The robot is going to lose. Not by much. But when the final score is tallied, flesh and blood is read more

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.

The research rat of the future allows experimentation without manipulation of the real world. This is the cutting edge of read more

The research rat of the future allows experimentation without manipulation of the real world. This is the cutting edge of modeling technology.

What information consumes is rather obvious: it consumes the attention of its recipients. Hence a wealth of information creates a read more

What information consumes is rather obvious: it consumes the attention of its recipients. Hence a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention, and a need to allocate that attention efficiently among the overabundance of information sources that might consume it.

Of all my inventions, I liked the phonograph best. Life's most soothing things are sweet music and a child's goodnight.

Of all my inventions, I liked the phonograph best. Life's most soothing things are sweet music and a child's goodnight.

Just because something doesn't do what you planned it to do doesn't mean it's useless.

Just because something doesn't do what you planned it to do doesn't mean it's useless.

Nothing interferes with my concentration. You could put on an orgy in my office and I wouldn't look up. Well, read more

Nothing interferes with my concentration. You could put on an orgy in my office and I wouldn't look up. Well, maybe once.

The typewriting machine, when played with expression, is no more annoying than the piano when played by a sister or read more

The typewriting machine, when played with expression, is no more annoying than the piano when played by a sister or near relation.

Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius - and read more

Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius - and a lot of courage - to move in the opposite direction.

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.