Category Archives: Quotes

“Errors using inadequate data are much less than those using no data at all” –Charles Babbage (died today in 1871)

Today in 1979 The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy was published. Among many memorable observations by Douglas Adams: “First we thought the PC was a calculator. Then we found out how to turn numbers into letters with ASCII — and … Continue reading →

“For 40 years now, the tech industry has been digitizing everything in sight. The next 40 years, businesses will be focused on how to make sense of all that information.” —Jonathan Spier, CEO and cofounder of Netbase

“…we try as often as possible to commission important fiction writers to review important fiction… Often, however, fiction writers are disinclined to review their fellow practitioners for fear they won’t like the book as much as they might wish.” –Sam … Continue reading →

“Telegraphy without wires – how attractive it sounds… A little instrument that one can almost carry in the pocket, certainly in a microscopic grip, and if your corespondent be likewise equipped, you may arrest his attention and talk to him … Continue reading →

“But reason with the fellow Before you punish him, where he heard this, Lest you shall chance to whip your information and beat the messenger who bid beware Of what is to be dreaded” – Shakespeare, Coriolanus

“We are seeking to uphold truth, beauty, and wisdom in an age which has placed its faith in mere information” –Fictional Oxford Don in Inspector Lewis Your Sudden Death Question episode.

“‘If the news is that important, it will find me” — college student, quoted in L. Gordon Crovitz, “Now the News Finds You,” Wall Street Journal, September 20, 2010 “…instead of replacing traditional news platforms, Americans are increasingly integrating new … Continue reading →

“A consideration of the effects of information storage and information transfer on physical, chemical biological, psychological, and sociological systems… may help in understanding and predicting many of the aspects of our universe” – American Scientist, 1950 “If only a logic … Continue reading →

“In the modern world, as the Ottomans demonstrated, paper is power.” —Neil MacGregor, Director of the British Museum. Is paper still power? or are we (finally) in a post-modern world where (blog, Facebook, Twitter) post is power?