Explanation Quotes - Page 27

• If you have evidence that C1 is a cause of E, and no evidence as to whether C2 is also a cause of E, then C1 seems to be a better explanation of E than C1&C2 is, since C1 is more parsimonious. I call the version of Ockham's razor used here "the razor of silence." The better explanation of E is silent about C2; it does not deny that C2 was a cause. The problem changes if you consider two conjunctive hypotheses.

  Elliott Sober

  Two, Silence, Doe

  Source: www.3ammagazine.com

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• Even in chimps there is true altruistic behaviour; behaviour that doesn't fit into the sociobiological model that says you either help a close relative and thereby your own genes, or you help somebody else now in return for their help in the future. When a very high-ranking male chimpanzee rescues a little orphan, saving his life, that kind of explanation doesn't work.

  Jane Goodall

  Saving, Littles, Return

  Source: www.egonzehnder.com

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• By construction, the world of big data is siloed and segmented and segregated so that successful people, like myself - technologists, well-educated white people, for the most part - benefit from big data, and it's the people on the other side of the economic spectrum, especially people of color, who suffer from it. They suffer from it individually, at different times, at different moments. They never get a clear explanation of what actually happened to them because all these scores are secret and sometimes they don't even know they're being scored.

  Cathy O'Neil

  Successful, Data, White

  Source: www.salon.com

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• Full Medicare-for-all, free choice of doctor and hospital: that comes in sixty to seventy percent without even further explanation. And if you ever explained it, given all the trouble people are having qualifying and not qualifying for all these healthcare so-called insurance plans, it would go up even higher.

  Ralph Nader

  Doctors, People, Choices

  Source: www.cpa-connecticut.com

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• In the liner notes, music is fine by itself. It doesn't need any explanation.

  Terry Bozzio

  Needs, Notes Music, Fine

  Source: beintheloopchicago.com

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• If you're denying God's power, that means you don't really believe they were miracles, and so then why believe they happened at all. What you're saying is you're taking the Bible's account as literally true in need of a scientific explanation rather than just people coming up with stuff to fulfill their religious missions.

  Neil deGrasse Tyson

  Religious, Believe, Mean

  Source: www.interviewmagazine.com

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• If you look at the history of unexplained phenomena that was first explained by spiritual, mystical forces, the track record is not very good for the mystical, magical explanations to survive against more quote "mundane" physical explanations.

  Neil deGrasse Tyson

  Spiritual, Track, Records

  Source: www.interviewmagazine.com

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• For centuries, epilepsy was the exact expectation of someone being possessed by the Devil. There was no better explanation, and it allows you to admit the existence of the Devil. If there's a Devil, that mean's there's a God.

  Neil deGrasse Tyson

  Mean, Epilepsy, Expectations

  Source: www.interviewmagazine.com

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• Every theory I've seen that contains an explanation of war fails. I think they fail for the same reason that explanations of sex fail. War derives from things so deep and so complex, I'm thoroughly baffled by it at the end of the day.

  George Friedman

  Sex, War, Thinking

  Source: www.psychologytoday.com

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• Sometimes I think we're on this world for three reasons: to be useful, to tell each other stories and to collect stuff. It's the only explanation for eBay. We love to collect stuff, and at least if we're collecting stuff in cyberspace we're not deforesting the Sierra Nevada.

  Paul Saffo

  Thinking, Ebay, Cyberspace

  Source: www.sfgate.com

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• Life may not always fall into neat chapters, and you may not always get the satisfying ending you're looking for, but sometimes a good explanation is all the rewrite you need.

  Harlan Coben

  Fall, Needs, May

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• I think you can have 10,000 explanations for failure, but no good explanation for success.

  Paulo Coelho

  Success, Failure, Thinking

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• Mystical explanations are thought to be deep; the truth is that they are not even shallow.

  Friedrich Nietzsche

  Truth, Existentialism, Shallow

  "The Gay Science". Book by Friedrich Nietzsche, Sec. 126, 1882.

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• Tax dollars intended for science education must not be used to teach creationism as any sort of real explanation of nature, because any observation or process of inference about our origin and the nature of the universe disproves creationism in every respect.

  Bill Nye

  Real, Dollars, Inference

  "Bill Nye ‘The Science Guy’ Talks Creationism Critique, Religion, Education". The Huffington Post Interview, www.huffingtonpost.com. August 28, 2012.

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• Pursuit and seduction are the essence of sexuality. It's part of the sizzle.

  Camille Paglia

  Love, Essence, Seduction

  Camille Paglia (2011). “Sex, Art, and American Culture: Essays”, p.59, Vintage

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• Evolution is an indispensable component of any satisfying explanation of our psychology.

  Steven Pinker

  Psychology, Evolution, Indispensable

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• Obama's explanation for the slowdown in economic growth is that the public sector is hurting, and that's where Washington must step in and act.

  John Podhoretz

  Hurt, Growth, Steps

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• For some reason, the evolutionists have not come up with an evolution-based explanation for why human beings react so powerfully to music. But surely they will.

  Dennis Prager

  Evolution, Reason, Come Up

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• The Left has always sought single, non-values-based explanations for human behavior.

  Dennis Prager

  Behavior, Humans, Left

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• I'm not conceited. Conceit is a fault and I have no faults.

  David Lee Roth

  Conceited, Faults, Conceit

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• Science is not a thing. It's a verb. It's a way of thinking about things. It's a way of looking for natural explanations for all phenomena.

  Michael Shermer

  Thinking, Verbs, Way

  "Why people believe weird things". TED conference, www.ted.com. 2006.

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• When I sing, people shut up.

  Barbra Streisand

  People, Shut Up

  "Biography/ Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

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• I've been through it all, baby, I'm mother courage.

  Elizabeth Taylor

  Mother, Baby, Courage

  FaceBook post by Elizabeth Taylor from Jun 30, 2016

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• When you're a liar, a person of low moral fortitude, really any explanation you need to be true can be true. Especially if you're smart enough. You can figure out a way to justify anything.

  Samuel Witwer

  Smart, Liars, Needs

  "Sam Witwer on Darth Maul’s ‘Clone Wars’ Fate: ‘He’s Playing a Long Game’". Interview with Christian Blauvelt, www.hollywood.com.

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• Man is so intelligent that he feels impelled to invent theories to account for what happens in the world. Unfortunately, he is not quite intelligent enough, in most cases, to find correct explanations. So that when he acts on his theories, he behaves very often like a lunatic.

  Aldous Huxley

  Intelligent, Men, World

  Aldous Huxley (1933). “Texts & pretexts: an anthology with commentaries”

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