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.

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.

In science one tries to tell people, in such a way as to be understood by everyone, something that no read more

In science one tries to tell people, in such a way as to be understood by everyone, something that no one ever knew before. But in poetry, it's the exact opposite.

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.

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.

That thou seest, man, become too thou must; God, if thou seest God, dust, if thou seest dust.

That thou seest, man, become too thou must; God, if thou seest God, dust, if thou seest dust.

As crude a weapon as a cave man's club, the chemical barrage has been hurled against the fabric of life.

As crude a weapon as a cave man's club, the chemical barrage has been hurled against the fabric of life.

The Internet's been so great, and it's so nice to have fans do nice, elaborate websites, but I think the read more

The Internet's been so great, and it's so nice to have fans do nice, elaborate websites, but I think the downside is some of the things... for real fans to go on and see that 90 percent of the information isn't true or to see pictures that aren't really me, or for them to be able to sell these things, that's one of the downsides, I think.

Science is what you know, philosophy is what you don't know.

Science is what you know, philosophy is what you don't know.