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I wish that I could say I was optimistic about the human race. I love us all, but we are so stupid and shortsighted that I wonder if we can lift our eyes to the world about us long enough not to commit suicide.
ISAAC ASIMOV, Yours, Isaac Asimov
It is change, continuing change, inevitable change, that is the dominant factor in society today. No sensible decision can be made any longer without taking into account not only the world as it is, but the world as it will be.... This, in turn, means that our statesmen, our businessmen, our everyman must take on a science fictional way of thinking.
ISAAC ASIMOV, Asimov on Science Fiction
Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.
ISAAC ASIMOV, Astounding Science Fiction, May 1942
The energy requirements for interstellar travel are so great that it is inconceivable to me that any creatures piloting their ships across the vast depths of space would do so only in order to play games with us over a period of decades. If they want to make contact, they would make contact; if not, they would save their energy and go elsewhere.
ISAAC ASIMOV, Is Anyone There?
The advance of genetic engineering makes it quite conceivable that we will begin to design our own evolutionary progress.
ISAAC ASIMOV, The Beginning and the End
I discovered, to my amazement, that all through history there had been resistance ... and bitter, exaggerated, last-stitch resistance ... to every significant technological change that had taken place on earth. Usually the resistance came from those groups who stood to lose influence, status, money...as a result of the change. Although they never advanced this as their reason for resisting it. It was always the good of humanity that rested upon their hearts.
ISAAC ASIMOV, lecture at Newark College of Engineering, Nov. 8, 1974
Considering what human beings do and have done to human beings (and to other living things as well) ... I can never imagine what the devil people think computers can add to the horrors.
ISAAC ASIMOV, The Beginning and the End
Until now in world's history, whenever we've had a dark age, its been temporary and local. And other parts of the world have been doing fine. And eventually, they help you get out of the dark age. We are now facing a possible dark age which is going to be world-wide and permanent! That's not fun. That's a different thing. But once we have established many worlds, we can do whatever we want as long as we do it one world at a time.
ISAAC ASIMOV, lecture at Newark College of Engineering, Nov. 8, 1974
It is almost impossible to think of something no one has thought of before, but it is always possible to add different frills.
ISAAC ASIMOV, Yours, Isaac Asimov
Let’s start with the three fundamental Rules of Robotics.... We have: one, a robot may not injure a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. Two, a robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law. And three, a robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws.
ISAAC ASIMOV, Astounding Science Fiction, Mar. 1942
Imagine the people who believe such things and who are not ashamed to ignore, totally, all the patient findings of thinking minds through all the centures since the Bible was written. And it is these ignorant people, the most uneducated, the most unimaginative, the most unthinking among us, who would make themselves the guides and leaders of us all; who would force their feeble and childish beliefs on us; who would invade our schools and libraries and homes. I personally resent it bitterly.
ISAAC ASIMOV, Canadian Atheists Newsletter, 1994
What is really amazing, and frustrating, is mankind's habit of refusing to see the obvious and inevitable until it is there, and then muttering about unforseen catastrophes.
ISAAC ASIMOV, Asimov on Science Fiction
Knowledge is indivisible. When people grow wise in one direction, they are sure to make it easier for themselves to grow wise in other directions as well. On the other hand, when they split up knowledge, concentrate on their own field, and scorn and ignore other fields, they grow less wise -- even in their own field.
ISAAC ASIMOV, The Roving Mind
To be perfectly honest with you, I don't really see what the big deal is about getting to the Moon with the computers and the mid-course-corrections. I know you are a bunch of engineers, and you know better than I do, but I ask you ... once you get there beyond the atmosphere, do you or do you not see the Moon?
ISAAC ASIMOV, lecture at Newark College of Engineering, Nov. 8, 1974
If my doctor told me I had only six minutes to live, I wouldn’t brood. I’d type a little faster.
ISAAC ASIMOV, Life, Jan. 1984
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