How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
Equations appeared by sleight of hand, festooned with new symbols like fresh Christmas tree decorations. The theories, when Gordon took the time to listen, would begin and end in midair; they had no connection with anything else known in physics, and always violated the first rule of a scientific model: they were uncheckable. (17.61)
The scientific model requires that information needs to be empirical: that is, if the kid sitting next to you performs an experiment, you should be able to perform the same experiment and get the same results. The problem with the crackpots visiting Gordon is that there is no way for him to double-check their observations. It's the scientific equivalent of crossing your heart with one hand while having your fingers crossed with the other.
Quote #8
"It seems to me what we have is too much science."
"Too much applied work without really understanding it, yes. Without pursuing the basics, you get a generation of technicians. That's what we have now."
"More checking to see the unforeseen side effects—"
"To see you must have vision," [Peterson] said earnestly. "I'm just beginning to catch on to that fact. All this talk of bloody 'social relevant' work assumes a bureaucrat somewhere is the best judge of what's useful." (22.24-27)
This quote connects the theme of science with that of politics, one of the great conflicts of the novel. Politicians might not have the best grasp of scientific discoveries, especially as science takes us to new places quite unlike our everyday experiences—yet ultimately, they are the ones who get to make the judgment calls about funding, as well as what discoveries to implement and how. If this doesn't sit quite right with you, well, that's kind of the point.
Quote #9
There was no choice between beauty and truth, really. You had to wind up with both. In art, elegance was a whore of a word, bent a different way by each generation of critics. In physics, though, there was some fragile lesson to be learned from past millennia. Theories were more elegant if they could be transformed mathematically to other frames, other observers. (31.9)
As we saw earlier, one of the defining factors of science, and one of the main reasons the novel considers it so important, is that its observations can be transferred to other observers. To do that, the simpler the law—that is, the fewer assumptions and steps—the better. This is known as Occam's Razor.