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Too often, this concern for the big picture is simply obscurantist and is put forward by people who prefer vagueness and mystery to (partial) answers. Vagueness is at times necessary and mystery is never in short supply, but I don’t think they’re anything to worship. Genuine science and mathematical precision are more intriguing than are the “facts” published in supermarket tabloids or a romantic innumeracy which fosters credulity, stunts skepticism, and dulls one to real imponderables.

— John Allen Paulos Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and its Consequences (1988)

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More quotes by John Allen Paulos

Any bit of nonsense can be computerized—astrology, biorhythms, the I Ching—but that doesn’t make the nonsense any more valid.

Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and its Consequences (1988)

There’s always enough random success to justify almost anything to someone who wants to believe.

Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and its Consequences (1988)

In general, any differences between two groups will always be greatly accentuated at the extremes.

A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper (1995)

Even the most superficial of a newspaper reveals an important aspect of human psychology: our preoccupation with the short term.

A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper (1995)

Appreciating humor—even recognizing it—requires human skills of the highest order (level?); no computer comes close to having them.

Mathematics and Humor: A Study of the Logic of Humor (1980)

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