“If the cosmos isn't finite, then far, far away, floating duplicates of...” — Seth Shostak Quote

“If the cosmos isn't finite, then far, far away, floating duplicates of your brain - with all its experiences, thoughts, and emotions - are occasionally (and temporarily) thrown together by the random combining of atoms. Such 'Boltzmann brains,' as they're called, are a disturbing consequence of an unlimited universe.”

“In archaeology, context is the basis of many discoveries that are imputed to the deliberate workings of intelligence. If I find a rock chipped in such a way as to give it a sharp edge, and the discovery is made in a cave, I am seduced into ascribing this to tool use by distant, fetid and furry ancestors.”

“It is more likely that more than a century will pass before we know the structure of the chemical atoms as thoroughly as we do our solar system.”

“After about 1940, scientists generally stopped looking for elements in nature. Instead, they had to create them by smashing smaller atoms together.”

“Whenever we warm our hands by the fire, we allow the energy radiated by the fire to quicken up the movements of the atoms of which the hands are composed. When we cool any substance, we check those movements.”