Monday, January 12, 2009

Skepticism

Skepticism is healthy only to a limited extent. Being skeptical about proofs and programs (particularly your own) will probably keep your grades healthy and your job fairly secure. But applying that much skepticism will probably also keep you shut away working all the time, instead of letting you get out for exercise and relaxation. Too much skepticism is an open invitation to the state of rigor mortis, where you become so worried about being correct and rigorous that you never get anything finished.

-A skeptic

(Taken from Margin-notes of D.E Knuth's Concrete Mathematics book)