Plato controlled his disciples on a bridge and did not allow anybody to cross without his permission. One day, Socrates arrived at the bridge, and demanded that Plato let him pass. Plato did not like the tone of his teacher’s voice and said to him: “If the first statement you say is the truth, I shall let you pass; but if the first thing you say is a lie, I swear that I will throw you into the turbulent water.” Socrates thought for a bit and said: “You will throw me into the water.” …an almost identical paradox appears in chapter 51 of the second volume of Don Quixote, when Sancho Panza is appointed as governor of the Island of Barataria.

— Haim Shapira, Eight Lessons on Infinity

…there are two perceptions that lie behind this resentment: (1) the perception that members of this elite see ordinary working people as a bunch of knuckle-dragging cavemen, and (2) the perception that these elites constitute an increasingly closed caste; one which the children of the working class would actually have far more difficulty breaking into than the class of actual capitalists.

— David Graeber, Bullshit Jobs

…if water is to have the various properties in virtue of which it plays its beneficial part in the economy of the physical world and the life of mankind, it cannot at the same time lack its obnoxious capacity to drown us…

— Martin Gardner, The Whys of a Philosophical Scrivener

…research shows that about 50 percent of your overall sense of happiness is genetically determined … 10 percent is attributable to general circumstances (educational level, income, whether you are married or single, etc.) that are difficult to change … remaining 40 percent is derived from your day-to-day behavior and the way you think about yourself and others.

— Richard Wiseman, 59 Seconds

We need to treat technology like the untamed beast it is. An unlikely but possible massive failure shouldn’t lead to a colossal disaster.

— Lance Fortnow, The Golden Ticket