Quote collection
421 quotes — follow a thought to its full quote page.
"Everyone can enjoy a life of luxurious leisure if the machine-produced wealth is shared, or most people can end up miserably poor if the machine-owners successfully lobby against wealth redistribution."
"The question is: is the way the universe began chosen by God for reasons we can't understand, or was it determined by a law of science? I believe the second. If you like, you can call the laws of science 'God', but it wouldn't be a personal God that you could meet, and ask questions."
"To my mathematical brain, the numbers alone make thinking about aliens perfectly rational."
"Time travel was once considered scientific heresy, and I used to avoid talking about it for fear of being labelled a 'crank.'"
"I believe in universal health care. And I am not afraid to say so."
"The downside of my celebrity is that I cannot go anywhere in the world without being recognized. It is not enough for me to wear dark sunglasses and a wig. The wheelchair gives me away."
"Without imperfection, you or I would not exist."
"I've noticed that even people who believe in fate look both ways before crossing the street."
"Plagiarism saves time."
"There is a fundamental difference between religion, which is based on authority, [and] science, which is based on observation and reason. Science will win because it works."
"One should love animals. They are so tasty."
"Because imaginary time behaves like another direction in space, histories in imaginary time can be closed surfaces, like the surface of the Earth, with no [existential] beginning or end."
"Speech has allowed the communication of ideas, enabling human beings to work together to build the impossible. Mankind's greatest achievements have come about by talking, and its greatest failures by not talking. It doesn't have to be like this. Our greatest hopes could become reality in the future. With the technology at our disposal, the possibilities are unbounded. All we need to do is make sure we keep talking."
"The whole history of science has been the gradual realization that events do not happen in an arbitrary manner, but that they reflect a certain underlying order, which may or may not be divinely inspired."
"We think we have solved the mystery of creation. Maybe we should patent the universe and charge everyone royalties for their existence."
"Then we shall... be able to take part in the discussion of the question of why it is that we and the universe exist. If we find the answer to that, it would be the ultimate triumph of human reason - for then we would know the mind of God."
"The life we have on Earth must have spontaneously generated itself. It must therefore be possible for life to generate spontaneously elsewhere in the universe."
"One could imagine such technology outsmarting financial markets, out-inventing human researchers, out-manipulating human leaders, and developing weapons we cannot even understand."
"Many badly needed goals, like fusion and cancer cure, would be achieved much sooner if we invested more."
"Keeping an active mind has been vital to my survival, as has been maintaining a sense of humor."