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News Briefs 01-03-2013

“Time is nature’s way to keep everything from happening all at once.”

Quote of the Day:

“In order to more fully understand this reality, we must take into account other dimensions of a broader reality.”

Raymond K. Cummings and John A. Wheeler

  1. John Wheeler quote
    Do you have a source for the quote by Raymond K. Cummings and John A. Wheeler? Is it from an essay or book they jointly wrote? What’s the context?

    “In order to more fully understand this reality, we must take into account other dimensions of a broader reality.”

    1. Cummings & Wheeler Quote
      My apologies for any confusion…

      The initial quote, “Time is nature’s way to keep everything from happening all at once”, was originally from ‘The Girl in the Golden Atom’ by Raymond K. Cummings in 1922.

      That said, the aforementioned Cummings quote is often misattributed to John A. Wheeler because Wheeler mentions it in ‘Complexity, Entropy and the Physics of Information’ (1990) – even though Wheeler admits in a footnote that he found said quote “among the graffiti” in a Texas lavatory.

      I used both Wheeler and Cummings’ names because even though the quote originated with Cummings, it’s commonly attributed to Wheeler — and I was secretly hoping it would inspire people to research both names 🙂

      In hindsight, using the word “and” versus an ampersand (&) would’ve been a better choice. The ampersand mistakenly implies there was some type of collaboration between the two. Again, my apologies for the confusion. Consider it fixed 🙂

    2. Second Wheeler Quote
      “In order to more fully understand this reality, we must take into account other dimensions of a broader reality.”

      I wish I could tell you more about the context of the second John A. Wheeler quote but I found it on a website of John Wheeler quotes that didn’t attribute said quote to a specific book / publication / interview. And despite further searches, I have yet to uncover any further information…

      🙂

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