“We do not believe any group of men adequate enough or wise enough to operate without scrutiny or without criticism. We know that the only way to avoid error is to detect it, that the only way to detect it is to be free to inquire. We know that in secrecy error undetected will flourish and subvert.”~ J. Robert Oppenheimer, from his article in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 1951 [hat tip 'Not a Lot of People Know That']
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Tuesday, 26 September 2023
Oppenheimer: "the only way to detect [error] is to be free to inquire"
1 comment:
We welcome thoughtful disagreement.
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I had a negative impression of Oppenheimer, but this has made me reconsider. It suggests as a minimum he wasn’t all bad. Compartmentalised I expect - brilliant scientifically, and this quotes suggests perhaps sound epistemologically; but naive and stupid politically.
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