If you can’t program it, you haven’t understood it. David Deutsch More Quotes by David Deutsch More Quotes From David Deutsch Feeling insignificant because the universe is large has exactly the same logic as feeling inadequate for not being a cow. David Deutsch logic cows feelings Quantum computation is a distinctively new way of harnessing nature. It will be the first technology that allows useful tasks to be performed in collaboration between parallel universes. David Deutsch technology way firsts I myself believe that there will one day be time travel because when we find that something isn't forbidden by the over-arching laws of physics we usually eventually find a technological way of doing it. David Deutsch law believe travel Every problem that is interesting is also soluble. David Deutsch problem interesting The quantum theory of parallel universes is not the problem, it is the solution. It is not some troublesome, optional interpretation emerging from arcane theoretical considerations. It is the explanation - the only one that is tenable - of a remarkable and counter-intuitive reality. David Deutsch consideration problem reality Base metals can be transmuted into gold by stars, and by intelligent beings who understand the processes that power stars, but by nothing else in the universe. David Deutsch intelligent stars gold If you reject the infinite, you are stuck with the finite, and the finite is parochial... the best explanation of anything eventually involves universality, and therefore infinity. The reach of explanations cannot be limited by fiat. David Deutsch stuck infinite infinity The whole [scientific] process resembles biological evolution. A problem is like an ecological niche, and a theory is like a gene or a species which is being tested for viability in that niche. David Deutsch niche evolution problem Like every other destruction of optimism, whether in a whole civilisation or in a single individual, these must have been unspeakable catastrophes for those who had dared to expect progress. But we should feel more than sympathy for those people. We should take it personally. For if any of those earlier experiments in optimism had succeeded, our species would be exploring the stars by now, and you and I would be immortal. David Deutsch optimism stars people No precautions, and no precautionary principle, can avoid problems that we do not yet foresee. We need a stance of problem-fixing, not just problem-avoidance. David Deutsch motivation principles inspiration Our best theories are not only truer than common sense, they make more sense than common sense... David Deutsch common-sense theory common The brain is the only kind of object capable of understanding that the cosmos is even there, or why there are infinitely many prime numbers, or that apples fall because of the curvature of space-time, or that obeying its own inborn instincts can be morally wrong, or that it itself exists. David Deutsch apples numbers fall The most important application of quantum computing in the future is likely to be a computer simulation of quantum systems, because that's an application where we know for sure that quantum systems in general cannot be efficiently simulated on a classical computer. David Deutsch quantum computer important Discovering a new explanation is inherently an act of creativity. David Deutsch discovering explanation creativity The truly privileged theories are not the ones referring to any particular scale of size or complexity, nor the ones situated at any particular level of the predictive hierarchy - but the ones that contain the deepest explanations. David Deutsch hierarchy size levels Is the human race a universal constructor? David Deutsch universal humans race To me quantum computation is a new and deeper and better way to understand the laws of physics, and hence understanding physical reality as a whole. David Deutsch understanding law reality The overwhelming majority of theories are rejected because they contain bad explanations, not because they fail experimental tests. David Deutsch majority failing tests If we can't program it, we can't understand it. David Deutsch programming program ifs The theory that the biosphere was created without evolution, a few thousand years ago, is ruled out by overwhelming scientific evidence. To claim that there are 'alternative (always better) Biblical explanations of the same data', which make creationism a reasonable alternative to our best theories of biology and physics, is appalling intellectual dishonesty. David Deutsch biblical data years
