“A few years ago, the city council of Monza, Italy, barred pet owners from keeping goldfish in curved bowls… saying that it is cruel to keep a fish in a bowl with curved sides because, gazing out, the fish would have a distorted view of reality. But how do we know we have the true, undistorted picture of reality?”
- January 8, 1942 – March 14, 2018
- British
- Theoretical physicist, science writer
- Announced the black hole singularity theorem and Hawking radiation, and contributed to the popularization of science with his book “Talking about the Universe”
Quote
“A few years ago, the city council of Monza, Italy, barred pet owners from keeping goldfish in curved bowls… saying that it is cruel to keep a fish in a bowl with curved sides because, gazing out, the fish would have a distorted view of reality. But how do we know we have the true, undistorted picture of reality?”
Explanation
In this thought-provoking quote, Stephen Hawking reflects on both the limits of perception and the nature of reality itself. The city council of Monza’s decision to ban curved goldfish bowls is based on the idea that the distorted view of the world caused by the curvature of the bowl might create a warped perception for the fish, making it difficult for them to see the world as it truly is. Hawking uses this example to challenge the notion that we, as humans, have access to an unbiased, undistorted understanding of reality. Just as the fish’s perception is shaped by the curvature of its environment, human perception is similarly constrained by the limitations of our senses, brains, and even our scientific models.
This question about the “true” picture of reality has been a central theme in both philosophy and science. In the philosophical tradition, it is often discussed in terms of epistemology, or the study of knowledge: how can we ever know if our perceptions and models accurately represent the world as it is? In scientific inquiry, this question becomes even more pertinent when we consider that the tools we use to measure and observe reality—whether it’s through a microscope, telescope, or mathematical model—are all mediated by human technology and interpretation. For example, Einstein’s theory of relativity challenged the way we think about space, time, and the universe, showing that our perception of these concepts is not absolute, but rather relative to the observer.
Hawking’s use of the goldfish analogy invites us to consider that perhaps we, too, may be limited by our own human perspective and conceptual frameworks. Just as the goldfish may never know what it is like to see the world through a straight-edged bowl, our current understanding of reality may be incomplete or even fundamentally distorted. However, the quote also underscores the importance of scientific progress and philosophical inquiry in expanding our understanding. By challenging existing paradigms and pushing the boundaries of what we know, we can continue to refine our picture of reality—just as a fish may one day swim beyond the confines of a curved bowl and see a broader, clearer world.
