Douglas Adams Quotes
What do you get if you multiply six by nine?" "Six by nine. Forty two." "That's it. That's all there is." "I always thought something was fundamentally wrong with the universe
Adams, Douglas. The Restaurant at the End of the Universe. Pan Books, 1980, p. 195.
This quotation illustrates a scientific principle that is at the heart of several political issues. Specifically the debate over whether creationism should be taught in science classes along with evolution. The major reason that almost all serious scientists (religious and secular both) oppose teaching creationism is that it is not a “falsifiable” set of statements—that is there is no way to prove it or disprove it. There are scientific statements that can be proved or disproved but have not yet been so. To be a scientific statement, it must be falsifiable—logically provable or disprovable. And this is the logic which the Federal Courts have used in ruling that creationism may not be taught in science classes in public schools. This quotation, Pauli is saying that the paper is not falsifiable—it cannot be proved and cannot be refuted. As such it is not scientific and belongs in the realm of philosophy, literature, theology, or other disciplines, but not science. An example of non-falsifiable statements are: “Blue is the most attractive color.”; “Freedom is essential to capitalism”; “Monarchy is more efficient than theocracy”.
Adams is best known as the author of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy", which originated in 1978 as a BBC radio comedy before developing into a "trilogy" of five books that sold more than 15 million copies in his lifetime and generated a television series, several stage plays, comics, a computer game, and in 2005 a feature film. Adams's contribution to UK radio is commemorated in The Radio Academy's Hall of Fame. Adams was known as an advocate for environmentalism and conservation, as a lover of fast cars, cameras, technological innovation and the Apple Macintosh, and as a "devout atheist".
