TECHNOLOGY Quotes Collected by Ken Knowlton ![]() |
A common mistake people make when trying
to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity
of complete fools. Intelligence ... is the faculty of making artificial objects, especially
tools to make tools. An inventor is a person who makes an ingenious arrangement of wheels,
levers and springs, and believes it civilization. Improvement makes straight roads; but the crooked roads without improvement
are roads of genius. I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work. In my lifetime I have seen wrought five miracles — namely, 1. the
Steamboat; 2. the Railroad; 3. the Electric Telegraph; 4. the application
of the spectroscope to Astronomy; 5. the Photograph. It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded
our humanity. For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public
relations, for Nature cannot be fooled. Technology is the knack of so arranging the world that we need not
experience it. Problems worthy of attack / Prove their worth by hitting back. Every tool carries with it the spirit by which it has been created.
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