We have a habit in writing articles published in scientific journals to make the work as finished as possible, to read more

We have a habit in writing articles published in scientific journals to make the work as finished as possible, to cover up all the tracks, to not worry about the blind alleys or describe how you had the wrong idea at first, and so on. So there isn't any place to publish, in a dignified manner, what you actually did in order to get to do the work.

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.

Intel has announced its next chip: the Repentium.

Intel has announced its next chip: the Repentium.

Not even computers will replace committees, because committees buy computers.

Not even computers will replace committees, because committees buy computers.

It is the customary fate of new truths to begin as heresies and to end as superstitions.

It is the customary fate of new truths to begin as heresies and to end as superstitions.

Whenever anyone says, 'theoretically,' they really mean, 'not really.'.

Whenever anyone says, 'theoretically,' they really mean, 'not really.'.

Technology... the knack of so arranging the world that we don't have to experience it. -Max Frisch.

Technology... the knack of so arranging the world that we don't have to experience it. -Max Frisch.

Since the invention of the microprocessor, the cost of moving a byte of information around has fallen on the order read more

Since the invention of the microprocessor, the cost of moving a byte of information around has fallen on the order of 10-million-fold. Never before in the human history has any product or service gotten 10 million times cheaper-much less in the course of a couple decades. That's as if a 747 plane, once at $150 million a piece, could now be bought for about the price of a large pizza.

The cell phone has transformed public places into giant phone-a-thons in which callers exist within narcissistic cocoons of private conversations. read more

The cell phone has transformed public places into giant phone-a-thons in which callers exist within narcissistic cocoons of private conversations. Like faxes, computer modems and other modern gadgets that have clogged out lives with phony urgency, cell phones represent the 20th Century's escalation of imaginary need. We didn't need cell phones until we had them. Clearly, cell phones cause not only a breakdown of courtesy, but the atrophy of basic skills.