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Favourite Quotes...

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Alan C.
Posts: 10356
Joined: July 4th, 2007, 3:35 pm

Re: Favourite Quotes...

#21 Post by Alan C. » August 9th, 2012, 3:23 pm

Latest post of the previous page:

I really like this one.

A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die, and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it.
Max Planck.
Abstinence Makes the Church Grow Fondlers.

Nick
Posts: 11027
Joined: July 4th, 2007, 10:10 am

Re: Favourite Quotes...

#22 Post by Nick » August 9th, 2012, 6:24 pm

There's a similar idea in economics, but not so advantageous. Something along the lines that those who hold economic power (in government, say) are using economic theory which is a generation out of date, because they continue to believe what they learned as students....

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Dave B
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Re: Favourite Quotes...

#23 Post by Dave B » August 9th, 2012, 8:05 pm

I thought they all had rooms full of "special advisers" these days to keep them up to date - lots of spotty youths and youthesses, fresh out of uni with all the latest theories and researching for all they are worth 20 hours a day!
"Look forward; yesterday was a lesson, if you did not learn from it you wasted it."
Me, 2015

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Alan H
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Joined: July 3rd, 2007, 10:26 pm

Re: Favourite Quotes...

#24 Post by Alan H » August 9th, 2012, 8:51 pm

Nick wrote:There's a similar idea in economics, but not so advantageous. Something along the lines that those who hold economic power (in government, say) are using economic theory which is a generation out of date, because they continue to believe what they learned as students....
So why are economists any different to, say architects or engineers or any other occupation?
Alan Henness

There are three fundamental questions for anyone advocating Brexit:

1. What, precisely, are the significant and tangible benefits of leaving the EU?
2. What damage to the UK and its citizens is an acceptable price to pay for those benefits?
3. Which ruling of the ECJ is most persuasive of the need to leave its jurisdiction?

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Dave B
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Joined: May 17th, 2010, 9:15 pm

Re: Favourite Quotes...

#25 Post by Dave B » August 9th, 2012, 9:07 pm

Alan H wrote:
Nick wrote:There's a similar idea in economics, but not so advantageous. Something along the lines that those who hold economic power (in government, say) are using economic theory which is a generation out of date, because they continue to believe what they learned as students....
So why are economists any different to, say architects or engineers or any other occupation?
Surely economics depends on variables that can vary at short intervals compared with engineering science or architectural practices?
"Look forward; yesterday was a lesson, if you did not learn from it you wasted it."
Me, 2015

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Alan H
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Re: Favourite Quotes...

#26 Post by Alan H » August 9th, 2012, 9:14 pm

Dave B wrote:
Alan H wrote:
Nick wrote:There's a similar idea in economics, but not so advantageous. Something along the lines that those who hold economic power (in government, say) are using economic theory which is a generation out of date, because they continue to believe what they learned as students....
So why are economists any different to, say architects or engineers or any other occupation?
Surely economics depends on variables that can vary at short intervals compared with engineering science or architectural practices?
No doubt the data change quickly, but does the 'theory' of economics change rapidly? Then again, say, engineering or medicine, change rapidly, yet most engineers and doctors seem to be able to cope with CPD to keep up to date. Why can't economists?
Alan Henness

There are three fundamental questions for anyone advocating Brexit:

1. What, precisely, are the significant and tangible benefits of leaving the EU?
2. What damage to the UK and its citizens is an acceptable price to pay for those benefits?
3. Which ruling of the ECJ is most persuasive of the need to leave its jurisdiction?

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Dave B
Posts: 17809
Joined: May 17th, 2010, 9:15 pm

Re: Favourite Quotes...

#27 Post by Dave B » August 9th, 2012, 9:31 pm

Ah, I think I detect Alan in "argument mode"!

I dunno but I feel that, say, it would be very unfortunate if Curiosity had failed due to dodgy engineering of some kind, it is something of a disaster if a building collapses due to poor design (maybe killing people) - the consequences of picking the wrong economic model might take longer to have an effect but can be far more wide ranging in those effects.

There are different scales. The failure of an engineering project or an office block might affect the individual in so small a way as to be unnoticed. A failure in the global economy has an effect on almost every single person (I am sure that there are a few people living so remotely and in such a "traditional" manner that the collapse of the entire system would go unnoticed!)
"Look forward; yesterday was a lesson, if you did not learn from it you wasted it."
Me, 2015

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Alan H
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Re: Favourite Quotes...

#28 Post by Alan H » August 9th, 2012, 10:35 pm

What I don't understand is why economists might be stuck in the past of their education and stop learning when the rest of us seem to quite happily and successfully cope with ever-new knowledge and even new paradigms.
Alan Henness

There are three fundamental questions for anyone advocating Brexit:

1. What, precisely, are the significant and tangible benefits of leaving the EU?
2. What damage to the UK and its citizens is an acceptable price to pay for those benefits?
3. Which ruling of the ECJ is most persuasive of the need to leave its jurisdiction?

Nick
Posts: 11027
Joined: July 4th, 2007, 10:10 am

Re: Favourite Quotes...

#29 Post by Nick » August 9th, 2012, 11:04 pm

Not really, Alan. The remark is more aimed a politicians, who may have done PPE at university 20-odd years before, but haven't kept up. Economists are quite capable of keeping up to date. Though they do have to contend with non-economists telling everyone what economic policy should be. :wink: Engineers tend not to have economists telling them how to build bridges... :D

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Dave B
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Re: Favourite Quotes...

#30 Post by Dave B » August 10th, 2012, 10:29 am

Nick wrote: Engineers tend not to have economists telling them how to build bridges... :D
No, they leave that to the bloody accountants!
"Look forward; yesterday was a lesson, if you did not learn from it you wasted it."
Me, 2015

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Alan H
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Joined: July 3rd, 2007, 10:26 pm

Re: Favourite Quotes...

#31 Post by Alan H » August 10th, 2012, 11:16 am

:pointlaugh: How very true!
Alan Henness

There are three fundamental questions for anyone advocating Brexit:

1. What, precisely, are the significant and tangible benefits of leaving the EU?
2. What damage to the UK and its citizens is an acceptable price to pay for those benefits?
3. Which ruling of the ECJ is most persuasive of the need to leave its jurisdiction?

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Sel
Posts: 811
Joined: January 3rd, 2011, 3:53 pm

Re: Favourite Quotes...

#32 Post by Sel » August 13th, 2012, 4:33 pm

An interesting quote considering the Christian right here in North America feels it is being persecuted.


Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted. -Ralph Waldo Emerson, writer and philosopher (1803-1882)
"The good life is one inspired by love and guided by knowledge." Bertrand Russell

Nick
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Joined: July 4th, 2007, 10:10 am

Re: Favourite Quotes...

#33 Post by Nick » August 13th, 2012, 8:51 pm

As a frequent poster on a Catholic forum, (yes, I know, I'm living on the edge!) I find that particularly apt! :laughter:

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Alan H
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Re: Favourite Quotes...

#34 Post by Alan H » September 15th, 2012, 12:52 am

Just come across this by Carl Sagan on Mastering the Vital Balance of Skepticism & Openness:
It seems to me what is called for is an exquisite balance between two conflicting needs: the most skeptical scrutiny of all hypotheses that are served up to us and at the same time a great openness to new ideas. Obviously those two modes of thought are in some tension. But if you are able to exercise only one of these modes, whichever one it is, you’re in deep trouble.

If you are only skeptical, then no new ideas make it through to you. You never learn anything new. You become a crotchety old person convinced that nonsense is ruling the world. (There is, of course, much data to support you.) But every now and then, maybe once in a hundred cases, a new idea turns out to be on the mark, valid and wonderful. If you are too much in the habit of being skeptical about everything, you are going to miss or resent it, and either way you will be standing in the way of understanding and progress.

On the other hand, if you are open to the point of gullibility and have not an ounce of skeptical sense in you, then you cannot distinguish the useful as from the worthless ones. If all ideas have equal validity then you are lost, because then, it seems to me, no ideas have any validity at all.

Some ideas are better than others. The machinery for distinguishing them is an essential tool in dealing with the world and especially in dealing with the future. And it is precisely the mix of these two modes of thought that is central to the success of science.
Alan Henness

There are three fundamental questions for anyone advocating Brexit:

1. What, precisely, are the significant and tangible benefits of leaving the EU?
2. What damage to the UK and its citizens is an acceptable price to pay for those benefits?
3. Which ruling of the ECJ is most persuasive of the need to leave its jurisdiction?

stevenw888
Posts: 694
Joined: July 16th, 2010, 12:48 pm

Re: Favourite Quotes...

#35 Post by stevenw888 » May 18th, 2017, 2:01 pm

I don't know whether this is true but I would love it to be so.
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"There are old pilots and there are bold pilots, but there are no old, bold pilots." - From the film "Top Gun"

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Dave B
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Joined: May 17th, 2010, 9:15 pm

Re: Favourite Quotes...

#36 Post by Dave B » May 18th, 2017, 3:27 pm

Sorry, Steve, but that is not quite accurate acording to other sources.

However, the above version does show Edison's renowned dedication and perseverance.

I do like his, "Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety nine percent perspiration."
"Look forward; yesterday was a lesson, if you did not learn from it you wasted it."
Me, 2015

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