Quote

The work that is truly productive is the domain of a steadily smaller and more elite fraction of humanity.

Vernor Vinge

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Vernor Vinge
Age: 80
Born: 1944
Born: October 2
Computer Scientist
Mathematician
Novelist
Science Fiction Writer
Writer
Waukesha
Wisconsin
Vernor Steffen Vinge
Work
Steadily
Elite
Domain
Elites
Smaller
Productive
Truly
Fraction
Humanity
Fractions

More quotes by Vernor Vinge

Image
Well, what do you know, Pham said. Butterflies in jackboots.
Vernor Vinge
Image
Note that I am not proposing that AI research be ignored or less funded.
Vernor Vinge
Image
The problem is not simply that the Singularity represents the passing of humankind from center stage, but that it contradicts our most deeply held notions of being.
Vernor Vinge
Image
Life is a green madness just now, trying to squeeze the last bit of warmth from the season.
Vernor Vinge
Image
Another symptom of progress toward the Singularity: ideas themselves should spread ever faster, and even the most radical will quickly become commonplace.
Vernor Vinge
Image
The heart of manipulation is to empathize without being touched.
Vernor Vinge
Image
The dilemma felt by science fiction writers will be perceived in other creative endeavors.
Vernor Vinge
Image
The illusion of self-awareness. Happy automatons, running on trivial programs. I'll bet you never guess. From the inside, how can you?
Vernor Vinge
Image
Effective translation of natural languages comes awfully close to requiring a sentient translator program.
Vernor Vinge
Image
Hexapodia as the key insight...I haven't had a chance to see the famous video from Straumli Realm, except as an evocation. (My only gateway onto the Net is very expensive.) Is it true that humans have six legs?
Vernor Vinge
Image
He claimed that nearby gun thunder cleared the mind - but most everybody else agreed it made you daft.
Vernor Vinge
Image
Sometimes terror and pain are not the best levers deception, when it works, is the most elegant and the least expensive manipulation of all.
Vernor Vinge
Image
One of his greatest talents was empathy no sadist can aspire to perfection without that diagnostic ability.
Vernor Vinge
Image
Pham Nuwen plunked himself down, stretching indolently.
Vernor Vinge
Image
Little fish risking everything for a piece of godhood...and not knowing heaven from hell, even when they find it.
Vernor Vinge
Image
Peregrine Wickwrackrum was of two minds about evil: when enough rules get broken, sometimes there is good amid the carnage.
Vernor Vinge
Image
It was not called the Net of a Million Lies for nothing.
Vernor Vinge
Image
How will the approach of the Singularity spread across the human world view?
Vernor Vinge
Image
The voice was gentle, like a scalpel petting the short hairs of your throat.
Vernor Vinge
Image
Within thirty years, we will have the technological means to create superhuman intelligence. Shortly after, the human era will be ended.
Vernor Vinge