Mankind always sets itself only such tasks as it can solve; since, looking at the matter more closely, we will read more

Mankind always sets itself only such tasks as it can solve; since, looking at the matter more closely, we will always find that the task itself arises only when the material conditions necessary for its solution already exist or are at least in the process of formation.

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.

Don't worry about people stealing your ideas. If your ideas are any good, you'll have to ram them down people's read more

Don't worry about people stealing your ideas. If your ideas are any good, you'll have to ram them down people's throats.

...there is no prescribed route to follow to arrive at a new idea. You have to make the intuitive leap. read more

...there is no prescribed route to follow to arrive at a new idea. You have to make the intuitive leap. But the difference is that once you've made the intuitive leap you have to justify it by filling in the intermediate steps. In my case, it often happens that I have an idea, but then I try to fill in the intermediate steps and find that they don't work, so I have to give it up.

Technology... is a queer thing. It brings you great gifts with one hand, and it stabs you in the back read more

Technology... is a queer thing. It brings you great gifts with one hand, and it stabs you in the back with the other.

If a trainstation is where the train stops, what's a workstation...?

If a trainstation is where the train stops, what's a workstation...?

If you get hung up on everybody else's hang-ups, then the whole world's going to be nothing more than one read more

If you get hung up on everybody else's hang-ups, then the whole world's going to be nothing more than one huge gallows.

Research is the process of going up alleys to see if they are blind.

Research is the process of going up alleys to see if they are blind.

Usenet is like Tetris for people who still remember how to read.

Usenet is like Tetris for people who still remember how to read.