Men can be brilliant and strong, they whispered to one another. But men can be mad, as well. And the mad ones can ruin the world. Women, you must judge them . . . Never again can things be allowed to...
There were few worse criminals on any world than the engineer who blithely and knowingly hands over to a tyrant the tools of oppression.
One of the most fascinating and effective kinds of lying is self-deception.
Where were answers to the truly deep questions? Religion promised those, though always in vague terms, while retreating from one line in the sand to the next. Don't look past this boundary, they told...
Your neighbors are not all sheep. Your political opponents are not all evil or fools. Try talking to those you despise. They are your fellow citizens. And together, we are not lesser than any "greates...
But honestly, if you do a rigorous survey of my work, I'll bet you'll find that biology is a theme far more often than physical science.
It is said that power corrupts, but actually it's more true that power attracts the corruptible. The sane are usually attracted by other things than power.
Though his book vigorously promotes strong privacy, Miller notes that people routinely trade personal information for convenience or a few dollars of savings, even offering names of friends and famili...
There was a time, in living memory, when this nation bestrode the planet like a titan.
There isn’t one America anymore. If there ever had been.
Socrates, Plato, Jesus, Buddha and countless other mystics, in countless cultures, have preached the same thing -- that we all exist amid a blur of uncertainty. That one can never know complete truth...
Science gives man what he needs, but magic gives man what he wants.
Yes, but all that’s needed is to break reciprocity, he answered. By controlling information, making sure it flows one way. Take over the databases. Trump up panic situations, so the public will suppor...
Where subtlety fails us we must simply make do with cream pies.
We are, at our core, information pack rats and inveterate correlators.
True brilliance has a well-known positive correlation with decency, much of the time--a fact the rest of us rely on, more than we ever know. The real world doesn't roil with as many crazed artists, ps...
The greedy and the power-hungry will always look for ways to break the rules, or twist them to their advantage.
Someone once said that one measure of sentience was how much energy a sophont spent on matters other than survival. Fiben
Self-awareness is probably overrated. A complex, self-regulating system doesn't need it in order to be successful, or even smart.
I’ve put some thought to it. How can we set up a system which encourages individuals to strive and excel, and yet which shows some compassion to the weak, and weeds out madmen and tyrants?