Rationality Quotes 11

“If we let ethical considerations get in the way of scientific hubris, then the feminists have won!”
-- Helarxe

“The trajectory to hell is paved with locally-good intentions.”
-- Matt Gingell

“To a mouse, cheese is cheese; that’s why mousetraps work.”
-- Wendell Johnson, quoted in Language in Thought and Action

“‘Ethical consideration’ has come to mean reasoning from an ivory tower about abstract non-issues while people die.”
-- Zeb Haradon

“I intend to live forever. So far, so good.”
-- Rick Potvin

“The accessory optic system: The AOS, extensively studied in the rabbit, arises from a special class of ganglion cells, the cells of Dogiel, that are directionally selective and respond best to slow rates of movement. They project to the terminal nuclei which in turn project to the dorsal cap of Kooy of the inferior olive. The climbing fibers from the olive project to the flocculo-nodular lobe of the cerebellum from where the brain stem occulomotor centers are reached through the vestibular nuclei.”
-- MIT Encyclopedia of the Cognitive Sciences, “Visual Anatomy and Physiology”

“Fight for those you have lost, and for those you don’t want to lose.”
-- Claymore

“Which facts are likely to reappear? The simple facts. How to recognize them? Choose those that seem simple. Either this simplicity is real or the complex elements are indistinguishable. In the first case we’re likely to meet this simple fact again either alone or as an element in a complex fact. The second case too has a good chance of recurring since nature doesn’t randomly construct such cases.”
-- Robert M. Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

“Revolutions begin not when the first barricades are erected or even when people lose faith in the old ways of doing things, but rather when they realize that fundamental change is possible.”
-- Steven Metz

“First Law of Anime Acoustics: In space, loud sounds, like explosions, are even louder because there is no air to get in the way.”
“Law of Inherent Combustibility: Everything explodes. Everything.”
”Law of Conservation of Firepower: Any powerful weapon capable of destroying/​defeating an opponent in a single shot will invariably be reserved and used only as a last resort.”
-- Laws of Anime

“On the Popo Agie in September,
I watched the water toss through the same arc,
each molecule passing through and never returning,
but the whole a permanence of chaos,
repeating to the casual glance,
various to the closer look.”
-- Mick McAllister