Every heat engineer knows he can design his heat engine reliably and accurately on the foundation of the second law [of thermodynamics]. Run alongside one of the molecules, however, and ask it what it thinks of the second law. It will laugh at us. It never heard of the second law. It does what it wants. All the same, a collection of billions upon billions of such molecules obeys the second law with all the accuracy one could want
John Archibald WheelerWe all know that the real reason universities have students is in order to educate the professors.
John Archibald WheelerWe will first understand how simple the universe is when we recognize how strange it is.
John Archibald WheelerWe live on an island surrounded by a sea of ignorance. As our island of knowledge grows, so does the shore of our ignorance.
John Archibald Wheeler'Participant' is the incontrovertible new concept given by quantum mechanics. It strikes down the 'observer' of classical theory, the man who stands safely behind the thick glass wall and watches what goes on without taking part. It can't be done, quantum mechanics says it...May the universe in some sense be 'brought into being' by the participation of those who participate?
John Archibald Wheeler