Alvin M. Weinberg Quotes

6 Sourced Quotes

As for the Internet, I tend to have profound doubts about the value of this communication advance to science. I wonder if, in an era of the Internet, we can have somebody like Eugene Wigner. Eugene Wigner's genius manifested itself in his ability to concentrate for a long time on a single idea. If you are constantly beset by outside ideas, can you really get to the true heart of the matter? It's a very different way of doing science.

Alvin M. Weinberg
The philosophy of science is concerned with how you decide if a scientific finding is correct or true. You have to establish criteria to determine if the finding or theory is valid. Validity is a fundamental problem in the philosophy of science, but the fundamental problem in the philosophy of scientific administration is the question of value. Two scientific activities are equally valid if they achieve results that are true. Now, how do you decide which activity is more valuable? The question of value is the basic question that the scientific administrator asks so that decisions can be made about funding priorities.

Alvin M. Weinberg
We nuclear people have made a Faustian bargain with society. On the one hand, we offer...an inexhaustible source of energy...But the price that we demand of society for this magical energy source is both a vigilance and a longevity of our social institutions that we are quite unaccustomed to.

Alvin M. Weinberg
The traditional working scientists are at the bottom rung — each one knows almost everything about almost nothing; as one progresses toward the top of the ladder, the subject matter becomes more abstract until one finally reaches the philosopher at the top who knows almost nothing about almost everything.

Alvin M. Weinberg
No man can be a good teacher when his subject becomes inexplicable.

Alvin M. Weinberg
Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught.

Alvin M. Weinberg