Gregory Benford quotes - page 5

Engineers never liked the unexplained, whereas physicists lived for it. (Gregory Benford)
The problem with the unknown was its lack of road signs. View quote
Gregory Benford
The desire to find something could provoke what she called "wantum mechanics,” fishing a result out of nothing but noise. View quote
Gregory Benford
"Diversity” had come to mean Balkanization. View quote
Gregory Benford
Ummm,” Alicia said, trying to be polite. "Still sounds like we're just making this up as we go along.” "We are.” Max grinned. "Invent, then check. It's really the only way to make progress. View quote
Gregory Benford
She was grateful for something more than smooth, meaningless phrases. Better, the man had not reverted to the hedged-in, minimize-possible-damage style. And the first of all the commandments shall be: Cover Thy Ass. View quote
Gregory Benford
She sighed. "We're just guessing.” "When you have a Ph. D., you call them hypotheses, not guesses.”. View quote
Gregory Benford
Ours is not to reason why, ours is to measure and report-the experimenter's credo. View quote
Gregory Benford
Outside the Sea Lounge were ranks of motorcycles, mostly Harleys. Through the open windows she could see a jammed crowd raising beer glasses to the monotonous thump of the live band. Being Harley guys, they were of course rebels, rugged lone wolves, individual spirits, as was obvious because they were all wearing the same jackets and jeans, bandannas and sunglasses, big brass belt buckles and tattoos, probably even the same underwear. View quote
Gregory Benford
But these were mere passing irritants. Deeper were the systemic troubles. She stressed the many unknowns; the media wanted sharp answers to huge questions, preferably in a compact one-liner. She tried to emphasize the progressive questioning of her method and how all answers were provisional, awaiting confirmation; reporters liked zippy adventure and exciting guesses with, of course, striking visuals in primary colors. View quote
Gregory Benford
That mood had persisted when she finally got home and, unable to sleep, watched some TV. It was as usual, a cacophony, which combined with the other audio media gave a disposable pop culture that made every moment but the present seem quaint, bloodless, dead. (Gregory Benford)
One of the better aspects of aging was that she no longer practiced dragging on cigarettes before the mirror, striving to get the right dissipated look, or tried on sunglasses until she found the kind the latest hip singer wore. Had she really worn those mirrorshades? Perfect holdovers from the Me Decade, because they let the viewer watch himself. View quote
Gregory Benford
All the way up through the academic world she had spent a lot of energy fending off the blandly patronizing efforts to enter her in what she termed the Oppression Sweepstakes. Now that she had done something worth noting, blackness attached itself to her like a lamprey. View quote
Gregory Benford
Physicists had abandoned God long ago and hoped that firing repeated questions at nature would get to the truth. What scientists really believed in was that the think-check-think-again style of scientific method would yield some species of Truth. View quote
Gregory Benford
Einstein said that the only incomprehensible thing about the universe was that it was comprehensible. But resorting to God forgets what biology says-that our minds came out of the physical world, y'know, through evolution of early brain stems and neural systems to higher levels of complexity. View quote
Gregory Benford
Government doesn't often move quickly, but when they do, it's like an elephant stampede. View quote
Gregory Benford
She had long ago stopped counting how many times the 0.38 g of Mars had helped them through crucial moments. It had proved the only useful aspect of the planet. View quote
Gregory Benford
All the astronauts were easy on the eyes. No coincidence. NASA didn't train people the public wouldn't want to watch. View quote
Gregory Benford
Viktor! Don't tell me you cheated! A gentleman doesn't cheat at cards.” "Am captain, not gentlemen. View quote
Gregory Benford
Shanna put on the last movement of Beethoven's Fifth and turned up the gain. Ludwig von Cornball, they had called him back at Moonbase One. Hipitude: post-postmodern irony. All because she played ol' Ludwig so much-but who was more appropriate? What spirit better expressed the grandeur of an expedition to the edge of the solar system? View quote
Gregory Benford
I think,” Jordin said mildly, "a professional biologist would label that aggressive behavior. (Gregory Benford)
Anyway, the Shanna woman was abrasive, self-obsessed, smug-and those were her good points. Julia suspected that in a pinch the woman might also be careless, the one sin reality never forgave. View quote
Gregory Benford
Why paired?” Viktor asked. "Have two sexes?” "Hard to imagine how electromagnetic creatures could,” Mary Kay said. Viktor grinned. "Lack of imagination is not an argument. Especially lately. View quote
Gregory Benford
The evolutionary routes are many, she knew, wending through the howling wilderness of the maladaptive, on to their severely narrowed destinations. Biology abounded with convergent examples, destinations arrived at along very different paths. Fruiting bodies of slime molds and myxobacteria alike evolved multicelled advances. Warmbloodedness came forth several times, as did live birth and even penile tumescence. The eyes did indeed have it-as seen in the camera-like eyes of vertebrates and octopi, and the similar tiny preceptors of worms and jellyfish. Nature invented over and over again the mechanisms used by diverse organisms to hear, smell, echolocate, sense the prickle of electric and magnetic fields. View quote
Gregory Benford