Here’s the difference between an idiot who happens to be a physicist, and a person of wisdom who happens to be the physicist without whom the idiot could never have even contemplated the existence of black holes.
The Idiot Physicist Stephen Hawking: "What is the nature of reality? Where did all this come from? Did the universe need a creator? Most of us do not spend most of our time worrying about these questions, but almost all of us worry about them some of the time. Traditionally these are questions for philosophy, but philosophy is dead. Philosophy has not kept up with modern developments in science, particularly physics. Scientists have become the bearers of the torch of discovery in our quest for knowledge."
The Wise Physicist Albert Einstein Responds to the Idiot: "Introduce as much of the philosophy of science as possible [into modern physics courses]. So many people today—and even professional scientists—seem to me like somebody who has seen thousands of trees but has never seen a forest. A knowledge of the historic and philosophical background gives that kind of independence from prejudices of his generation from which most scientists are suffering. This independence created by philosophical insight is—in my opinion—the mark of distinction between a mere artisan or specialist and a real seeker after truth.”
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