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.

One of the greatest pains to human nature is the pain of a new idea.

One of the greatest pains to human nature is the pain of a new idea.

Encryption...is a powerful defensive weapon for free people. It offers a technical guarantee of privacy, regardless of who is running read more

Encryption...is a powerful defensive weapon for free people. It offers a technical guarantee of privacy, regardless of who is running the government... It's hard to think of a more powerful, less dangerous tool for liberty.

I am dying from the treatment of too many physicians.

I am dying from the treatment of too many physicians.

Civilization advances by extending the number of important operations which we can perform without thinking of them.

Civilization advances by extending the number of important operations which we can perform without thinking of them.

Why shouldn't a PC work like a refrigerator or a toaster?

Why shouldn't a PC work like a refrigerator or a toaster?

Champagne, if you are seeking the truth, is better than a lie detector. It encourages a man to be expansive, read more

Champagne, if you are seeking the truth, is better than a lie detector. It encourages a man to be expansive, even reckless, while lie detectors are only a challenge to tell lies successfully.

It is useless to send armies against ideas.

It is useless to send armies against ideas.

Always the more beautiful answer who asks the more beautiful question.

Always the more beautiful answer who asks the more beautiful question.