Motto Origin: Machines Should Work. People Should Think

Posted byquoteresearch

IBM Motto? Richard Hamming? Sia Armajani? Howard Dimmig? Anonymous?

Illustration of a robot hand from Pixabay

Question for Quote Investigator: Machines can perform work which humans do not wish to perform because it is repetitive and dangerous. Yet, as we enter the age of advanced AI there are many humans who desire to continue to perform creative and engaging tasks. Here are two versions of a pertinent motto:

(1) Machines should work. People should think.
(2) Man should think. Machines should work.

Would you please explore the provenance of this saying?

Reply from Quote Investigator: The earliest match found by QI appeared in February 1968 within “The Oregon Statesman” of Salem, Oregon. A short piece titled “Work vs. Thinking” contained the saying. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:1

The slogan of IBM is “Machines should work. People should think.” Highly paid executives dream up such mottos. They are not released until they have run the gauntlet of marketing research and public opinion testing. So, perhaps we shouldn’t be so audacious as to imply criticism, but we think it doesn’t compute.

QI hypothesizes that the saying was created by IBM copywriters. The precise identity of the person who crafted the motto remains unknown.

 Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.

In May 1968 Howard Dimmig delivered a speech at a meeting of a branch of the American Association of University Women held in Florida. Dimmig was a technical advisor to the director of testing at Eglin Air Force Base. Dimmig was a technical advisor to the director of testing at Eglin Air Force Base. Dimmig employed a version of the saying which used “man” instead of “people”. The newspaper described the statement as a “popular slogan”:2

He quoted a popular slogan and urged his audience to remember its implications, “Man should think, machines should work.”

Information retrieval was given as one of the problems facing scientists and others who must do research in the future.

In 1969 Theodore Levitt of the Harvard Business School published “The Marketing Mode: Pathways to Corporate Growth” which included the following passage:3

IBM estimates that the systematic use of the typewriter and its accompanying magnetic control system have increased productivity by about 50 percent. The gap between the creation of paper work and the number of people to do it is drastically reduced. In IBM’s imaginatively promotional words, “Machines should work. People should think.”

In January 1969 “The Minneapolis Tribune” of Minnesota published an article titled “Computer Art: Switched-On Idea” which included an interview with artist and teacher Siah Armajani who said the following:4

“Computers are bringing about the revolution. But unlike the industrial revolution, it won’t put people out of jobs. Leisure time will equal work time.”

“And above all, it will end much suffering. It’s inhuman to suffer. I refuse to suffer when a machine can do it for me. I admire the IBM slogan, ‘Man should think, machines should work.’ It gives us the possibility, for the first time, of recognizing the beauty of man.”

In 1977 Arthur Bloch published the compilation “Murphy’s Law and Other Reasons Why Things Go Wrong!” which contained the following entry:5

IBM POLLYANNA PRINCIPLE:
Machines should work; people should think.

In 1979 “1,001 Logical Laws” compiled by John Peers contained the same entry:6

The IBM Pollyanna Principle:
Machines should work. People should think.

In 1982 the saying appeared in a list of miscellaneous sayings which was posted to the Usenet newsgroup net.jokes:7

FAMOUS ( OR INFAMOUS ) SAYINGS

These following sayings were passed around our department on little slips of paper. Although not a complete list of them they represent great wisdom and as such I thought I would share them with everyone . . .

IBM Pollyanna Principle: Machines should work; people should think.

In 1991 a message from Steve Lamont appeared in the Usenet newsgroup alt.folklore.computers. Lamont tentatively credited the expression under examination to U.S. mathematician Richard Hamming:8

>IBM POLLYANNA PRINCIPLE
> 
> Machines should work. People should think.
… I don’t know if he was the originator of this line, but I’ve heard Richard Hamming say this more than once. Sounds like a Hammingism.

In 1993 a message in the Usenet newsgroup alt.quotations attributed the saying to Hamming:9

“Machines should work. People should think.”
– Richard Hamming

In 1997 Louis A. Berman published the collection “Proverb Wit & Wisdom” which included an entry for the saying without attribution:10

Machines should work. People should think.

In conclusion, based on current evidence anonymous copywriters working for IBM corporation deserve credit for this slogan. Several individuals have repeated versions of the slogan while disclaiming credit, e.g., Howard Dimmig and Sia Armajani. Richard Hamming may have employed the saying, but there is no substantive evidence that he coined it.

Acknowledgement: Great thanks to Jennifer Layne Park whose inquiry led QI to formulate this question and perform this exploration.

Image Notes: Illustration of a robot hand from Yamu_Jay at Pixabay. The image has been cropped and resized.

  1. 1968 February 12, The Oregon Statesman, Work vs. Thinking, Quote Page 4, Column 1, Salem, Oregon. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
  2. 1968 May 20, Playground Daily News, AAUW Hears Scientist in Testing Values Series, Quote Page 6, Column 2, Fort Walton Beach, Florida. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
  3. 1969, The Marketing Mode: Pathways to Corporate Growth by Theodore Levitt (Graduate School of Business Administration, Harvard University), Chapter 13: The Marketing Chief and the Chief Executive, Quote Page 260, McGraw-Hill Book Company, New York. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
  4. 1969 January 12, The Minneapolis Tribune, Section: Entertainment, Computer Art: Switched-on Idea by Mike Steele (Minneapolis Tribune Staff Writer), (Continuation title: ARMAJANI: ‘Everything Is Art’), Quote Page 8, Column 3, Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
  5. 1977, Murphy’s Law and Other Reasons Why Things Go Wrong!, Compiled by Arthur Bloch, Chapter Machinemanship, Quote Page 41, Price Stern Sloan Publishers Inc., Los Angeles, California. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
  6. 1979, 1,001 Logical Laws, Accurate Axioms, Profound Principles, Compiled by John Peers, Edited by Gordon Bennett, Quote Page 95, Doubleday & Company, Inc., Garden City, New York. (Verified with hardcopy) ↩︎
  7. Usenet discussion message, Timestamp: Mar 24, 1982, 5:45:54 AM, Newsgroup: net.jokes, From: ihuxi!anon, Subject: wisdom. (Google Groups Search; Accessed August 10, 2025) link ↩︎
  8. Usenet discussion message, Timestamp: Sep 25, 1991, 1:02:03 PM, Newsgroup: alt.folklore.computers, From: Steve Lamont, Subject: Murphy’s Laws for programming? (Google Groups Search; Accessed August 10, 2025) link ↩︎
  9. Usenet discussion message, Timestamp: Jan 7, 1993, 6:58:53 PM, Newsgroup: alt.quotations, From: Thomas W. Strong, Jr., Subject: misc, 2/3. (Google Groups Search; Accessed August 10, 2025) link ↩︎
  10. 1997, Proverb Wit & Wisdom: A Treasury of Proverbs, Parodies, Quips, Quotes, Clichés, Catchwords, Epigrams, and Aphorisms, Compiled by Louis A. Berman with Assistance by Daniel K. Berman, Topic: Think, Quote Page 403, A Perigee Book: The Berkley Publishing Group, New York. (Verified with scans) ↩︎