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Nathan Myhrvold Quotes

A blowtorch is a wonderful thing. You can get one of those for about 25 bucks at Home Depot. And there’s a ton of things that you can use a blowtorch for, in browning a steak or touching up the browning of a chicken or making creme brulee Picture Quote #1

Another random thing I do is the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, or SETI. And you may be familiar with the movie ‘Contact,’ which sort of popularized that. It turns out there are real people who go out and search for extraterrestrials in a very scientific way Picture Quote #1

Business is war! Its leaders are strategic commanders, who boldly snatch victory from the jaws of defeat - and who perform other acts of derring-do. This kind of talk sounds great in the boardroom, and, for that matter, in the bookstore, where dozens of authors counsel would-be corporate warriors Picture Quote #1

Efficiency in government is a more elusive concept than efficiency in the private economy, which may be measured relatively easily as output per units of input. What is the government’s ‘output?’ Picture Quote #1

Bill, we left megalomania behind a long time ago. Now we are gigalomaniacs Picture Quote #1

Making money from enforcing patents is no more wrong than investing in preferred stock Picture Quote #1

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Crazy ideas sometimes work, and the technological society that we have is built on a foundation of those crazy ideas that work Picture Quote #1

The world has shown that if you provide capital and expertise to an area that is starved for capital and expertise, really good things will happen Picture Quote #1

The physics of water is central to cooking, because food is mostly water. All steak that you cook is actually boiled on the inside Picture Quote #1

Nobody wants a prediction that the future will be more or less like the present, even if that is, statistically speaking, an excellent prediction Picture Quote #1

It’s impossible that we’re alone in the universe. Every time we think we’re more special than others, we’re proven wrong Picture Quote #1

Cooking is an art, but all art requires knowing something about the techniques and materials. Using modernist techniques, you get more control, and that allows you to be more artistic, not less! Picture Quote #1

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It is better to predict dramatic things that don’t happen than boring things that do Picture Quote #1

Economists want their discipline to be a science, and they have nailed down a few precepts, but many of their debates are still clouded by ideology Picture Quote #1

Cooking is for chefs. Science informs us and lets us cook while knowing what we are doing, but it is not a replacement for the skills of a chef Picture Quote #1

Chefs think about what it’s like to make food. Being a scientist in the kitchen is about asking why something works, and how it works Picture Quote #1

An efficient government is dangerous in the hands of the wrong man. Sadly, the right sort of man never seems interested in the job Picture Quote #1

I was good at math and science, and I got lots of degrees in lots of things, but in a parallel universe, I probably became a chef Picture Quote #1

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Words can hurt you. In the larger world, it frames how people think about you, and it can hurt you in lots of little, subtle ways Picture Quote #1

I’ve never filed a patent lawsuit. I hope never to file a patent lawsuit. That may be unrealistic, but it would be great if I could avoid doing it... Lawsuits are a ridiculous way to do business Picture Quote #1

What you do on a dinosaur expedition is you hike and look at the ground. You find bones sticking out of the dirt and, once you see something, you dig Picture Quote #1

With cult foods, there is an underlying assumption that the best cooking ideas came generations ago. Yet culinary innovation is nothing to be ashamed of. When a chef tells me he is cooking with his grandmother’s recipe, I always wonder why. Did talent skip the past two generations? Picture Quote #1

Wine lovers have known for centuries that decanting wine before serving it often improves its flavor. Whatever the dominant process, the traditional decanter is a rather pathetic tool to accomplish it. A few years ago, I found I could get much better results by using an ordinary kitchen blender Picture Quote #1

Three things about water affect almost all of cooking. First are the hydrogen bonds, which is why it has an incredibly high boiling point. Another is that it’s a polar molecule, so that it dissolves a lot of things, and there are things that won’t mix with it. And then there’s how much energy it takes to heat water Picture Quote #1

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Regardless of how it’s done, transaction costs will continue to plummet as computers get more powerful. Low transaction costs are a wonderful thing if you’re in the transaction business. They’re wonderful for consumers too, making it cheaper and easier to buy things and creating new things to buy Picture Quote #1

Politicians don’t like to face unpleasant realities. In truth, nobody does, but as individuals, we have no choice; if we neglect to plan ahead, we are held accountable. Fail to meet your responsibilities at work, and you get fired. Ignore your car’s gas gauge, and you get stranded Picture Quote #1

Now, to find dinosaurs, you hike around in horrible conditions looking for a dinosaur. It sounds really dumb, but that’s what it is. It’s horrible conditions, because wherever you have nice weather, plants grow, and you don’t get any erosion, and you don’t see any dinosaurs Picture Quote #1

In politics, religion and other areas of culture, people disagree on the worth of competing ideas. There is no equivalent to the scientific method that can determine in a robust way which ideas match the real world, and which ones can be ruled out. So conflicting ideologies persist indefinitely Picture Quote #1

Suppose that every prospective parent in the world stopped having children naturally, and instead produced clones of themselves. What would the world be like in another 20 or 30 years? The answer is: much like today. Cloning would only copy the genetic aspects of people who are already here Picture Quote #1

If people don’t get paid for their inventions, that’s not a good thing. In the case of many patents, there are people who aren’t in a position to take them to the next level. If you don’t enforce your rights, no one is going to enforce them for you Picture Quote #1

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A blowtorch is a wonderful thing. You can get one of those for about 25 bucks at Home Depot. And there’s a ton of things that you can use a blowtorch for, in browning a steak or touching up the browning of a chicken or making creme brulee (Nathan Myhrvold Quotes) Another random thing I do is the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, or SETI. And you may be familiar with the movie ‘Contact,’ which sort of popularized that. It turns out there are real people who go out and search for extraterrestrials in a very scientific way (Nathan Myhrvold Quotes) Business is war! Its leaders are strategic commanders, who boldly snatch victory from the jaws of defeat - and who perform other acts of derring-do. This kind of talk sounds great in the boardroom, and, for that matter, in the bookstore, where dozens of authors counsel would-be corporate warriors (Nathan Myhrvold Quotes) Efficiency in government is a more elusive concept than efficiency in the private economy, which may be measured relatively easily as output per units of input. What is the government’s ‘output?’ (Nathan Myhrvold Quotes) Bill, we left megalomania behind a long time ago. Now we are gigalomaniacs (Nathan Myhrvold Quotes) Making money from enforcing patents is no more wrong than investing in preferred stock (Nathan Myhrvold Quotes) Crazy ideas sometimes work, and the technological society that we have is built on a foundation of those crazy ideas that work (Nathan Myhrvold Quotes) The world has shown that if you provide capital and expertise to an area that is starved for capital and expertise, really good things will happen (Nathan Myhrvold Quotes) The physics of water is central to cooking, because food is mostly water. All steak that you cook is actually boiled on the inside (Nathan Myhrvold Quotes) Nobody wants a prediction that the future will be more or less like the present, even if that is, statistically speaking, an excellent prediction (Nathan Myhrvold Quotes) It’s impossible that we’re alone in the universe. Every time we think we’re more special than others, we’re proven wrong (Nathan Myhrvold Quotes) Cooking is an art, but all art requires knowing something about the techniques and materials. Using modernist techniques, you get more control, and that allows you to be more artistic, not less! (Nathan Myhrvold Quotes) It is better to predict dramatic things that don’t happen than boring things that do (Nathan Myhrvold Quotes) Economists want their discipline to be a science, and they have nailed down a few precepts, but many of their debates are still clouded by ideology (Nathan Myhrvold Quotes) Cooking is for chefs. Science informs us and lets us cook while knowing what we are doing, but it is not a replacement for the skills of a chef (Nathan Myhrvold Quotes) Chefs think about what it’s like to make food. Being a scientist in the kitchen is about asking why something works, and how it works (Nathan Myhrvold Quotes) An efficient government is dangerous in the hands of the wrong man. Sadly, the right sort of man never seems interested in the job (Nathan Myhrvold Quotes) I was good at math and science, and I got lots of degrees in lots of things, but in a parallel universe, I probably became a chef (Nathan Myhrvold Quotes) Words can hurt you. In the larger world, it frames how people think about you, and it can hurt you in lots of little, subtle ways (Nathan Myhrvold Quotes) I’ve never filed a patent lawsuit. I hope never to file a patent lawsuit. That may be unrealistic, but it would be great if I could avoid doing it... Lawsuits are a ridiculous way to do business (Nathan Myhrvold Quotes) What you do on a dinosaur expedition is you hike and look at the ground. You find bones sticking out of the dirt and, once you see something, you dig (Nathan Myhrvold Quotes) With cult foods, there is an underlying assumption that the best cooking ideas came generations ago. Yet culinary innovation is nothing to be ashamed of. When a chef tells me he is cooking with his grandmother’s recipe, I always wonder why. Did talent skip the past two generations? (Nathan Myhrvold Quotes) Wine lovers have known for centuries that decanting wine before serving it often improves its flavor. Whatever the dominant process, the traditional decanter is a rather pathetic tool to accomplish it. A few years ago, I found I could get much better results by using an ordinary kitchen blender (Nathan Myhrvold Quotes) Three things about water affect almost all of cooking. First are the hydrogen bonds, which is why it has an incredibly high boiling point. Another is that it’s a polar molecule, so that it dissolves a lot of things, and there are things that won’t mix with it. And then there’s how much energy it takes to heat water (Nathan Myhrvold Quotes) Regardless of how it’s done, transaction costs will continue to plummet as computers get more powerful. Low transaction costs are a wonderful thing if you’re in the transaction business. They’re wonderful for consumers too, making it cheaper and easier to buy things and creating new things to buy (Nathan Myhrvold Quotes) Politicians don’t like to face unpleasant realities. In truth, nobody does, but as individuals, we have no choice; if we neglect to plan ahead, we are held accountable. Fail to meet your responsibilities at work, and you get fired. Ignore your car’s gas gauge, and you get stranded (Nathan Myhrvold Quotes) Now, to find dinosaurs, you hike around in horrible conditions looking for a dinosaur. It sounds really dumb, but that’s what it is. It’s horrible conditions, because wherever you have nice weather, plants grow, and you don’t get any erosion, and you don’t see any dinosaurs (Nathan Myhrvold Quotes) In politics, religion and other areas of culture, people disagree on the worth of competing ideas. There is no equivalent to the scientific method that can determine in a robust way which ideas match the real world, and which ones can be ruled out. So conflicting ideologies persist indefinitely (Nathan Myhrvold Quotes) Suppose that every prospective parent in the world stopped having children naturally, and instead produced clones of themselves. What would the world be like in another 20 or 30 years? The answer is: much like today. Cloning would only copy the genetic aspects of people who are already here (Nathan Myhrvold Quotes) If people don’t get paid for their inventions, that’s not a good thing. In the case of many patents, there are people who aren’t in a position to take them to the next level. If you don’t enforce your rights, no one is going to enforce them for you (Nathan Myhrvold Quotes)

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