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Physicists analyse systems. Web scientists, however, can create the systems.
Tim Berners-Lee
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Interpretation

What this quote means

Physicists study and understand natural phenomena, whereas web scientists actively build and innovate within technological frameworks.

This quote by Tim Berners-Lee highlights the difference between two types of scientific disciplines. While physicists focus on analyzing and understanding the fundamental laws of nature and the behavior of physical systems, web scientists take a different approach by creating and developing new systems, particularly within the realm of the internet and technology. This distinction underscores the importance of both understanding existing phenomena and innovating for future advancements in technology.

Themes

ScienceInnovationTechnologyCreationSystems

In practice

Example use cases

This quote can be used in a technology conference to emphasize the role of innovation in scientific endeavors.

More from Tim Berners-Lee

The power of the Web is in its universality. Access by everyone regardless of disability is an essential aspect.
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[The internet] ought to be like clay, rather than a sculpture that you observe from a distance.
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The people who designed the tools that make the Net run had their own ideas for the future.
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Technology innovation is starting to explode and having open-source material out there really helps this explosion. You get students and researchers involved and you get people coming through and building start ups based on open source products.
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One way to think about the magnitude of the changes to come is to think about how you went about your business before powerful Web search engines. You probably wouldn't have imagined that a world of answers would be available to you in under a second. The next set of advances will have an different effect, but similar in magnitude.
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Software companies should take more responsibility for security holes, especially in browsers and e-mail clients. There are some straightforward things the industry should be doing right now to fix things, and I don't know why they haven't been done yet.
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