16 Quotes by Charles Seife

Zero dwells at the juxtaposition of quantum mechanics and relativity; zero lives where the two theories meet, and zero causes the two theories to clash. A black hole is a zero in the equations of general relativity; the energy of the vacuum is a zero in the mathematics of quantum theory. The big bang, the most puzzling event in the history of the universe, is a zero in both theories. The universe came from nothing-and both theories break down when they try to explain the origin of the cosmos.

Just as it’s important to take the changing value of a dollar into account when comparing spending over time, it’s important to take doctors’ changing diagnoses into account when looking at disease trends.

Bad information is a disease that attacks the brain. It messes with your head, making you do things that you shouldn’t, causing you to make wrong decisions. Just as a potent virus co-opts your cells’ machinery, bad information can co-opt your behavior. It can alter the way you interact with the world and, as a result, it can change the world.

A bad idea, a wrong piece of information, a digital brain-altering virus can spread at the speed of light through the internet and quickly find a home among a dispersed but digitally interconnected group of true believers. This group acts as a reservoir for the bad idea, allowing it to gather strength and reinfect people; as the group grows, the belief, no matter how crazy, becomes more and more solidly established among the faithful.

In the battle between Kronecker and Cantor, Cantor would ultimately prevail. Cantor’s theory would show that Kronecker’s precious integers-and even the rational numbers-were nothing at all. They were an infinite zero.

The justice system can’t be totally free of lies and distortion; after all, courts are chock-full of lawyers.

The body, the house of the spirit, is under the power of pleasure and pain,” explains a god. “And if a man is ruled by his body then this man can never be free.