Lawrence M. Krauss Quotes
It is a shame when nonsense can substitute for fact with impunity.
Krauss, Lawrence M. A Universe from Nothing: Why There Is Something Rather than Nothing. Free Press, 2012.
See {115604} for a similar sentiment from England.
He warns particularly of politicians who believe their own lies.
Huntington, one of the better known political scientists had been nominated for admission as a fellow of the National Academy of Sciences. He was generally considered a shoe-in. However, some of his research had used extensive mathematical analysis to prove his conclusions. Lang a gadfly had actually read Huntington’s peer reviewed published Journal articles and found that the mathematics was very faulty, both in its application and execution. He opposed Huntington’s election and proceeded to present Huntington’s mathematics and conclusions to the members, who were themselves the best scientists of many different disciplines. They all realized that the Huntington work was incorrect. Huntington argued that as a Political Scientist he was using mathematics as a way of conceptually illustrating his points and not in a rigorous manner. Huntington was not elected to the academy. Lang frequently would take scientific evidence offered in Congressional Hearings, analyze it and then send a package to the media and members of Congress showing the errors. See {508154} for his cutting style with poor science.
Ryan told the national audience that President Obama had come to a factory in his district that as rumored to be closed. Obama had told the workers that the Federal government could assist and keep the factory open for many years. Then as Ryan explained, the factory closed the following year. He gave this as an example of Obama not keeping his word. However what Ryan did not say was that Obama had made the speech at the factory when he was a candidate for the Presidency, and then the factory was closed while George W. Bush was President and by the time he took office, the closure was done and the factory machines gone. And when Obama took office, our national economy was within days of complete bank and finance collapse. Obama saved most of the banks and then the American automobile industry. To suggest that Obama could have or should have done something for the factory that closed was shockingly misleading. It would have been a minor issue if some party hack had lied and made the same accusation. But this was the Vice Presidential Candidate whose acceptance speech was assumedly vetted by the Presidential Candidate’s staff. That is why the quotation was so memorable.
Lawrence Maxwell Krauss is an American-Canadian theoretical physicist and cosmologist who previously taught at Arizona State University, Yale University, and Case Western Reserve University. He founded ASU's Origins Project, now called ASU Interplanetary Initiative, to investigate fundamental questions about the universe and served as the project's director.
