Frank Wilczek - The lightness of being (2008)

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Different ways of writing the same equation can suggest very different things, even if they are logically equivalent.... In Einstein's original 1905 paper, you do not find the equation E = mc2. What you find is m = E/c2.... the title of the paper is a question: "Does the Inertia of a Body Depend on Its Energy Content?" …If we can explain mass in terms of energy, we'll be improving our description of the world. We'll need fewer ingrediants in our world-recipe.

Frank Wilczek
Knowing how to calculate something is not the same as understanding it. Having a computer to calculate the origin of mass for us may be convincing, but is not satisfying. Fortunately we can understand it too.

Frank Wilczek
For many centuries before modern science, and for the first two and a half centuries of modern science, the division of reality into matter and light seemed self-evident.... As long as the separation between the massive and the massless persisted, a unified description of the physical world could not be achieved.

Frank Wilczek
We evolved to be good at learning and using rules of thumb, not at searching for ultimate causes and making fine distinctions. Still less did we evolve to spin out long chains of calculation that connect fundamental laws to observable consequences. Computers are much better at it!

Frank Wilczek
An ordinary mistake is one that leads to a dead end, while a profound mistake is one that leads to progress. Anyone can make an ordinary mistake, but it takes a genius to make a profound mistake.

Frank Wilczek