首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
(1) Gerald Feinberg, the Columbia University physicist, once went so far as to declare that "everything possible will eventually
(1) Gerald Feinberg, the Columbia University physicist, once went so far as to declare that "everything possible will eventually
admin
2013-01-12
43
问题
(1) Gerald Feinberg, the Columbia University physicist, once went so far as to declare that "everything possible will eventually be accomplished." Well, that of course left only the impossible as the one thing remaining for daring intellectual adventurers to whittle away at Feinberg, for one, thought that "they’d succeed even there."
(2) It was a point worth considering. How many times in the past had certain things been said to be impossible, only to have it turn out shortly thereafter that the item in question had already been done or soon would be. What greater cliche was there in the history of science than the comic litany of false it-couldn’t-be-dones; the infamous case of Auguste Comte saying in 1844 that it would never be known what the stars were made of, followed in a few years by the spectroscope being applied to starlight to reveal the stars’ chemical composition; or the case of Lord Rutherford, the man who discovered the structure of the atom, saying in 1933 mat dreams of controlled nuclear fission were "moonshine." And those weren’t even the worst examples. No, the huffiest of all it-couldn’t-be-done claims centered on the notion that human beings could actually fly, either at all, or across long distances, or to the moon, the stars, or wherever else.
(3) There had been so many embarrassments of this type that about mid-century Arthur C. Clarke came out with a guideline for avoiding them, which he termed Clarke’s Law: "When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong."
(4) Still, one had to admit there were lots of things left that were really and truly impossible, even if it took some ingenuity in coming up with a proper list of examples. Such as. "A camel cannot pass through the eye of a needle." (Well, unless of course it was a very large needle.) On "It is impossible for a door to be simultaneously open and closed." (Well, unless of course it was a revolving door.)
(5) Indeed, watertight examples of the really and truly impossible were so exceptionally hard to come by that paradigm cases turned out to be either trivial or absurd. "I know I will never play the piano like Vladimir Horowitz," offered Milton Rothman, a physicist, "no matter how hard I try". Or, from Scott Lankford, a mountaineer "Everest on roller skates."
The false it-couldn’t-be-dones in science are comic because ______.
选项
A、they are cliches, repeated too often by scientists
B、they are almost always proved to be wrong by later scientific research
C、they are mocked at by later generations
D、they provide material for good comedies
答案
B
解析
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/Sg9O777K
0
考博英语
相关试题推荐
Whatthewitnesssaidincourtwasnot______withthestatementhemadetothepolice.
Overthepastcentury,allkindsofunfairnessanddiscriminationhavebeencondemnedormadeillegal.Butoneinsidiousformco
Thecontinuousunrestwas______thenation’seconomy.
Thatbatteredoldhatofhisisa______joketoallhisfriends.
Childrenloamalmostnothingfromtelevision,andthemoretheywatch,thelesstheyremember.Theyregardtelevisionpurely【71】
Thequestionofwhetherwarisinevitableisonewhichhasconcernedmanyoftheworld’sgreatwriters.Beforeconsideringthis
Theriseofmultinationalcorporations,globalmarketing,newcommunicationstechnologies,andshrinkingculturaldifferencesha
Charmistheultimateweapon,thesupremeseduction,againstwhichtherearefewdefenses.Ifyou’vegotit,youneedalmostnot
Theexamplesplacedbeforeanationarevital.Whatweconstantlyobserve,wetendtocopy.Whatwereward,weperpetuate.This
随机试题
填充墙与承重主体结构间的空(缝)隙部位施工,应在填充墙砌筑()d后进行。
______________视图以图书的分栏样式显示Word2010文档。
用气相色谱分析混合物时,各组分的保留时间差异取决于
患者,男性,58岁,诊断为心肌梗死。症见胸痛剧烈,如割如刺,胸闷如窒,气短痰多,心悸不宁,腹胀纳呆,恶心呕吐,舌苔浊腻,脉滑。治疗宦选
2009年11月,首届世界低碳与生态经济大会技术博览会在江西南昌召开,在这次大会上,江西共签约项目143个,总投资为1045.95亿元,先后分三次签约:第一次,与23家央企签约37个合作项目,项目总投资为519.1亿元;第二次,九江市人民政府与中信集团签订
在建筑工程中,水玻璃的应用范围,何者不正确?[1998年第053题]
学前教育研究中最常用的研究方法是实验法。()
足球赛门票15元一张,降低后观众增加了一半,收入增加了五分之一,则一张门票降价()元。
在最近一次的复旦大学汉语言文字大赛上,夺得第一名的是留学生队。请问你对这种现象如何看待?
IfIaskyouwhatconstitutes"bad"eating,thekindthatleadstoobesityandavarietyofconnecteddiseases,you’relikelyto
最新回复
(
0
)