By the time (the Leaning Tower of Pisa) was 10% built, everyone knew it would be a total disaster. But read more

By the time (the Leaning Tower of Pisa) was 10% built, everyone knew it would be a total disaster. But the investment was so big they felt compelled to go on. Since its completion, it cost a fortune to maintain and is still in danger of collapsing. There are no plans to replace it, since it was never needed in the first place. I expect every installation has its own pet software which is analogous to the above.

Inanimate objects can be classified scientifically into three major categories; those that don't work, those that break down and those read more

Inanimate objects can be classified scientifically into three major categories; those that don't work, those that break down and those that get lost.

Form follows function. - "Lippincott's Magazine", March, 1896.

Form follows function. - "Lippincott's Magazine", March, 1896.

The Internet treats censorship as a malfunction and routes around it.

The Internet treats censorship as a malfunction and routes around it.

A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because read more

A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die, and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it.

Science and technology multiply around us. To an increasing extent they dictate the languages in which we speak and think. read more

Science and technology multiply around us. To an increasing extent they dictate the languages in which we speak and think. Either we use those languages, or we remain mute.

The great secret of doctors, known only to their wives, but still hidden from the public, is that most things read more

The great secret of doctors, known only to their wives, but still hidden from the public, is that most things get better by themselves; most things, in fact, are better in the morning.

We seem to have a compulsion these days to bury time capsules in order to give those people living in read more

We seem to have a compulsion these days to bury time capsules in order to give those people living in the next century or so some idea of what we are like.

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.