Tracing Quotations
Isaac Asimov? Marvin Minsky? Paul Saffo? Edward Fredkin? Bruce Sterling? Dear Quote Investigator: Reportedly, a top researcher in artificial intelligence once said something like: Humans will be lucky if superintelligent robots treat them as pets. At some point a grim elaboration was appended: If humans are unlucky, they will be treated as food. Would you …
Continue reading “If We’re Lucky, Robots Might Decide To Keep Us as Pets”
Anthony Trollope? Isaac Asimov? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: Recently, I saw a tweet ascribing the following words to the popular Victorian era English novelist Anthony Trollope: Above all else, never think you’re not good enough. Curiously, when I searched for a citation I found that it was also ascribed to the science fiction master Isaac …
Isaac Asimov? Robert Silverberg? Andrew J. Offutt? Harlan Ellison? David Gerrold? David Langford? Frederik Pohl? Anonymous Fan? Dear Quote Investigator: The popular science fiction authors Isaac Asimov and Robert Silverberg were both famously prolific. Apparently, one of them delivered the following quip: I had a writing block once. It was the worst 20 minutes of …
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Robert Frost? Isaac Asimov? Kathleen Norris? Charles Swain Thomas? Robert Shafer? George Gallup? Dear Quote Investigator: The renowned poet laureate Robert Frost emphasized the importance of self-education. Also, the preternaturally productive science and science fiction writer Isaac Asimov extolled self-education. Here are two quotations on this topic: 1) The only education worth anything is self-education. …
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Isaac Asimov? John A. Keel? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: Recently, I read a book called “The Mothman Prophecies” which discussed mysterious sightings of a human-sized moth-like creature in West Virginia in the 1960s. There are many ways to attempt to interpret bizarre and enigmatic visions. The book included an intriguing quotation attributed to the well-known …
Continue reading “It’s Not What You See That Is Suspect, But How You Interpret What You See”
Isaac Asimov? Gordon Rattray Taylor? Alexander Fleming? Archimedes? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: The famous phrase uttered by an inventor or scientist when making a major discovery is “Eureka!” That was the cry of the ancient Greek sage Archimedes. Yet, a clever contrarian has asserted that the remark preceding a breakthrough reflects surprise and uncertainty …