Can Computers Think Quotes & Sayings

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

We see most big problems as information problems, which means that with enough data and the ability to crunch it, virtually any challenge facing humanity today can be solved. We think computers will serve at the behest of people - all people - to make their lives better and easier. And we are quite sure that we, as a couple of Silicon Valley guys, will come under a lot of criticism for this Pollyannaish view of the future. But that doesn't matter. What matters is that there is a bright light at the end of the tunnel. — Eric Schmidt

As an evolutionary biologist, I have learned over the years that most people do not want to see themselves as lumbering robots programmed to ensure the survival of their genes. I don't think they will want to see themselves as digital computers either. To be told by someone with impeccable scientific credentials that they are nothing of the kind can only be pleasing. — John Maynard Smith

Adults have been brainwashed into thinking that they can't really learn about computers without being taught, so it's more difficult for them to feel comfortable with a computer. Deep down, I think they're afraid of learning about computers. — Seymour Papert

People think computers are different from people because they don't have minds, even though, in the Turing test, computers can have conversations with people about the weather and wine and what Italy is like, and they can even tell jokes. — Mark Haddon

There's so much free material on the Internet you can learn from, and some people are pure self-starters: they pick up computers and teach themselves everything. Certainly there are millions of people like that. But at the same time, I think it's a pretty small percentage of the population. — Tyler Cowen

What makes you think that the classroom in school is different from others... "It's one large and big as a size!" Okay... I could have a room which is large and big like a classroom for making films, so what?? This room which I just made for the films... now is a classroom??
"It have in the corner a bin...", Okay that's ridiculous, that it have a bin there doesn't mean that I can't also put one bin at the corner... nobody has said that the bin can't stay somewhere in corners... so you are saying that mine room is a classroom??... "It have special tables and chairs... for the students". Okay, I have also such stuff at home for my computer... and when is about many I could few more computers + the special stuff and what???... I can even invite students from a school so I have the most stuff, so what does it make it different? — Deyth Banger

I think it's fair to say that personal computers have become the most empowering tool we've ever created. They're tools of communication, they're tools of creativity, and they can be shaped by their user. — Bill Gates

No one has any faith in the tape anymore - everyone just relies on computers and considers the hardrive to be the safest option, and I don't. I think an analog tape is something you can hold. — Dave Grohl

The question of whether computers can think is like the question of whether submarines can swim. — Edsger Dijkstra

It's not that I think that computers don't have their place, but surely their place is not in bed, which is my favorite place to read, and surely their place is not snuggled up with a cat in your lap in an old armchair. You can't have your laptop computer and your cat in your lap simultaneously, while trying to manage a cup of tea, which you might spill on your computer. On the other hand, if you spilled your cup of tea on your book -- well, Charles Lamb would probably just like it better. He once said that he particularly liked books that had old muffin crumbs in them. Muffin crumbs in your computer would not be a good idea. — Anne Fadiman

We are surrounded by so many extraordinary things in this life that it's easy to become jaded. We carry around in our pockets and purses these unimaginable miracles of modern technology, these mind-blowingly powerful computers that allow us to speak-at a moment's notice-with anyone in the world, that grant us access to billions of pages of information; with the press of a button, we can read almost any book every written, listen to any song ever recorded, or gaze into the face of a loved one, even if they are thousands of miles away. I think that's amazing. I don't want to be jaded. I want to marvel. — Justine Ezarik

Beatbullying's 'The Big March 2012' is such a brilliant campaign and I am very proud to be a part of it. I have been a victim of cyber bullying myself and I know firsthand just how hurtful it can be. People think that they can hide behind computers and send nasty and hurtful comments to people, and this is wrong. — Katherine Jenkins

Learning can take place in the backyard if there is a human being there who cares about the child. Before learning computers, children should learn to read first. They should sit around the dinner table and hear what their parents have to say and think. — Dixie Carter

Theaters are always going to be around, and doing fine. With computers and technology, we're becoming more and more secluded from each other. And the movie theater is one of the last places where we can still gather and experience something together. I don't think the desire for that magic will ever go away. — Wolfgang Petersen

And when I am in a new place, because I see everything, it is like when a computer is doing too many things at the same time and the central processor unit is blocked up and there isn't any space left to think about other things. And when I am in a new place and there are lots of people there it is even harder because people are not like cows and flowers and grass and they can talk to you and do things that you don't expect, so you have to notice everything that is in the place, and also you have to notice things that might happen as well. And sometimes when I am in a new place and there are lots of people there it is like a computer crashing and I have to close my eyes and put my hands over my ears and groan, which is like pressing CTRL + ALT + DEL and shutting down programs and turning the computer off and rebooting so that I can remember what I am doing and where I am meant to be going. — Mark Haddon

We think that computers are the most remarkable tools that humankind has ever come up with, and we think that people are basically tool users. So if we can just get lots of computers to lots of people, it will make some qualitative difference to the world. — Steve Jobs

You're going to have some very amazing capabilities in the economy. When we have computers that can do more and more jobs, it's going to change how we think about work. There's no way around that. You can't wish it away. — Larry Page

I was playing in bands and doing gigs from the age of 14 on. I stopped at the age of 28. Technology replaced me. As soon as I saw what computers can do, I didn't think there would be a point for a live drummer. — Mitchell Joachim

The computer has evolved into a partner, a tool, and an environment
not just in science fiction, but in the public consciousness as well. Computers are no longer malevolent iron brains that manufacture tyrannical and oppressive answers; they are not a way to think, they are a place from which to think. The computer is an environment in which answers can be sought, created, manipulated and developed. — David Gerrold

Wait - something's gumming up Bosch. (Computers aren't as powerful as most people think; running even a small and rather stupid intern can really bog down a server.) — Charles Stross

Douglas R. Hofstadter, an American researcher, speculates that the human mind has consciousness because it has the capability of self-reference. Since we can think about ourselves and think about ourselves thinking about ourselves, etc., we are capable of feeling that we are an "I". Contrast that with what we have learned in this chapter. This chapter tries to show that the computer's ability to perform self-reference is the cause of its limitations. Can we say that self-reference in computers brings limitations while in humans it causes consciousness? Perhaps. — Noson S. Yanofsky

N]ow, even more than in the past, creativity is a key to economic success. We no longer need people to follow directions in robot-like ways (we have robots for that), or to perform routine calculations (we have computers for that), or to answer already-answered questions (we have search engines for that). But we do need people who can ask and seek answers to new questions, solve new problems and anticipate obstacles before they arise. These all require the ability to think creatively. The creative mind is a playful mind." - PETER GRAY, PH.D., Research Professor, Boston College — Robin Landa

I love the process of cutting everything out with a scalpel yourself: I don't want to have my stencils drawn up in Illustrator, then laser-cut. I like the fact that it's slightly wrong; I think it gives it a beauty. The individual and handmade will always be worth more than what a computer can do, at least until computers can learn how to make mistakes. — Ben Eine

That's the new way - with computers, computers, computers. That's the way we can have the cell survive and get some new information in high resolution. We started about five years ago and, today, I think we have reached the target. — Lennart Nilsson

Now they can do all these magic things with computers. So you think you get to do something in a movie and you find out you don't get to really do it. — Angelina Jolie

All of a sudden, if you think about the entire ecosystem of connected devices that can pull down information, access content and allow me to share and work and communicate, the vast majority now are not Windows computers. They are iPhones. They are iPads. They are Android devices. — Aaron Levie

Extremist material of any kind always looks gaudy and cheap, like a bad pizza menu. Not because they can't afford decent computers - these days you can knock up a professional CD cover on a pay-as-you-go mobile - but because anyone who's good at graphic design is likely to be a thoughtful, inquisitive sort by nature. And thoughtful, inquisitive sorts tend to think fascism is a bit shit, to be honest. If the BNP really were the greatest British party, they'd have the greatest British designer working for them - Jonathan Ive, perhaps, the man who designed the iPod. But they don't. They've got someone who tries to stab your eyes out with primary colours.
— Charlie Brooker

We need change. I mean, our traditions are important. We shouldn't give up on those. But sometimes, I think we're misguided."
"Misguided?"
"As time's gone on, we've gone along with other changes. We've evolved. Computers. Electricity. Technology in general. We all agree those make our lives better. Why can't we be the same in the way we act? Why are we still clinging to the past when there are better ways to do things? — Richelle Mead

Everything that I've learned about computers at MIT I have boiled down into three principles: Unix: You think it won't work, but if you find the right wizard, they can make it work. Macintosh: You think it will work, but it won't. PC/Windows: You think it won't work, and it won't. — Philip Greenspun