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.

All science is either physics or stamp collecting. -E. Rutherford.

All science is either physics or stamp collecting. -E. Rutherford.

... 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.

I have a spelling checkerIt came with my PC;It plainly marks four my revueMistakes I cannot sea.I've run this poem read more

I have a spelling checkerIt came with my PC;It plainly marks four my revueMistakes I cannot sea.I've run this poem threw it,I'm sure your pleased too no,Its letter perfect in it's weigh,My checker tolled me sew.

Always design a thing by considering it in its next larger context -- a chair in a room, a room read more

Always design a thing by considering it in its next larger context -- a chair in a room, a room in a house, a house in an environment, an environment in a city plan. - "Time", July 2, 1956.

We are governed not by armies, but by ideas.

We are governed not by armies, but by ideas.

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.

If you have any trouble sounding condescending, find a Unix user to show you how it's done.

If you have any trouble sounding condescending, find a Unix user to show you how it's done.

As the births of living creatures, at first, are ill-shapen: so are all Innovations, which are the births of time.

As the births of living creatures, at first, are ill-shapen: so are all Innovations, which are the births of time.