Astrologers were greatly impressed, and misled, by what they believed to be confirming evidence-so much so that they … - Karl Popper

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In the closing seconds of every game, I want the ball in my hands for the last shot - not in anybody else's, not in anybody else's in the world.

Karl Popper

Astrologers were greatly impressed, and misled, by what they believed to be confirming evidence-so much so that they were quite unimpressed by any unfavorable evidence. Moreover, by making their interpretations and prophecies sufficiently vague they were able to explain away anything that might have been a refutation of the theory had the theory and the prophecies been more precise. In order to escape falsification they destroyed the testability of their theory. It is a typical soothsayer's trick to predict things so vaguely that the predictions can hardly fail: that they become irrefutable.

Irrefutable, Might, Order, Prophecies, Typical

Same Author Quotes

Appealing to his [Einstein's] way of expressing himself in theological terms, I said: If God had wanted to put everything into the universe from the beginning, He would have created a universe without change, without organisms and evolution, and without man and man's experience of change. But he seems to have thought that a live universe with events unexpected even by Himself would be more interesting than a dead one.

Beginning, Events, Interesting, Men, Terms, Way

There is no history, only histories.

Histories, History

We have become makers of our fate when we have ceased to pose as its prophets.

Become, Fate, Makers, Prophet

Simple statements are to be prized more highly than less simple ones because they tell us more; because their empirical content is greater; and because they are better testable.

Empirical, Greater, Highly, Ones, Simple, Statements

Science is perhaps the only human activity in which errors are systematically criticized and, in time, corrected.

Corrected, Criticized, Errors, Humans, Science