On Intelligence (1925-1949)

"Collective wisdom, alas, is no adequate substitute for the intelligence of individuals. Individuals who opposed received opinions have been the source of all progress, both moral and intellectual. They have been unpopular, as was natural." (Bertrand Russell, "Why I Am Not a Christian", 1927)

"In our recognition that order is universal, a fact confirmed by myriads of observations of patient, indefatigable, and devoted investigators, the old saying that 'an irreverent astronomer is mad' can apply with equal force to the physicist. Man learns something of his own minute and colossal stature, and he comes to feel that his own intelligence, which enables him to make such sublime discoveries, is the supreme achievement of evolution." (Harvey B Lemon, "Atomic Structure", 1927)

"Science is either an important statement of systematic theory correlating observations of a common world or is the daydream of a solitary intelligence with a taste for the daydream of publication." (Alfred N Whitehead, "Process and Reality: An Essay in Cosmology", 1929)

"The collective intelligence of any group of people who are thinking as a 'herd' rather than individually is no higher than the intelligence of the stupidest members. (Mary Day Winn, "Adam's Rib", 1931)

"It is enough for me to contemplate the mystery of conscious life perpetuating itself through all eternity, to reflect upon the marvelous structure of the universe which we dimly perceive, and to try humbly to comprehend an infinitesimal part of the intelligence manifested in nature." (Albert Einstein, "Mein Weltbild" ["My Worldview"] (1931)

"It takes a certain amount of intelligence and imagination to realize the extraordinary queerness and mysteriousness of the world in which we live." (Aldous Huxley, "Rotunda: A selection from the works of Aldous Huxley", 1932)

"In the study of ideas, it is necessary to remember that insistence on hard-headed clarity issues from sentimental feeling, as it were a mist, cloaking the perplexities of fact. Insistence on clarity at all costs is based on sheer superstition as to the mode in which human intelligence functions. Our reasonings grasp at straws for premises and float on gossamers for deductions." (Alfred N Whitehead, "Adventures of Ideas", 1933) 

"Mathematics alone make us feel the limits of our intelligence. For we can always suppose in the case of an experiment that it is inexplicable because we don’t happen to have all the data. In mathematics we have all the data […] and yet we don’t understand. We always come back to the contemplation of our human wretchedness. What force is in relation to our will, the impenetrable opacity of mathematics is in relation to our intelligence." (Simone Weil, "The Notebooks of Simone Weil" Vol. 2, 1935)

"The scientist takes off from the manifold observations of predecessors, and shows his intelligence, if any, by his ability to discriminate between the important and the negligible, by selecting here and there the significant stepping-stones that will lead across the difficulties to new understanding. The one who places the last stone and steps across the terra firma of accomplished discovery gets all the credit. Only the initiated know and honor those whose patient integrity and devotion to exact observation have made the last step possible." (Hans Zinsser, "As I Remember Him: The Biography of R.S.", 1940)

"[…] physics tries to discover the pattern of events which controls the phenomena we observe. But we can never know what this pattern means or how it originates; and even if some superior intelligence were to tell us, we should find the explanation unintelligible. Our studies can never put us into contact with reality, and its true meaning and nature must be for ever hidden from us." (James H Jeans, "Physics and Philosophy" 3rd Ed., 1943)

"In other words then, if a machine is expected to be infallible, it cannot also be intelligent. There are several theorems which say almost exactly that. But these theorems say nothing about how much intelligence may be displayed if a machine makes no pretense at infallibility." (Alan M Turing, 1946)

"Since the real world, in the absolute sense of the word, is independent of individual personalities, and in fact of all human intelligence, every discovery made by an individual acquires a completely universal significance. This gives the inquirer, wrestling with his problem in quiet seclusion, the assurance that every discovery will win the unhesitating recognition of all experts throughout the entire world, and in this feeling of the importance of his work lies his happiness. It compensates him fully for many a sacrifice which he must make in his daily life." (Max Planck, "The Meaning and Limits of Exact Science", 1949)