Telephone, n. An invention of the devil which abrogates some of the advantages of making a disagreeable person keep his read more

Telephone, n. An invention of the devil which abrogates some of the advantages of making a disagreeable person keep his distance.

Relying on the government to protect your privacy is like asking a peeping tom to install your window blinds.

Relying on the government to protect your privacy is like asking a peeping tom to install your window blinds.

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.

The cloning of humans is on most of the lists of things to worry about from Science, along with behaviour read more

The cloning of humans is on most of the lists of things to worry about from Science, along with behaviour control, genetic engineering, transplanted heads, computer poetry and the unrestrained growth of plastic flowers.

A computer lets you make more mistakes faster than any invention in human history--with the possible exceptions of handguns and read more

A computer lets you make more mistakes faster than any invention in human history--with the possible exceptions of handguns and tequila.

Science... never solves a problem without creating ten more.

Science... never solves a problem without creating ten more.

It is much better to have your gold in the hand than in the heart.

It is much better to have your gold in the hand than in the heart.

I think complexity is mostly sort of crummy stuff that is there because it's too expensive to change the interface.

I think complexity is mostly sort of crummy stuff that is there because it's too expensive to change the interface.

Real programmers can write assembly code in any language.

Real programmers can write assembly code in any language.