We only have to look at ourselves to see how intelligent life might develop into something we wouldn't want to meet.
I don't care much for equations myself. This is partly because it is difficult for me to write them down, but mainly because I don't have an intuitive feeling for equations.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote expresses the speaker's disinterest and struggle with understanding equations, emphasizing a lack of intuitive connection to them.
In this quote, Stephen Hawking conveys his personal experience with equations, highlighting that his difficulty in writing them and lack of an intuitive grasp creates a disconnect between him and this mathematical language. This reflects a broader perspective that not everyone possesses the same comfort or understanding when it comes to complex scientific concepts, underscoring the unique ways in which individuals relate to and comprehend different fields of knowledge.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a classroom setting to encourage students struggling with math.
More from Stephen Hawking
All quotes βI regard the brain as a computer which will stop working when its components fail. There is no heaven or afterlife for broken down computers; that is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark.
It surprises me how disinterested we are today about things like physics, space, the universe and philosophy of our existence, our purpose, our final destination. Its a crazy world out there. Be curious.
I was not a good student. I did not spend much time at college; I was too busy enjoying myself.
The world has changed far more in the past 100 years than in any other century in history. The reason is not political or economic but technological-technologies that flowed directly from advances in basic science. Clearly, no scientist better represents those advances than Albert Einstein: TIME's Person of the Century.
In my opinion, there is no aspect of reality beyond the reach of the human mind.
Similar quotes
Science cuts two ways, of course; its products can be used for both good and evil. But there's no turning back from science. The early warnings about technological dangers also come from science.
I think it inevitably follows, that as new species in the course of time are formed through natural selection, others will become rarer and rarer, and finally extinct. The forms which stand in closest competition with those undergoing modification and improvement will naturally suffer most.
There is no example of someone reading their scripture and saying, 'I have a prediction about the world that no one knows yet, because this gave me insight. Let's go test that prediction,' and have the prediction be correct.
In nature, when you conduct science, it is the natural world that is the ultimate decider in what is true and what is not.
If there is any kind of animal which is female and has no male separate from it, it is possible that this may generate a young one from itself. No instance of this worthy of any credit has been observed up to the present at any rate, but one case in the class of fishes makes us hesitate. No male of the so-called erythrinus has ever yet been seen, but females, and specimens full of roe, have been seen. Of this, however, we have as yet no proof worthy of credit.
When scientifically investigating the natural world, the only thing worse than a blind believer is a seeing denier.