The idea that Bill Gates has appeared like a knight in shining armor to lead all customers out of a mire of technological chaos neatly ignores the fact that it was he who, by peddling second- rate technology, led them into it in the first place.
—Douglas Adams (1952–2001) English Novelist, Scriptwriter
I don’t think there’s anything unique about human intelligence. All the neurons in the brain that make up perceptions and emotions operate in a binary fashion. We can someday replicate that on a machine. Earthly life is carbon based and computers are
—Bill Gates (b.1955) American Businessperson, Entrepreneur, Philanthropist, Author
I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.
—Thomas J. Watson, Sr. (1874–1956) American Business Executive
I think computer viruses should count as life. Maybe it says something about human nature, that the only form of life we have created so far is purely destructive.
—Stephen Hawking (1942–2018) English Theoretical Physicist, Cosmologist, Academic
If a trainstation is where the train stops, what’s a workstation..?
—Anonymous
Electronic aids, particularly domestic computers, will help the inner migration, the opting out of reality. Reality is no longer going to be the stuff out there, but the stuff inside your head. It’s going to be commercial and nasty at the same time.
—J. G. Ballard (1930–2009) English Novelist, Short Story Writer
Man is the best computer we can put aboard a spacecraft… and the only one that can be mass produced with unskilled labor.
—Wernher von Braun (1912–77) German-born American Engineer, Scientist
It took us three years to build the NeXT computer. If we’d given customers what they said they wanted, we’d have built a computer they’d have been happy with a year after we spoke to them – not something they’d want now.
—Steve Jobs (1955–2011) American Entrepreneur, Businessperson
Whom computers would destroy, they must first drive mad.
—Anonymous
If you don’t know how to do something, you don’t know how to do it with a computer.
—Unknown
The robot is going to lose. Not by much. But when the final score is tallied, flesh and blood is going to beat the damn monster.
—George Goodman (b.1930) American Economist, Author
The real danger is not that computers will begin to think like men, but that men will begin to think like computers.
—Sydney J. Harris (1917–86) American Essayist, Drama Critic
A computer will do what you tell it to do, but that may be much different from what you had in mind.
—Joseph Weizenbaum (1923–2008) German-born American Computer Scientist
There will still be things that machines cannot do. They will not produce great art or great literature or great philosophy; they will not be able to discover the secret springs of happiness in the human heart; they will know nothing of love and friendship.
—Bertrand A. Russell (1872–1970) British Philosopher, Mathematician, Social Critic
Intel has announced its next chip: the Repentium.
—Anonymous
Computers in the future will weigh no more than 1.5 tons.
—Unknown
Part of the inhumanity of the computer is that, once it is competently programmed and working smoothly, it is completely honest.
—Isaac Asimov (1920–92) Russian-born American Writer, Scientist
The desire to economize time and mental effort in arithmetical computations, and to eliminate human liability to error is probably as old as the science of arithmetic itself.
—Howard H. Aiken (1900–73) American Physicist, Engineer
Want to make your computer go really fast? Throw it out a window.
—Anonymous
I do not fear computers. I fear the lack of them.
—Isaac Asimov (1920–92) Russian-born American Writer, Scientist
Computers are magnificent tools for the realization of our dreams, but no machine can replace the human spark of spirit, compassion, love, and understanding.
—Louis V. Gerstner Jr. (b.1942) American Businessman
I’m not against machines, as are some people who feel that the computer is leading us back into the jungle…I’m against machines only when the convenience they afford to some people is regarded as more important than the inconvenience they cause to all.
In short, I don’t think computers should wear the pants or make the decisions. They are deficient in humor, they are not intuitive, and they are not aware of the imponderables. The men who feed them seem to believe that everything is made out of ponderables, which isn’t the case. I read a poem once that a computer had written, but didn’t care much for it. It seemed to me I could write a better one myself, if I were to put my mind to it.
—E. B. White (1985–99) American Essayist, Humorist
Computers are useless. They can only give you answers.
—Pablo Picasso (1881–1973) Spanish Painter, Sculptor, Artist
I don’t think there’s anything unique about human intellience. All the nuerons in the brain that make up perceptions and emotions operate in a binary fashion.
—Bill Gates (b.1955) American Businessperson, Entrepreneur, Philanthropist, Author
Man is still the most extraordinary computer of all.
—John F. Kennedy (1917–63) American Head of State, Journalist
On artificial intelligence: the real problem is not whether machines think but whether men do.
—B. F. Skinner (1904–90) American Psychologist, Social Philosopher, Inventor, Author
Where the ENIAC is equipped with 18,000 vacuum tubes and weighs 30 tons, computers in the future may have only 1,000 vacuum tubes and weigh only 1 1/2 tons.
—Anonymous
Computer science only indicates the retrospective omnipotence of our technologies. In other words, an infinite capacity to process data (but only data—i.e. the already given) and in no sense a new vision. With that science, we are entering an era of exhaustivity, which is also an era of exhaustion.
—Jean Baudrillard (1929–2007) French Sociologist, Philosopher
Computers are like Old Testament gods; lots of rules and no mercy.
—Joseph Campbell (1904–87) American Mythologist, Writer, Lecturer
There is never finality in the display terminal’s screen, but an irresponsible whimsicality, as words, sentences, and paragraphs are negated at the touch of a key. The significance of the past, as expressed in the manuscript by a deleted word or an inserted correction, is annulled in idle gusts of electronic massacre.
—Alexander Claud Cockburn (1941–2012) Irish American Political Journalist