You do not know our culture, our ethics, or the unwritten codes that already provide our society more order than read more

You do not know our culture, our ethics, or the unwritten codes that already provide our society more order than could be obtained by any of your impositions.

When computers (people) are networked, their power multiplies geometrically. Not only can people share all that information inside their machines, read more

When computers (people) are networked, their power multiplies geometrically. Not only can people share all that information inside their machines, but they can reach out and instantly tap the power of other machines (people), essentially making the entire network their computer. Peter Drucker -Scott McNeely.

Whom computers would destroy, they must first drive mad.

Whom computers would destroy, they must first drive mad.

It has always seemed to me extreme presumptuousness on the part of those who want to make human ability the read more

It has always seemed to me extreme presumptuousness on the part of those who want to make human ability the measure of what nature can and knows how to do, since, when one comes down to it, there is not one effect in nature, no matter how small, that even the most speculative minds can fully understand. -Galileo Galilei.

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.

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.

...there is no prescribed route to follow to arrive at a new idea. You have to make the intuitive leap. read more

...there is no prescribed route to follow to arrive at a new idea. You have to make the intuitive leap. But the difference is that once you've made the intuitive leap you have to justify it by filling in the intermediate steps. In my case, it often happens that I have an idea, but then I try to fill in the intermediate steps and find that they don't work, so I have to give it up.

The digital revolution is far more significant than the invention of writing or even of printing.

The digital revolution is far more significant than the invention of writing or even of printing.

It is a good morning exercise for a research scientist to discard a pet hypothesis every day before breakfast. It read more

It is a good morning exercise for a research scientist to discard a pet hypothesis every day before breakfast. It keeps him young.