“What man seeks, to the point of anguish, in his gods, in his art, in his science, is meaning. He cannot bear the void.… — Francois Jacob Copy Share Image
Contrary to what I once thought, scientific progress did not consist simply in observing, in accurately formulating experimental facts and drawing up a theory from them. It began with the invention of a possible world, or a fragment thereof, which was then compared by experimentation with the real world. And it was this constant dialogue between imagination and experiment that… — Francois Jacob Copy Share
For me, this world of questions and the provisional, this chase after an answer that was always put off to the next day, all… — Francois Jacob Copy Share Image
“To produce a valuable observation, one has first to have an idea of what to observe, a preconception of what is possible. Scientific advances often come from uncovering a hitherto unseen aspect of things as a result, not so much of using new instruments, but rather of looking at objects from a different angle. This look is necessarily guided by… — François Jacob Copy Share
It is natural selection that gives direction to changes, orients chance, and slowly, progressively produces more complex structures, new organs, and new species. Novelties… — Francois Jacob Copy Share Image
It is hope that gives life meaning. And hope is based on the prospect of being able one day to turn the actual world… — Francois Jacob Copy Share Image
Myths and science fulfill a similar function: they both provide human beings with a representation of the world and of the forces that are… — Francois Jacob Copy Share Image
One of the deepest functions of a living organisms is to look ahead... to produce future. — Francois Jacob Copy Share Image
The game was that of continually inventing a possible world, or a piece of a possible world, and then of comparing it with the… — Francois Jacob Copy Share Image
