--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: How strange it would be if the final…" description: "\"How strange it would be if the final theory were to be discovered in our lifetimes! The discovery of the final laws of nature will mark a discontinuity..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e62/steven-weinberg-3159_century_how-strange-it-would-be-if-the-final-the_1723363.png" --- # How strange it would be if the final theory were to be… ![“How strange it would be if the final theory were to be discovered in our lifetimes! The discovery of the final laws of nature will mark a discontinuity in human intellectual history, the sharpest that has occurred since the beginning of modern science in the seventeenth century. Can we now imagine…” quote by Steven Weinberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e62/steven-weinberg-3159_century_how-strange-it-would-be-if-the-final-the_1723363.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e62/steven-weinberg-3159_century_how-strange-it-would-be-if-the-final-the_1723363.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e62/steven-weinberg-3159_century_how-strange-it-would-be-if-the-final-the_1723363.png) > “How strange it would be if the final theory were to be discovered in our lifetimes! The discovery of the final laws of nature will mark a discontinuity in human intellectual history, the sharpest that has occurred since the beginning of modern science in the seventeenth century. Can we now imagine what that would be like?” [Steven Weinberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-weinberg/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Discovering a final theory would revolutionize science, creating a profound break in intellectual history unlike any before. **In simple terms:** A final theory would be a historic scientific breakthrough. Key Takeaway Pursue deep scientific inquiry. Themes science history paradigm shift Mood curious speculative Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - academic research - philosophical debate - technological innovation - education curriculum Key Concepts theory of everything intellectual revolutions scientific discovery Questions to Reflect On - What would a final theory change about daily life? - Can humanity handle the implications of ultimate knowledge? A Different Perspective Such a theory may be unattainable or misinterpreted. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Century](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/century/) [Discontinuity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/discontinuity/) [Discovered Lifetimes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/discovered-lifetimes-1359914/) [Discovery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/discovery/) [Discovery Final](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/discovery-final-1359913/) [Final Laws](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/final-laws-1359915/) [Final Theory](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/final-theory-1359911/) [Finals](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/finals/) [History](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/history/) [Humans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/humans/) [Ifs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ifs/) [Imagine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/imagine/) [Intellectual](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/intellectual/) [Law](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/law/) [Laws of nature](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/laws-of-nature/) [Lifetime](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lifetime/) [Mark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mark/) [Modern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/modern/) [Modern science](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/modern-science/) [Nature](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nature/) [Science](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/science/) [Strange](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/strange/) [Theory](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/theory/) [Theory Discovered](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/theory-discovered-1359912/) [Would be](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/would-be/) ## Related quotes > [If history is any guide at all, it seems to me to suggest that there is a final theory. In this century we have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-weinberg/if-history-is-any-guide-at-all-it-seems-to-me-to-suggest-that-there/) [Steven Weinberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-weinberg/) > [“Somewhere out there is a theory that would explain my empirical observations, and this theory has yet to be discovered. Mathematics thrives on such…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henri-darmon/somewhere-out-there-is-a-theory-that-would-explain-my-empirical/) [Henri Darmon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henri-darmon/) > [I'm very suspicious of the idea of a "final theory" in natural science, and the thought of a complete system of ethical rules seems…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-kitcher/i-m-very-suspicious-of-the-idea-of-a-final-theory-in-natural-science/) [Philip Kitcher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-kitcher/) > [If the circulation of blood theory could not have been discovered without vivisection, the human kind could well have done without it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/if-the-circulation-of-blood-theory-could-not-have-been-discovered/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [I had made considerable advance ... in calculations on my favourite numerical lunar theory, when I discovered that, under the heavy pressure of unusual…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-biddell-airy/i-had-made-considerable-advance-in-calculations-on-my-favourite/) [George Biddell Airy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-biddell-airy/) > [“But it remains a fundamental challenge to understand the very beginning-this must await a 'final' theory, perhaps some variant of superstrings. 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New species usually…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernst-mayr/wherever-we-look-at-the-living-biota-discontinuities-are/) [Ernst Mayr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernst-mayr/) > [If historians of philosophy are to be divided into those who focus on discontinuities and those who focus on continuities, I belong in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gail-fine/if-historians-of-philosophy-are-to-be-divided-into-those-who-focus-on/) [Gail Fine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gail-fine/) > [Everything is shared by everything else; there are no discontinuities.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-sommer/everything-is-shared-by-everything-else-there-are-no-discontinuities/) [Frederick Sommer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederick-sommer/) > [Numbers are the product of counting. Quantities are the product of measurement. This means that numbers can conceivably be accurate because there is a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gregory-bateson/numbers-are-the-product-of-counting-quantities-are-the-product-of/) [Gregory Bateson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gregory-bateson/) > [The United States is in the midst of many spirited political debates about national priorities and public spending... However, we have found that science…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-gibbons/the-united-states-is-in-the-midst-of-many-spirited-political-debates/) [John Gibbons](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-gibbons/) > [...a discontinuity, like a vacuum, is abhorred by nature.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harold-hotelling/a-discontinuity-like-a-vacuum-is-abhorred-by-nature/) [Harold Hotelling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harold-hotelling/) > [A lone peak of high point is a natural focal point in the landscape, something by which both travelers and local orient themselves. In…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-solnit/a-lone-peak-of-high-point-is-a-natural-focal-point-in-the-landscape/) [Rebecca Solnit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-solnit/) > [Detach the writer from the milieu where he has experienced his greatest sense of belonging, and you have created a discontinuity within his personality,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-roth/detach-the-writer-from-the-milieu-where-he-has-experienced-his/) [Henry Roth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-roth/) > [I've lived in a preindustrial (rural Argentina) as well as an industrial world. You experience a different sense of time in a community that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shoshana-zuboff/i-ve-lived-in-a-preindustrial-rural-argentina-as-well-as-an/) [Shoshana Zuboff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shoshana-zuboff/) ## More by Steven Weinberg > [On balance the moral influence of religion has been awful.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-weinberg/on-balance-the-moral-influence-of-religion-has-been-awful/) [Steven Weinberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-weinberg/) > [“The apparent strengths of the forces in any field theory depend on two kinds of numerical parameter: the masses (if any) of the particles…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-weinberg/the-apparent-strengths-of-the-forces-in-any-field-theory-depend-on/) [Steven Weinberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-weinberg/) > [“Many people do simply awful things out of sincere religious belief, not using religion as a cover the way that Saddam Hussein may have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-weinberg/many-people-do-simply-awful-things-out-of-sincere-religious-belief/) [Steven Weinberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-weinberg/) > [This is often the way it is in physics - our mistake is not that we take our theories too seriously, but that we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-weinberg/this-is-often-the-way-it-is-in-physics-our-mistake-is-not-that-we/) [Steven Weinberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-weinberg/) > [With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-weinberg/with-or-without-religion-you-would-have-good-people-doing-good-things/) [Steven Weinberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-weinberg/) > [I would say it's a lot easier to develop a decoy system than to develop the intercontinental ballistic missile itself. I would think that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-weinberg/i-would-say-it-s-a-lot-easier-to-develop-a-decoy-system-than-to/) [Steven Weinberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-weinberg/) > [Rational argument can be defeated by refusing to argue rationally.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-weinberg/rational-argument-can-be-defeated-by-refusing-to-argue-rationally/) [Steven Weinberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-weinberg/) > [The universe is an enormous direct product of representations of symmetry groups.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-weinberg/the-universe-is-an-enormous-direct-product-of-representations-of/) [Steven Weinberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-weinberg/) > [Its a consequence of the experience of science. As you learn more and more about the universe, you find you can understand more and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-weinberg/its-a-consequence-of-the-experience-of-science-as-you-learn-more-and/) [Steven Weinberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-weinberg/) > [Our job in physics is to see things simply, to understand a great many complicated phenomena in a unified way, in terms of a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-weinberg/our-job-in-physics-is-to-see-things-simply-to-understand-a-great-many/) [Steven Weinberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-weinberg/) > [“Plato and the neo-Platonists taught that the beauty we see in nature is a reflection of the beauty of the ultimate, the nous. For…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-weinberg/plato-and-the-neo-platonists-taught-that-the-beauty-we-see-in-nature/) [Steven Weinberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-weinberg/) > [An expert is a person who avoids the small errors while sweeping on to the grand fallacy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-weinberg/an-expert-is-a-person-who-avoids-the-small-errors-while-sweeping-on/) [Steven Weinberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-weinberg/) > [If (the antiproton) had not been discovered, the foundations of physics really would have crumbled.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-weinberg/if-the-antiproton-had-not-been-discovered-the-foundations-of-physics/) [Steven Weinberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-weinberg/) > [Even though I knew pretty early that I was going to be a scientist, it wasn't the science that interested me in science fiction;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-weinberg/even-though-i-knew-pretty-early-that-i-was-going-to-be-a-scientist-it/) [Steven Weinberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-weinberg/) > [If history is any guide at all, it seems to me to suggest that there is a final theory. In this century we have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-weinberg/if-history-is-any-guide-at-all-it-seems-to-me-to-suggest-that-there/) [Steven Weinberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-weinberg/) [Explore all 137 Steven Weinberg quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-weinberg/) ## More Century quotes > [I know always that I am an outsider; a stranger in this century and among those who are still men.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-know-always-that-i-am-an-outsider-a-stranger-in-this-century-and/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [ \[The Dalai Lama\] told me some years ago, "I've made every concession to China, and I've been as open and tolerant as I could,… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pico-iyer/the-dalai-lama-told-me-some-years-ago-i-ve-made-every-concession-to/) [Pico Iyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pico-iyer/) > [Anybody looking for a quiet life has picked the wrong century to born in.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/anybody-looking-for-a-quiet-life-has-picked-the-wrong-century-to-born/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [The poetry from the eighteenth century was prose; the prose from the seventeenth century was poetry.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-hare/the-poetry-from-the-eighteenth-century-was-prose-the-prose-from-the/) [David Hare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-hare/) > [In the nineteenth century some parts of the world were unexplored, but there was almost no restriction on travel.:; Up to 1914 you did…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-orwell/in-the-nineteenth-century-some-parts-of-the-world-were-unexplored-but/) [George Orwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-orwell/) > [Talented people can predict with great accuracy what's about to happen just a tiny bit ahead of their competitors. It might be two seconds…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kevin-maney/talented-people-can-predict-with-great-accuracy-what-s-about-to/) [Kevin Maney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kevin-maney/) > [The world's history is a divine poem, of which the history of every nation is a canto, and every man a word. Its strains…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-a-garfield/the-world-s-history-is-a-divine-poem-of-which-the-history-of-every/) [James A. Garfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-a-garfield/) > [The nineteenth century lynching mob cuts off ears, toes, and fingers, strips off flesh, and distributes portions of the body as souvenirs among the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ida-b-wells/the-nineteenth-century-lynching-mob-cuts-off-ears-toes-and-fingers/) [Ida B. 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