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Quotes about technology

114 quotes from 61 people

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The newest computer can merely compound, at speed, the oldest problem in the relations between human beings, and in the end the communicator will be confronted with the old problem, of what to say and how to say it.
Edward R. Murrow1908–1965On receiving the “Family of Man” Award (1964)
- Computers
- Talking
Any one who considers arithmetical methods of producing random digits is, of course, in a state of sin.
John von Neumann1903–1957“Various Techniques Used in Connection with Random Digits”, in Monte Carlo Method (1951), ed. A. S. Householder et al.
- Computers
- Science
The Goliath of totalitarianism will be brought down by the David of the microchip.
Ronald Reagan1911–2004Post-presidency (1989–2004)
- Computers
I believe that Facebook represents one of the gravest threats to democracies around the world, and I am amazed that we have allowed our freedoms to be taken away by technology companies’ greed for growth and revenues.
Maria Ressaborn 1963How to Stand Up to a Dictator (2022)
- Democracy
I think we’re living through a very unique moment where again it proves that information is power. It’s a completely chaotic time where technology has helped make facts disputable, eroded truth, and crippled trust.
Maria Ressaborn 1963Time 100 Speech (April 24, 2019)
- Truth & Lies
We live in a society absolutely dependent on science and technology and yet have cleverly arranged things so that almost no one understands science and technology. That’s a clear prescription for disaster.
Carl Sagan1934–1996Bringing Science Down to Earth (1994), co-authored with Anne Kalosh, in Hemispheres (October 1994), p. 99
- Science
Scientific and technological “solutions” which poison the environment or degrade the social structure and man himself are of no benefit, no matter how brilliantly conceived or how great their superficial attraction.
ESE. F. Schumacher1911–1977Small is Beautiful: A Study of Economics As If People Mattered (1973), p. 31.
- Science
In the arts of life man invents nothing; but in the arts of death he outdoes Nature herself, and produces by chemistry and machinery all the slaughter of plague, pestilence, and famine.
George Bernard Shaw1856–1950Man and Superman (1903), The Devil
- Life & Death
The real question is not whether machines think but whether men do. The mystery which surrounds a thinking machine already surrounds a thinking man.
B. F. Skinner1904–1990Contingencies of Reinforcement: A Theoretical Analysis (1969)
- Thinking
The twentieth century was the bankruptcy of the social utopia; the twenty-first will be that of the technological one.
Nassim Nicholas Talebborn 1960The Bed of Procrustes: Philosophical and Practical Aphorisms (2010), p. 31
- History
Ere many generations pass, our machinery will be driven by a power obtainable at any point of the universe.
Nikola Tesla1856–1943“Experiments With Alternate Currents Of High Potential And High Frequency” (February 1892)
- Science
Our inventions are wont to be pretty toys, which distract our attention from serious things. They are but improved means to an unimproved end, an end which it was already but too easy to arrive at.
Henry David Thoreau1817–1862Walden (1854), pp. 60-61In context
But lo! men have become the tools of their tools.
Henry David Thoreau1817–1862Walden (1854), Economy (2 of 3)In context
We are in great haste to construct a magnetic telegraph from Maine to Texas; but Maine and Texas, it may be, have nothing important to communicate.
Henry David Thoreau1817–1862Walden (1854), Economy (2 of 3)In context
- Talking
A man provided with paper, pencil, and rubber, and subject to strict discipline, is in effect a universal machine.
Alan Turing1912–1954“Intelligent Machinery: A Report by A. M. Turing,” (Summer 1948), submitted to the National Physical Laboratory (1948) and published in Key Papers: Cybernetics, ed. C. R. Evans and A. D. J. Robertson (1968) and, in variant form, in Machine …
- Computers