One sentence for next generation…

blisscuddlesblisscuddles
in General

Listening to this podcast https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/cataclysm-sentence, got me thinking of posing the question (original or general one) to the many minds here. Can respond to either or both.

The original question:
The famous physicist Richard Feynman stepped in front of a Caltech lecture hall and posed this question to a group of undergraduate students: “If, in some cataclysm, all of scientific knowledge were to be destroyed, and only one sentence was passed on to the next generation of creatures, what statement would contain the most information in the fewest words?”

OR
The more general question:
What’s the one sentence you would want to pass on to the next generation that would contain the most information in the fewest words?

Comments

  • NicoSnuggsNicoSnuggs

    “Don’t choose to procreate until you feel you have reached a place of considerable security and confidence in yourself and in your life.”

  • blisscuddlesblisscuddles

    @NicoSnuggs Thats sound advice both financially and on an emotional level.

  • blisscuddlesblisscuddles

    “Have an open mind and always be curious”

  • CallMeMikeyCallMeMikey

    I'm sorry for the mess some of my generation has left you.

  • MCcuddles2MCcuddles2
    edited November 2021

    For the science answer:
    The ratio of the diameter of a circle to its perimeter is a universal constant, start there and build.

    For the generic answer:
    The universe is a strange and fascinating void, we don't know why we are here; all we know is that we are all having a similar experience, so work on developing empathy, work together and be kind to each other.

  • [Deleted User]ernesto_2 (deleted user)

    "Discover."

  • JkayJkay

    “There are always more possibilities and less limits than we think.”

  • edin96edin96

    "Get your ish together by 18 and learn everything about adulthood before you get there otherwise you're in an uphill battle until you're 65."

    "Start taking on challenges early and avoid comfort as much as possible."

  • cookiecrumbcookiecrumb

    "This too shall pass."

  • TheFunCartelTheFunCartel
    edited November 2021

    Religion offers lies, government bigger lies, people lie without even realizing it, but your own self is a space for honesty. Never lie to yourself.

    I know, one sentence only, but I lied.

  • OhioMikeOhioMike

    "Nothing will work unless you do."😊

  • BabichevBabichev

    “If it’s not a good time, it will make a good story later.”

  • blisscuddlesblisscuddles

    It’s lovely to see the breadth of all the different responses.

  • RadiantHugsRadiantHugs Mod
    edited November 2021

    As I started to think about my answer, I realize people a lot smarter than I have spent a lot of time on this. In 1974 the now defunct Arecibo radio telescope sent out a message to demonstrate human technological achievement to anyone who might receive it. Here is a Wikipedia link describing this message: https://g.co/kgs/D1CWid

  • CuddleDuncanCuddleDuncan Mod
    edited November 2021

    The complete quotation:

    If, in some cataclysm, all of scientific knowledge were to be destroyed, and only one sentence passed on to the next generations of creatures, what statement would contain the most information in the fewest words? I believe it is the atomic hypothesis (or the atomic fact, or whatever you wish to call it) that all things are made of atoms—little particles that move around in perpetual motion, attracting each other when they are a little distance apart, but repelling upon being squeezed into one another. In that one sentence, you will see, there is an enormous amount of information about the world, if just a little imagination and thinking are applied.

    Feynman, R.P. (1964). The Feynman lectures on physics. Vol. 1, [Mainly mechanics, radiation and heat]. Exercises. Reading (Mass.) ; London: Addison-Wesley. Chapter 1–2 Matter is made of atoms

    (Italics as in original.)

    So far, @MCcuddles2's first answer is the leader by a country mile and then some:

    The ratio of the diameter of a circle to its perimeter is a universal constant, start there and build.

    My effort ...
    Your theory must make a testable prediction, and when you have observed and measured the results of your experiment, believe and trust them: they are not the truth, but as you amend, refine and repeat your experiment they shine a light towards the truth.

  • MCcuddles2MCcuddles2

    @CuddleDuncan if I had choice between imparting science or imparting empathy, I would choose empathy.

    And empathetic world will eventually come to value science.

    A scientific world won't necessarily come to value empathy.

  • LovelightLovelight

    Don't live in the moment, past or future too much.

  • blisscuddlesblisscuddles

    The beauty of crowd sourcing from different minds is how all the different perspectives come together; scientific or just plain being human.

  • youaresodearyouaresodear

    The scientific answer: The same amount of matter exists before and after the change—none is created or destroyed

    The general answer: The only constant you can have in life is change.

  • [Deleted User]Saysoh (deleted user)

    @youaresodear

    Truth.

    To expand, the ego leads us to believe life in linear, but it's dynamic.

    To answer the OP's original question:

    A person is not the universe.

  • UKGuyUKGuy
    edited November 2021

    "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you".

  • cuddles_ndreamcuddles_ndream

    Live every moment, laugh every day, love beyond words.

  • BabichevBabichev
    edited November 2021

    @MCcuddles2 , fortunately we don’t have to make a choice between science and empathy. They are not in opposition to each other.

    Among my science minded friends we have a saying: In science you can never be completely right but you can hope, over time, to become less wrong. I think that humility, dedication to truth, acknowledgement of the limits of what we know, and recognition of cognitive biases is something worth passing on. Perhaps I would just amend it to say, “We can never be completely right but we can hope, over time, to become less wrong.”

  • [Deleted User]Saysoh (deleted user)

    @Babichev

    Have yoou read Abigail Marsh?

    " “We can never be completely right but we can hope, over time, to become less wrong.”"

    I strongly agree with this. I don't know why people walk around with this absolute that we know everything when we can't even explain what consciousness is or how we have this photograph as a memory with an emotion attached to it.

  • BabichevBabichev

    @Saysoh , never heard of Abigail Marsh, will look her up.

    My thing that I don’t understand is when folks says, “Scientists don’t know everything,” as if scientists say they do. If anyone knows that they don’t know everything it’s scientists.

    @MCcuddles2 , the thought occurs to me that it feels (to me) we’re living in a world that increasingly is abandoning both science and empathy and I think that is no coincidence.

  • blisscuddlesblisscuddles

    Empathy and science can go hand in hand. Empathy could be the spark that leads to an innovation through science. Empathy can open a curious mind to find new paths or discoveries. All that is of course predicated by humility that our knowledge is still limited and open to continue to learn and explore.

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