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.

Nothing has such power to broaden the mind as the ability to investigate systematically and truly all that comes under read more

Nothing has such power to broaden the mind as the ability to investigate systematically and truly all that comes under thy observation in life.

A tree is known by its fruit; a man by his deeds. A good deed is never lost; he who read more

A tree is known by its fruit; a man by his deeds. A good deed is never lost; he who sows courtesy reaps friendship, and he who plants kindness gathers love.

So there he is at last. Man on the moon. The poor magnificent bungler! He can't even get to the read more

So there he is at last. Man on the moon. The poor magnificent bungler! He can't even get to the office without undergoing the agonies of the damned, but give him a little metal, a few chemicals, some wire and twenty or thirty billion dollars and, vroom! there he is, up on a rock a quarter of a million miles up in the sky.

Man's fear of ideas is probably the greatest dike holding back human knowledge and happiness.

Man's fear of ideas is probably the greatest dike holding back human knowledge and happiness.

The two best physicians of them all -- Dr. Laughter and Dr. Sleep.

The two best physicians of them all -- Dr. Laughter and Dr. Sleep.

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that read more

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.

I have offended God and mankind because my work didn't reach the quality it should have.

I have offended God and mankind because my work didn't reach the quality it should have.

It is questionable if all the mechanical inventions yet made have lightened the day's toil of any human being.

It is questionable if all the mechanical inventions yet made have lightened the day's toil of any human being.