I hope that some day scientists can be considered heroes again, instead of Paris Hilton.
Interpretation
The quote critiques the societal values that prioritize celebrity over the achievements of scientists.
Walter Isaacson's quote highlights a cultural shift where public admiration tends to favor celebrities, such as Paris Hilton, rather than the significant contributions of scientists who advance knowledge and society. This reflection on values emphasizes the need to reconsider who we celebrate and recognize as heroes in our society.
In practice
In a speech about the importance of scientific contributions to society, this quote could emphasize the need to celebrate real heroes.
I visited Jobs for the last time in his Palo Alto, Calif., home. He had moved to a downstairs bedroom because he was too weak to go up and down stairs. He was curled up in some pain, but his mind was still sharp and his humor vibrant
I've always had an abundance of material about the subjects of my biographies.
Polite and velvety leaders, who take care to avoid bruising others, are generally not as effective at forcing change.
for Steve, less is always more, simpler is always better. Therefore, if you can build a glass box with fewer elements, it’s better, it’s simpler, and it’s at the forefront of technology. That’s where Steve likes to be, in both his products and his stores.
What are the five products you want to focus on? Get rid of the rest, because they’re dragging you down. They’re turning you into Microsoft. They’re causing you to turn out products that are adequate but not great.
When there are multiple versions of a story, you really have three ways to go. You can pick the most sensational version. You can try to balance things in your gut to get to what you think is the honest truth. Or you can err on the side of kindness.
I cannot give any scientist of any age better advice than this: the intensity of a conviction that a hypothesis is true has no bearing over whether it is true or not.
Evolution is a process of constant branching and expansion.
It would not become physical science to see in its self created, changeable, economical tools, molecules and atoms, realities behind phenomena... The atom must remain a tool for representing phenomena.
Imagine a survivor of a failed civilization with only a tattered book on aromatherapy for guidance in arresting a cholera epidemic. Yet, such a book would more likely be found amid the debris than a comprehensible medical text.
An attempt to study the evolution of living organisms without reference to cytology would be as futile as an account of stellar evolution which ignored spectroscopy.
Science is nothing but developed perception, interpreted intent, common sense rounded out and minutely articulated.
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