Usenet is like a herd of performing elephants with diarrhea -- massive, difficult to redirect, awe-inspiring, entertaining, and a source read more

Usenet is like a herd of performing elephants with diarrhea -- massive, difficult to redirect, awe-inspiring, entertaining, and a source of mind-boggling amounts of excrement when you least expect it.

We've arranged a civilization in which most crucial elements profoundly depend on science and technology.

We've arranged a civilization in which most crucial elements profoundly depend on science and technology.

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.

We like to test things... no matter how good an idea sounds, test it first.

We like to test things... no matter how good an idea sounds, test it first.

If you build a better mousetrap, you will catch better mice.

If you build a better mousetrap, you will catch better mice.

Everything that can be invented has been invented.

Everything that can be invented has been invented.

... 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.

The computer programmer is a creator of universes for which he alone is responsible. Universes of virtually unlimited complexity can read more

The computer programmer is a creator of universes for which he alone is responsible. Universes of virtually unlimited complexity can be created in the form of computer programs.

It's very good for an idea to be commonplace. The important thing is that a new idea should develop out read more

It's very good for an idea to be commonplace. The important thing is that a new idea should develop out of what is already there so that it soon becomes an old acquaintance. Old acquaintances aren't by any means always welcome, but at least one can't be mistaken as to who or what they are.