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Tversky was fond of describing his work as “debugging human intuition.”...Tversky could establish again and again the existence of mismatches between intuition and probability—between cognitive illusion and reality.

— Ivars Peterson The Jungles of Randomness: A Mathematical Safari (1997)

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Truth

More quotes by Ivars Peterson

Most coincidences are simply chance events that turn out to be far more probable than many people imagine.

The Jungles of Randomness: A Mathematical Safari (1997)

More often than not, a piece of mathematics worked out years before—and believed to be totally without practical value—finds a role in the “real” world.

The Mathematical Tourist: New and Updated Snapshots of Modern Mathematics (1998)

In mathematics, in science, and in life, we constantly face the delicate, tricky task of separating design from happenstance.

The Jungles of Randomness: A Mathematical Safari (1997)

Indeed, mathematics is full of conjectures—questions waiting for answers—with no assurance that the answers even exist.

The Jungles of Randomness: A Mathematical Safari (1997)

The aim of science is to reduce the scope of chance.

The Jungles of Randomness: A Mathematical Safari (1997)

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You have to start with the truth. The truth is the only way that we can get anywhere. Because any decision-making that is based upon lies or ignorance can't lead to a good conclusion.

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False words are not only evil in themselves, but they infect the soul with evil.

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I believe in evil. It is the property of all those who are certain of truth. Despair and fanaticism are only differing manifestations of evil.

Edward Teller

Wars produce many stories of fiction, some of which are told until they are believed to be true.

Ulysses S. Grant Personal Memoirs of General U. S. Grant (1885)

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Ivars Peterson (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.