predict universal regularities of Nature? Murray Gell-Mann hard-work nature writing Modern language must be older than the cave paintings and cave engravings and cave sculptures and dance steps in the soft clay in the caves in Western Europe, in the Aurignacian Period some 35,000 years ago, or earlier. I can't believe they did all those things and didn't also have a modern language. Murray Gell-Mann motivation inspiration believe Perhaps we see equations as simple because they are easily expressed in terms of mathematical notation already invented at an earlier stage of development of the science, and thus what appears to us as elegance of description really reflects the interconnectedness of Nature's laws at different levels. Murray Gell-Mann nature simple science I think also of my colleagues in elementary particle theory in many lands, and feel that in some measure I am here as a representative of our small, informal, international fraternity. Murray Gell-Mann fraternity land thinking When you think you're listening to several conversations at once, they tell me, you may really simply be time sharing - that is, listening a little bit to this one, a little bit to that one Murray Gell-Mann listening may thinking If you know the wavefunction of the universe, why aren't you rich? Murray Gell-Mann rich ifs knows Sometimes the probabilities are very close to certainties, but they're never really certainties Murray Gell-Mann probability certainty sometimes We are driven by the usual insatiable curiosity of the scientist, and our work is a delightful game. Murray Gell-Mann curiosity usual games Planets are too dim to be detected with existing equipment, far away, except in these very special circumstances where they're seen by their gravitational effect Murray Gell-Mann equipment far-away special I have been interested in phenomena involving complexity, diversity and evolution since I was a young boy. Murray Gell-Mann diversity evolution boys If we look at the way the universe behaves, quantum mechanics gives us fundamental, unavoidable indeterminacy, so that alternative histories of the universe can be assigned probability. Murray Gell-Mann fundamentals giving way One thing that makes the adventure of working in our field particularly rewarding, especially in attempting to improve the theory, is that... a chief criterion for the selection of a correct hypothesis... seems to be the criterion of beauty, simplicity, or elegance. Murray Gell-Mann simplicity adventure science Our planet doesn't seem to be the result of anything very special Murray Gell-Mann planets results special Bush is a nice fellow who gives very good parties. I just wish someone would find him a better job than running the country. Murray Gell-Mann running jobs country But when researchers at Bell Labs discovered that static tends to come from particular places in the sky, the whole field of radio astronomy opened up. Murray Gell-Mann labs fields sky As a theoretical physicist, I feel at once proud and humble at the thought of the illustrious figures that have preceded me here to receive the greatest of all honors in science, the Nobel prize. Murray Gell-Mann proud honor humble The persistence of erroneous beliefs exacerbates the widespread anachronistic failure to recognize the urgent problems that face humanity on this planet. Murray Gell-Mann persistence humanity faith Think how hard physics would be if particles could think Murray Gell-Mann physics would-be thinking While many questions about quantum mechanics are still not fully resolved, there is no point in introducing needless mystification where in fact no problem exists. Yet a great deal of recent writing about quantum mechanics has done just that. Murray Gell-Mann done writing facts
