No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the Invisible Hand which
conducts the affairs of men more than the people of the United States.
Every step by which they have advanced to the character of an independent
nation seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential
agency. -- George Washington, first inaugural address
Wednesday, August 31, 2022
Tuesday, August 30, 2022
Fortune Quote #3687
Ordinarily he was insane, but he had lucid moments when he was merely
stupid. -- Heinrich Heine
stupid. -- Heinrich Heine
Monday, August 29, 2022
Fortune Quote #3686
One can in fact draw some conclusions from the anthropic principle. But
it's really just the low-budget limit of experimental physics. You can
always get more conclusions from doing more experiments. The experiment
where you just check to see if you're alive is really cheap -- but you
don't learn much from it. -- John Baez, week246
it's really just the low-budget limit of experimental physics. You can
always get more conclusions from doing more experiments. The experiment
where you just check to see if you're alive is really cheap -- but you
don't learn much from it. -- John Baez, week246
Sunday, August 28, 2022
Fortune Quote #3685
To a beginner, perhaps the most unexpected fact about quantum mechanics is
that amplitudes are complex. As the term `imaginary' suggests, we tend to
think of complex numbers as (useful) human inventions; it's unsettling if
the source code of the Universe is best written in a language like Fortran
with a complex-number data type. -- Scott Aaronson
that amplitudes are complex. As the term `imaginary' suggests, we tend to
think of complex numbers as (useful) human inventions; it's unsettling if
the source code of the Universe is best written in a language like Fortran
with a complex-number data type. -- Scott Aaronson
Saturday, August 27, 2022
Fortune Quote #3684
However, although the Pythagorean Theorem dates back some 3800 years, I
confess to having never understood it at a gut level. (Have you?)
-- Scott Aaronson
confess to having never understood it at a gut level. (Have you?)
-- Scott Aaronson
Friday, August 26, 2022
Fortune Quote #3683
If... a procedure existed [to solve NP-complete problems efficiently],
then we could quickly find the smallest Boolean circuits that output (say)
a table of historical stock market data, or the human genome, or the
complete works of Shakespeare. It seems entirely conceivable that, by
analyzing these circuits, we could make an easy fortune on Wall Street, or
retrace evolution, or even generate Shakespeare's 38th play. For broadly
speaking, that which we can compress we can understand, and that which we
can understand we can predict. -- Scott Aaronson
then we could quickly find the smallest Boolean circuits that output (say)
a table of historical stock market data, or the human genome, or the
complete works of Shakespeare. It seems entirely conceivable that, by
analyzing these circuits, we could make an easy fortune on Wall Street, or
retrace evolution, or even generate Shakespeare's 38th play. For broadly
speaking, that which we can compress we can understand, and that which we
can understand we can predict. -- Scott Aaronson
Thursday, August 25, 2022
Fortune Quote #3682
But no one has yet demonstrated a single ill effect from "repression." For
the simple reason that the other names for "repression" are words
like "conscience" and "responsibility" and "impulse control." The virtues
we link with adulthood. -- Orson Scott Card
the simple reason that the other names for "repression" are words
like "conscience" and "responsibility" and "impulse control." The virtues
we link with adulthood. -- Orson Scott Card
Wednesday, August 24, 2022
Fortune Quote #3681
"Inclusion" is an empty word when used as a general virtue. Its value
depends entirely on what is and is not included. -- Orson Scott Card
depends entirely on what is and is not included. -- Orson Scott Card
Tuesday, August 23, 2022
Fortune Quote #3680
You can't add a runway to an airport in America without years of carefully
researched environmental impact statements. But you can radically reorder
the fundamental social unit of society without political process or serious
research. -- Orson Scott Card
researched environmental impact statements. But you can radically reorder
the fundamental social unit of society without political process or serious
research. -- Orson Scott Card
Monday, August 22, 2022
Fortune Quote #3679
Civilization depends on people deliberately choosing *not* to do many
things that feel good at the time, in order to accomplish more important,
larger purposes. -- Orson Scott Card
things that feel good at the time, in order to accomplish more important,
larger purposes. -- Orson Scott Card
Sunday, August 21, 2022
Fortune Quote #3678
No government official is "tempted" to place restraints upon his own
freedom of action, which is why Lord Acton did not say "Power tends to
purify." -- Justice Antonin Scalia, Planned Parenthood v. Casey
(dissent)
freedom of action, which is why Lord Acton did not say "Power tends to
purify." -- Justice Antonin Scalia, Planned Parenthood v. Casey
(dissent)
Saturday, August 20, 2022
Fortune Quote #3677
At the heart of liberty is the right to define one's own concept of
existence, of meaning, of the universe, and the mystery of human
life. -- Justices O'Connor, Souter, and Kennedy, Planned Parenthood
v. Casey I have never heard of a law that attempted to restrict
one's "right to define" certain concepts; and if the passage calls into
question the government's power to regulate *actions based on* one's
self-defined "concept of existence, etc.," it is the passage that ate the
rule of law. -- Justice Antonin Scalia, Lawrence v. Texas (dissent)
existence, of meaning, of the universe, and the mystery of human
life. -- Justices O'Connor, Souter, and Kennedy, Planned Parenthood
v. Casey I have never heard of a law that attempted to restrict
one's "right to define" certain concepts; and if the passage calls into
question the government's power to regulate *actions based on* one's
self-defined "concept of existence, etc.," it is the passage that ate the
rule of law. -- Justice Antonin Scalia, Lawrence v. Texas (dissent)
Friday, August 19, 2022
Fortune Quote #3676
We do not judge statutes as if we are surveying the scene of an accident;
each one is reviewed, not on the basis of how much worse it could have
been, but on the basis of what it says. -- Justice Antonin Scalia
each one is reviewed, not on the basis of how much worse it could have
been, but on the basis of what it says. -- Justice Antonin Scalia
Thursday, August 18, 2022
Wednesday, August 17, 2022
Fortune Quote #3674
I am always ready to learn although I do not always like being
taught. -- Sir Winston Churchill
taught. -- Sir Winston Churchill
Tuesday, August 16, 2022
Fortune Quote #3673
The chief practical use of history is to deliver us from plausible
historical analogies. -- James Bryce
historical analogies. -- James Bryce
Monday, August 15, 2022
Fortune Quote #3672
The case against the notion of historical objectivity is like the case
against international law, or international morality; that it does not
exist. -- Sir Isaiah Berlin
against international law, or international morality; that it does not
exist. -- Sir Isaiah Berlin
Sunday, August 14, 2022
Fortune Quote #3671
The researches of many eminent antiquarians have already thrown much
darkness on the subject; and it is possible, if they continue their labors,
that we shall soon know nothing at all. -- Artemus Ward
darkness on the subject; and it is possible, if they continue their labors,
that we shall soon know nothing at all. -- Artemus Ward
Saturday, August 13, 2022
Fortune Quote #3670
God alone knows the future, but only an historian can alter the
past. -- Ambrose Bierce
past. -- Ambrose Bierce
Friday, August 12, 2022
Thursday, August 11, 2022
Fortune Quote #3668
We must never forget that it is a Constitution for the United States of
America that we are expounding... [W]here there is not first a settled
consensus among our own people, the views of other nations, however
enlightened the Justices of this Court may think them to be, cannot be
imposed upon Americans through the Constitution. -- Justice Antonin
Scalia, Thompson v. Oklahoma (dissent)
America that we are expounding... [W]here there is not first a settled
consensus among our own people, the views of other nations, however
enlightened the Justices of this Court may think them to be, cannot be
imposed upon Americans through the Constitution. -- Justice Antonin
Scalia, Thompson v. Oklahoma (dissent)
Wednesday, August 10, 2022
Fortune Quote #3667
I cannot understand why those who acknowledge that, in the opening words
of Justince O'Connor's concurrence, "[t]he issue of abortion is one of the
most contentious and controversial in contemporary American society,"
persist in the belief that this Court, armed with neither constitutional
text nor accepted tradition, can resolve that contention and controversy
rather than be consumed by it. If only for the sake of its own
preservation, the Court should return this matter to the people---where the
Constitution, by its silence on the subject, left it. -- Justice
Antonin Scalia, Stenberg v. Carhart (dissent)
of Justince O'Connor's concurrence, "[t]he issue of abortion is one of the
most contentious and controversial in contemporary American society,"
persist in the belief that this Court, armed with neither constitutional
text nor accepted tradition, can resolve that contention and controversy
rather than be consumed by it. If only for the sake of its own
preservation, the Court should return this matter to the people---where the
Constitution, by its silence on the subject, left it. -- Justice
Antonin Scalia, Stenberg v. Carhart (dissent)
Tuesday, August 9, 2022
Fortune Quote #3666
[T]he candid citizen must confess that if the policy of the Government
upon vital questions affecting the whole people is to be irrevocably fixed
by decisions of the Supreme Court,... the people will have ceased to be
their own rulers, having to that extent practically resigned their
Government into the hands of that eminent tribunal. -- Abraham
Lincoln, First Inaugural Address
upon vital questions affecting the whole people is to be irrevocably fixed
by decisions of the Supreme Court,... the people will have ceased to be
their own rulers, having to that extent practically resigned their
Government into the hands of that eminent tribunal. -- Abraham
Lincoln, First Inaugural Address
Monday, August 8, 2022
Fortune Quote #3665
[W]hen a strict interpretation of the Constitution, according to the fixed
rules which govern the interpretation of laws, is abandoned, and the
theoretical opinions of individuals are allowed to control its meaning, we
have no longer a Constitution; we are under the government of individual
men, who for the time being have power to declare what the Constitution is,
according to their own views of what it ought to mean. -- Justice
Curtis, Dred Scott v. Sandford (dissent)
rules which govern the interpretation of laws, is abandoned, and the
theoretical opinions of individuals are allowed to control its meaning, we
have no longer a Constitution; we are under the government of individual
men, who for the time being have power to declare what the Constitution is,
according to their own views of what it ought to mean. -- Justice
Curtis, Dred Scott v. Sandford (dissent)
Sunday, August 7, 2022
Fortune Quote #3664
...[the Supreme Court's] retaining control, through Roe [v. Wade], of what
I believe to be, and many of our citizens recognize to be, a political
issue, continuously distorts the public perception of this Court. We can
now look forward to at least another Term with carts full of mail from the
public, and the streets full of demonstrators, urging us---their unelected
and life-tenured judges who have been awarded those extraordinary,
undemocratic characteristics precisely in order that we might follow the
law despite popular will---to follow the popular will. -- Justice
Antonin Scalia, Webster v. Reproductive Health Services
(concurrence)
I believe to be, and many of our citizens recognize to be, a political
issue, continuously distorts the public perception of this Court. We can
now look forward to at least another Term with carts full of mail from the
public, and the streets full of demonstrators, urging us---their unelected
and life-tenured judges who have been awarded those extraordinary,
undemocratic characteristics precisely in order that we might follow the
law despite popular will---to follow the popular will. -- Justice
Antonin Scalia, Webster v. Reproductive Health Services
(concurrence)
Saturday, August 6, 2022
Fortune Quote #3663
In the eyes of government, we are just one race here. It is
American. -- Justice Antonin Scalia, Adarand Constructors, Inc. v.
Pena
American. -- Justice Antonin Scalia, Adarand Constructors, Inc. v.
Pena
Friday, August 5, 2022
Fortune Quote #3662
Racial preferences appear to "even the score"... only if one embraces the
proposition that our society is appropriately viewed as divided into races,
making it right that an injustice rendered in the past to a black man
should be compensated for by discriminating against a white. Nothing is
worth that embrace. -- Justice Antonin Scalia, Richmond v. J.A.
Croson Co.
proposition that our society is appropriately viewed as divided into races,
making it right that an injustice rendered in the past to a black man
should be compensated for by discriminating against a white. Nothing is
worth that embrace. -- Justice Antonin Scalia, Richmond v. J.A.
Croson Co.
Thursday, August 4, 2022
Fortune Quote #3661
...those who believe that racial preferences can help to "even the score"
display, and reinforce, a manner of thinking by race that was the source of
the injustice and that will, if it endures within our society, be the
source of more injustice still. -- Justice Antonin Scalia, Richmond
v. J.A. Croson Co.
display, and reinforce, a manner of thinking by race that was the source of
the injustice and that will, if it endures within our society, be the
source of more injustice still. -- Justice Antonin Scalia, Richmond
v. J.A. Croson Co.
Wednesday, August 3, 2022
Fortune Quote #3660
[A] racial quota derogates the human dignity and individuality of all to
whom it is applied; it is invidious in principle as well as in practice.
Moreover, it can easily be turned against those it purports to help. The
history of the racial quota is a history of subjugation, not benificence.
Its evil lies not in its name, but in its effects: a quota is a divider of
society, a creator of castes, and it is all the worse for its racial base,
especially in a society desperately striving for an equality that will make
race irrelevant. -- Bickel, The Morality of Consent
whom it is applied; it is invidious in principle as well as in practice.
Moreover, it can easily be turned against those it purports to help. The
history of the racial quota is a history of subjugation, not benificence.
Its evil lies not in its name, but in its effects: a quota is a divider of
society, a creator of castes, and it is all the worse for its racial base,
especially in a society desperately striving for an equality that will make
race irrelevant. -- Bickel, The Morality of Consent
Tuesday, August 2, 2022
Fortune Quote #3659
There's only one guaranteed way you can have peace, and you can have it in
the next second: surrender. -- Ronald Reagan
the next second: surrender. -- Ronald Reagan
Monday, August 1, 2022
Fortune Quote #3658
The study of mental objects with reproducible properties is called
mathematics. -- Davis & Hersh, "The Experience of Mathematics"
mathematics. -- Davis & Hersh, "The Experience of Mathematics"
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