QuoteFilter: universe & man

December 10, 2006 5:54 PM

QuoteFilter: about the universe and thought.

I'm looking for a quote (maybe by Carl Sagan) about the idea that the universe is such a large concept that human beings, as creations within the universe, are unable to correctly comprehend the idea of the universe.

Either that, or the quote was about how human beings are unable to comprehend the creator of human beings, all Gödel-like.

Thanks in advance!

posted by provolot to society & culture (9 comments total)

This probably isn't what you're looking for, but I've always liked this one by Douglas Adams:

"There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable.There is another theory which states that this has already happened. "
posted by phatkitten at 6:00 PM on December 10, 2006

"Not only is the universe stranger than we think, it's stranger than we can think."

A quick googling shows that as being credited variously to Einstein, Heisenberg, Hawking, and JBS Haldane, but Werner Heisenberg is credited more than any of the others..
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 6:04 PM on December 10, 2006

A related quote, which does have a Gödel-like feel to it:

"If the human brain was simple enough to understand, we would be too simple to understand it."

(I don't have any idea as to the source. It's been around for quite a while and is popular among AI freaks.)
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 6:09 PM on December 10, 2006 [1 favorite]

Also related (reminded by phatkitten), Douglas Adams' Total Perspective Vortex.
posted by knave at 6:09 PM on December 10, 2006

This quote or this quote may be the one you're looking for.

This is a larger page of Sagan quotes.
posted by jourman2 at 10:13 PM on December 10, 2006

The answer is in here some where
posted by hortense at 10:46 PM on December 10, 2006

Could it possibly be: "I have approximate answers and possible beliefs and different degrees of certainty about different things, but I'm not absolutely sure of anything and there are many things I don't know about, such as whether it means anything to ask why we're here, and what the question might mean. I might think about it a little bit and if I can't figure it out, then I go on to something else, but I don't have to know an answer. I don't feel frightened by not knowing things, by being lose in a mysterious universe without having any purpose, which is the way it really is so far as I can tell. It doesn't really frighten me."

The quote above isn't Sagan, it's Feynman.
posted by sperose at 11:54 PM on December 10, 2006

No, still haven't found it. On retrospection I don't think it's Sagan.. but thanks!
posted by provolot at 12:05 PM on December 11, 2006

I can't answer the question, but I'm going to go with "not Sagan." I've read several of his books, and to me, it doesn't sound like the kind of thing he would say.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 12:07 PM on December 11, 2006