It's impossible to move, to live, to operate at any level without leaving traces, bits, seemingly meaningless fragments of personal read more

It's impossible to move, to live, to operate at any level without leaving traces, bits, seemingly meaningless fragments of personal information.

I'd wipe the machines off the face of the earth again, and end the industrial epoch absolutely, like a black read more

I'd wipe the machines off the face of the earth again, and end the industrial epoch absolutely, like a black mistake.

The world is very different now. For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of read more

The world is very different now. For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty, and all forms of human life. - Inaugural Address.

The typewriting machine, when played with expression, is no more annoying than the piano when played by a sister or read more

The typewriting machine, when played with expression, is no more annoying than the piano when played by a sister or near relation.

... it is certain that the real function of art is to increase our self-consciousness; to make us more aware read more

... it is certain that the real function of art is to increase our self-consciousness; to make us more aware of what we are, and therefore of what the universe in which we live really is. And since mathematics, in its own way, also performs this function, it is not only aesthetically charming but profoundly significant. It is an art, and a great art.

Globalization, as defined by rich people like us, is a very nice thing... you are talking about the Internet, you read more

Globalization, as defined by rich people like us, is a very nice thing... you are talking about the Internet, you are talking about cell phones, you are talking about computers. This doesn't affect two-thirds of the people of the world.

In science, "fact" can only mean "confirmed to such a degree that it would be perverse to withhold provisional assent." read more

In science, "fact" can only mean "confirmed to such a degree that it would be perverse to withhold provisional assent." I suppose that apples might start to rise tomorrow, but the possibility does not merit equal time in physics classrooms.

For a smart material to be able to send out a more complex signal it needs to be nonlinear. If read more

For a smart material to be able to send out a more complex signal it needs to be nonlinear. If you hit a tuning fork twice as hard it will ring twice as loud but still at the same frequency. That's a linear response. If you hit a person twice as hard they're unlikely just to shout twice as loud. That property lets you learn more about the person than the tuning fork. - When Things Start to Think, 1999.

If the automobile had followed the same development cycle as the computer, a Rolls-Royce would today cost $100, get one read more

If the automobile had followed the same development cycle as the computer, a Rolls-Royce would today cost $100, get one million miles to the gallon, and explode once a year, killing everyone inside.