Academics From Israel

"The DM halo hypothesis is evidently an attempt to resolve the acceleration discrepancy within orthodox gravitation theory. But in coming to terms with this discrepancy, suspicion fell on Newtonian gravity already early in the game. Zwicky, who had exposed the acceleration discrepancy in clusters of galaxies ..., opined much later that the discrepancy may reflect a failure of conventional physics ..."

"Jacob was the first physicist to hear from me about MOND. It was 1982; Jacob was still at Ben Gurion University in Beer Sheba. I went there from Rehovot with my initial MOND trilogy of preprints in my bag to tell Jacob and benefit from his advice. I had not prepared him for what was in these preprints. Jacob was immediately captured, but he also warned me — as I vividly remember — that this is going to encounter much opposition, but also that I should not heed such opposition. He was drawing on his own experience with black-hole entropy and on how his ideas had been received a decade earlier."

"If the Moon is made of green cheese, then Napoleon lost the battle of Waterloo. We would be committing this fallacy (i. e., affirming the consequent) if we used this sentence to claim that the Moon is made of green cheese. Pseudosciences employ this fallacy frequently, because it enables you to claim the truth of any premise you wish simply by choosing a true conclusion."

"Science has also been analyzed by sociologists, political scientists and literary critics, who make little or no effort to understand the scientific subjects that they are analyzing. These critiques, known under the umbrella label of postmodernism, are seen by scientists as uninformed and pernicious in their effects on the real problems that arise in the relationship between science and society."

"It is clear today that modern science developed when people stopped debating metaphysical questions about the world and instead concerned themselves with the discovery of laws that were primarily mathematical."

"Enormous resources are invested in pseudoscience that could be better invested in improving the health and education of the public."

"Until creationists accept that their claims must be falsifiable and show how they could be falsified, creationism cannot be said to be a scientific theory."

"If ghosts and witches are not yet altogether exploded, it is the fault, not so much of the ignorant people, as of the law and the government that have neglected to enlighten them."

"Why was progress in computing technology so fast compared with the lack of progress in space travel? The reason is very simple: computing technology is only now approaching scientific limits such as quantum uncertainty and the speed of light, while space technology has already run into its limits that derive from the basic principles of physics and chemistry."

"It is important to distinguish between the scientific concept of law as a generalization, and the social concept of law which is prescriptive and normative. A desire for tolerance in respecting the laws of different social systems must not lead us into the mistake of attributing volition to the entities of science or relativism to scientific laws."

"Needless to say, there is no formal or mathematical content to ID—a “theory” that explains everything, explains nothing, and predicts nothing. ID cannot explain why millions of species were created and then became extinct. Even more importantly, it cannot explain “mistakes” in the design of living organisms such as us."

"The difference between these beliefs and the beliefs of religions is that scientific beliefs are methodological, not propositional...It is the absence of propositional beliefs that distinguishes science from a belief system. There is no proposition of the content of science that is accepted upon belief alone."

"Concise and coherent is not the same as “simple and obvious.”"

"The statement “I don’t see how X could have evolved” simply means that you cannot see how X evolved, not that X could not have evolved."

"Modern science explicitly and emphatically rejects teleology."

"Imaginary numbers are not imaginary and the theory of complex numbers is no more complex than the theory of real numbers. Complex numbers are as intuitive for an electronics engineer as -100 is for the average person with an overdrawn bank account."

"In a previous paper we showed that a static (nonrotating) black hole cannot be endowed with exterior scalar-meson or massive vector-meson fields. Here we show that the same is true for massive spin-2 meson fields. We also extend the above results to the case of a rotating stationary black hole. We conclude from our results that a black hole in its final (static or stationary) state cannot interact with the exterior world via the strong interactions which are mediated by meson fields such as the π (scalar), ρ (vector), and ƒ (spin-2). A direct consequence of this is the impossibility of determining the baryon number of the black hole by means of exterior measurements alone. This results in the transcendence of the law of baryon-number conservation as originally predicted by Wheeler."

"ID (intelligent design) is essentially a total failure of the imagination; just because you do not see how something could have evolved, doesn’t mean that it didn’t."

"We can define a fact as an observation backed up by such a preponderance of evidence that no useful purpose would be served by doubting it."

"The scientific point of view is that such claims of postmodernism are a travesty that comes from mixing ideology and politics with science."

"The charm of our studies, the enchantment of science, is that, everywhere and always, we can give the justification of our principles and the proof of our discoveries."

"Scientists refuse to study astrology, not because of prejudice or because there is a conspiracy afoot, but simply because there is not a shred of evidence that would justify the expenditure of valuable time from a career."

"Social Darwinism and eugenics are unscientific in two aspects. First, they commit the naturalistic fallacy, which is the assumption that what is, must be. The fact that the natural environment selects for reproductive advantage does not mean that we, as humans, should be forcibly selecting people according to some preconceived notions. The second nonscientific aspect of these movements was their narrow interpretation of the meaning of fitness. In evolution, this simply means fitness to survive and reproduce, not fitness according to some externally imposed criteria. Darwin himself never engaged in these speculations, nor did he support these perversions of his theory."

"There is no official anti-Semitism in Russia; anti-Semitism in Russia is a crime against the State."

"[I]t is not true–no, it is not true–that we have uprooted the Arabs.We have not uprooted them; we have shown them the way to a better life,and we shall continue to do this until they understand that we have a common interest in reviving the Middle East, and that this task can be achieved only on the basis of a strong Jewish Palestine."

"Most past cultures have... fallen prey to the armies of some ruthless empire, which... consigned them to oblivion. Empires... ultimately fall, but... tend to leave behind rich.., enduring legacies."

"Money is more open-minded than language, state law, cultural codes, religious beliefs and social habits. Money... can bridge almost any cultural gap, and does not discriminate on the basis of religion, gender, race, age or sexual orientation."

"[P]erhaps happiness is synchronising... personal delusions.. with... prevailing collective delusions."

"Money... is most universal and most efficient system of mutual trust ever devised."

"The... money in the world is about $60 trillion, yet... coins and bank notes is less than $6 trillion. More than 90% percent of all money... [>]$50 trillion... in our accounts... exists only on computer servers."

"[T]o understand modern economic history, you need to understand... a single word... growth."

"Dualism... has a... simple answer to the... Problem of Evil... Monotheists have to practise intellectual gymnastics to explain... suffering... One... explanation.., [w]ere there no evil, humans could not choose between good and evil.., hence... no free will. Dualisim... is unnerved by the Problem of Order. ...[I]f Good and Evil battle for control... who enforces the laws. [M]onotheism explains order, but is mystified by evil. Dualism explains evil, but is puzzled by order. ...[S]olving the riddle: ...there is a single omnipotent God... and He's evil. But nobody in history has had the stomach for such..."

"Money is not coins and bank notes. Money is anything that people... use... to represent... value... for... exchanging goods and services."

"The followers of Christ and... Allah killed each other by the thousands, devastated fields and orchards, and turned prosperous cities into smouldering ruins..."

"Smith's claim that the selfish human urge... is the basis for collective wealth is one of the most revolutionary.., not just from an economic... but... more so from a moral and political perspective. ...Smith says.., greed is good, and... by becoming richer I benefit everybody... is altruism."

"Osama bin Laden, for all his hatred of American culture.., religion, and... politics, was... fond of American dollars. How did money succeed where gods and kings failed?"

"Anyone who has read... Alexander Solzhenitsyn knows how Communism's egalitarian ideal produced brutal tyrannies that tried to control every aspect of life."

"When Constantine assumed the throne in 306, Christianity was little more than an esoteric Eastern sect."

"[F]rom a purely scientific viewpoint, human life has... no meaning... the outcome of blind evolutionary processes... without goal or purpose. Our actions are not part of... divine cosmic plan, and if planet earth were to blow up... the universe would... keep going... business as usual. ...[H]uman subjectivity would not be missed. ...[M]eaning ...people ascribe to their lives is... delusion."

"[T]he modern world fails to square liberty with equality."

"Unlike the laws of physics... every man-made order is packed with internal contradictions. Cultures are constantly trying to reconcile these contradictions, and this... fuels change."

"Myths and fictions accustom... people... to think in certain ways, to believe in... certain standards, to want certain things, and to observe certain rules. ...[T]hereby ...artificial instincts ...enable millions of strangers to cooperate ...This network of artificial instinct is ...'Culture'."

"Prior to the Industrial Revolution, the... life of most humans ran... within three ancient frames: the nuclear family.., extended family and... local intimate community. ...The family was... the welfare.., health.., education system.., construction industry.., pension fund.., insurance company.., radio.., television.., newspapers.., bank and... police."

"Wars are not a pub brawl. ...[A]n aggressive brute is often the worst choice to run a war. Much better is a cooperative person who knows how to appease... and... see things from different perspectives. ...The militarily incompetent Augustus ...succeeded in ...achieving something that eluded ...Julius Caesar and Alexander the Great ...[H]istorians often attribute this ...to his ...clementia—mildness and clemency."

"At least since the Agricultural Revolution, most human societies have been patriarchal societies that valued men more highly than women. ... Fewer resources are invested in the health and education of women; they have fewer economic opportunities, less political power, and less freedom of movement."

"Revolutions are, by definition unpredictable."

"Buddha’s recommendation was to stop... the pursuit of external achievements, but also the pursuit of inner feelings."

"[T]he meaning of 'manhood' and 'womanhood' have varied... from one society to another... scholars usually distinguish... 'sex'... [as] biological... and 'gender'... cultural... Sex is divided between males and females, and the qualities... are objective and... constant... Gender is divided between... (...some cultures recognise other categories). ...'masculine' and 'feminine' qualities [which] are inter-subjective and undergo ...changes."

"To say that a husband 'raped' his wife was... illogical... As of 2006, there were still fifty-three countries where a husband could not be prosecuted for the rape of his wife... in Germany, rape laws were amended only in 1997..."

"Today... there is an irresistible urge to study the exact sciences - defined... 'exact' by their... mathematical tools."