Reality Quotes

“Science is a mechanism, a way of trying to improve your knowledge of nature. It’s a system for testing your thoughts against the universe, and seeing whether they match.” — Isaac Asimov

“The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom.” — Isaac Asimov

“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” — Arthur C. Clarke

“Any sufficiently advanced extraterrestrial intelligence is indistinguishable from God.” — Shermer’s Last Law

“I don’t want to become immortal through my work. I want to become immortal through not dying.” — Woody Allen

“In considering the future society, let us assume that 1) there will be no nuclear war; 2) the population will increase but not disastrously; and 3) the trend toward automation will continue. In that case, the kind of work that will be done in the future will tend to be more and more that of supervision of the machinery that does the real work…. Because the type of work will be just as applicable to women as to men, the trend toward sexual equality will be accelerated. This means there will be more and more leisure in the world, and the leisure will have to be filled because doing nothing is a terrible chore and very painful for any mind above that of an idiot. This means there will be a great emphasis on creativity and the purveying of amusement.” — Isaac Asimov, 1969

“It may be that our role on this planet is not to worship God, but to create him.” — Arthur C. Clarke

“You have to understand that many of these people are not ready to be unplugged. In fact, many are so inured, so helplessly dependant on the system that they will fight to protect it.” — Morpheus, The Matrix, Wachowski Brothers, Warner Brothers Studios