Shut up and calculate

Quotes

• You can’t blame most physicists for following this ‘shut up and calculate’ ethos because it has led to tremendous develop­ments in nuclear physics, atomic physics, solid­ state physics and particle physics.
  • Jean Bricmont, quoted in Zeeya Merali, "What is Really Real?", Nature (2015)

• Thinking about foundations pays off in the long run. David Mermin once summarized a popular attitude towards quantum theory as “Shut up and calculate!”. We suggest an alternative slogan: “Shut up and contemplate!”
  • Lucien Hardy and Robert Spekkens, "Why Physics Needs Quantum Foundations" (2010)