Science may have found a cure for most evils, but it has found no remedy for the worst of them read more

Science may have found a cure for most evils, but it has found no remedy for the worst of them all--the apathy of human beings.

Not even computers will replace committees, because committees buy computers.

Not even computers will replace committees, because committees buy computers.

Art is meant to upset people, science reassures them.

Art is meant to upset people, science reassures them.

FORTRAN --'the infantile disorder'--, by now nearly 20 years old, is hopelessly inadequate for whatever computer application you have in read more

FORTRAN --'the infantile disorder'--, by now nearly 20 years old, is hopelessly inadequate for whatever computer application you have in mind today: it is now too clumsy, too risky, and too expensive to use.
PL/I --'the fatal disease'-- belongs more to the problem set than to the solution set.
It is practically impossible to teach good programming to students that have had a prior exposure to BASIC: as potential programmers they are mentally mutilated beyond hope of regeneration.
The use of COBOL cripples the mind; its teaching should, therefore, be regarded as a criminal offence.
APL is a mistake, carried through to perfection. It is the language of the future for the programming techniques of the past: it creates a new generation of coding bums.

I like to browse in occult bookshops if for no other reason than to refresh my commitment to science.

I like to browse in occult bookshops if for no other reason than to refresh my commitment to science.

We can lick gravity, but sometimes the paperwork is overwhelming.

We can lick gravity, but sometimes the paperwork is overwhelming.

The grand aim of all science is to cover the greatest number of
empirical facts by logical deduction from read more

The grand aim of all science is to cover the greatest number of
empirical facts by logical deduction from the smallest number of
hypotheses or axioms.

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

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

There are more ideas on earth than intellectuals imagine. And these ideas are more active, stronger, more resistant, more passionate read more

There are more ideas on earth than intellectuals imagine. And these ideas are more active, stronger, more resistant, more passionate than "politicians" think. We have to be there at the birth of ideas, the bursting outward of their force: not in books expressing them, but in events manifesting this force, in struggles carried on around ideas, for or against them. Ideas do not rule the world. But it is because the world has ideas... that it is not passively ruled by those who are its leaders or those who would like to teach it, once and for all, what it must think.