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.

As nuclear and other technological achievements continue to mount, the normal life span will continue to climb. The hourly productivity read more

As nuclear and other technological achievements continue to mount, the normal life span will continue to climb. The hourly productivity of the worker will increase.

Before we work on artificial intelligence why don't we do something about natural stupidity?

Before we work on artificial intelligence why don't we do something about natural stupidity?

People in the computer industry use the term 'user,' which to them means 'idiot.'.

People in the computer industry use the term 'user,' which to them means 'idiot.'.

People think of the inventor as a screwball, but no one ever asks the inventor what he thinks of other read more

People think of the inventor as a screwball, but no one ever asks the inventor what he thinks of other people.

Take young researchers, put them together in virtual seclusion, give them an unprecedented degree of freedom and turn up the read more

Take young researchers, put them together in virtual seclusion, give them an unprecedented degree of freedom and turn up the pressure by fostering competitiveness.

The atom, being for all practical purposes the stable unit of the physical plane, is a constantly changing vortex of read more

The atom, being for all practical purposes the stable unit of the physical plane, is a constantly changing vortex of reactions. -Unknown.

The cell phone has transformed public places into giant phone-a-thons in which callers exist within narcissistic cocoons of private conversations. read more

The cell phone has transformed public places into giant phone-a-thons in which callers exist within narcissistic cocoons of private conversations. Like faxes, computer modems and other modern gadgets that have clogged out lives with phony urgency, cell phones represent the 20th Century's escalation of imaginary need. We didn't need cell phones until we had them. Clearly, cell phones cause not only a breakdown of courtesy, but the atrophy of basic skills.

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.