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James Gleick Quotes

Cyberspace, especially, draws us into the instant Picture Quote #1

A bit, the smallest unit of information, the fundamental particle of information theory, is a choice, yes or no, on or off. It’s a choice that you can embody in electrical circuits, and it is thanks to that that we have all this ubiquitous computing Picture Quote #1

For [Richard] Feynman, the essence of the scientific imagination was a powerful and almost painful rule. What scientists create must match reality. It must match what is already known. Scientific creativity is imagination in a straitjacket Picture Quote #1

At its most fundamental, information is a binary choice. In other words, a single bit of information is one yes-or-no choice Picture Quote #1

It’s important with any new technology to try to pay conscious attention to what the drawbacks might be. We choose to multitask. Sometimes our choices aren’t the wisest of choices, and we regret them, but they are our choices. I think it’d be wrong to think that they’re automatically bad Picture Quote #1

The ability to write and read books is one of the things that transformed us as a species Picture Quote #1

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(When McLuhan announced that the medium was the message, he was being arch. The medium is both opposite to, and entwined with, the message.) Picture Quote #1

Alphabetical order had to be invented to help people organize the first dictionaries. On the other hand, we may have reached a point where alphabetical order has gone obsolete. Wikipedia is ostensibly in alphabetical order, but, when you think about it, it’s not in any order at all. You use a search engine to get into it Picture Quote #1

Cyberspace as a mode of being will never go away. We live in cyberspace Picture Quote #1

The body itself is an information processor. Memory resides not just in brains but in every cell. No wonder genetics bloomed along with information theory. DNA is the quintessential information molecule, the most advanced message processor at the cellular level - an alphabet and a code, 6 billion bits to form a human being Picture Quote #1

For much of the twentieth century, 1984 was a year that belonged to the future - a strange, gray future at that. Then it slid painlessly into the past, like any other year. Big Brother arrived and settled in, though not at all in the way George Orwell had imagined Picture Quote #1

A good part of ‘The Information’ is about the transition from an oral to a literary culture. Books effected such a great transformation in the way we think about the world, our history, our logic, mathematics, you name it. I think we would be greatly diminished as a people and as a culture if the book became obsolete Picture Quote #1

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Information is not knowledge, and knowledge is not wisdom. Reading - even browsing - an old book can yield sustenance denied by a database search. Patience is a virtue, gluttony a sin Picture Quote #1

A book is not necessarily made of paper. A book is not necessarily made to be read on a Kindle. A book is a collection of text, organized in one of a variety of ways. You could say that words printed on paper and bound between cloth covers will someday be obsolete. But if and when that day comes, there will still be a thing called books Picture Quote #1

We get better search results and we see more appropriate advertising when we let Google know who we are Picture Quote #1

Strangely enough, the linking of computers has taken place democratically, even anarchically. Its rules and habits are emerging in the open light, rather shall behind the closed doors of security agencies or corporate operations centers Picture Quote #1

The word ‘code’ turns out to be a really important word for my book, ‘The Information.’ The genetic code is just one example. We talk now about coders, coding. Computer guys are coders. The stuff they write is code Picture Quote #1

I’ll cheerfully confess to spending a lot of time playing completely disgusting computer games that have no redeeming social value Picture Quote #1

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We have met the Devil of Information Overload and his impish underlings, the computer virus, the busy signal, the dead link, and the PowerPoint presentation Picture Quote #1

I’m trying to look at many, many things in modern life that I believe are going faster, and I’m trying to look at why they’re going faster and what effect they have on us. We all know about FedEx and instant pudding, but it doesn’t mean we’ve looked at all the consequences of our desire for speed Picture Quote #1

I think we are always right to worry about damaging consequences of new technologies even as we are empowered by them. History suggests we should not panic nor be too sanguine about cool new gizmos. There’s a delicate balance Picture Quote #1

It is not true that people who accomplish things don’t waste time and that people who waste time don’t accomplish things. The very concept is ill-informed. You can’t waste time and you can’t save time; you can only choose what you do at any given moment Picture Quote #1

Information theory began as a bridge from mathematics to electrical engineering and from there to computing Picture Quote #1

Patent battles have become a strong catalyst for mergers, reducing competition in various domains. The largest corporations, with gigantic patent portfolios, routinely enter into cross-licensing agreements with their largest competitors Picture Quote #1

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As for memes, the word ‘meme’ is a cliche, which is to say it’s already a meme. We all hear it all the time, and maybe we even have started to use it in ordinary speech. The man who invented it was Richard Dawkins, who was, not coincidentally, an evolutionary biologist. And he invented it as an analog for the gene Picture Quote #1

The cells of an organism are nodes in a richly interwoven communications network, transmitting and receiving, coding and decoding. Evolution itself embodies an ongoing exchange of information between organism and environment Picture Quote #1

In the 1920s, a generation before the coming of solid-state electronics, one could look at the circuits and see how the electron stream flowed. Radios had valves, as though electricity were a fluid to be diverted by plumbing. With the click of the knob came a significant hiss and hum, just at the edge of audibility Picture Quote #1

In general, I think people should be skeptical of the Internet as a reference tool because so much of what’s on it is unreliable and costumed - a hall of mirrors Picture Quote #1

Children and scientists share an outlook on life. ‘If I do this, what will happen?’ is both the motto of the child at play and the defining refrain of the physical scientist Picture Quote #1

$In the mind’s eye, a fractal is a way of seeing infinity Picture Quote #1$

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Friendship Quotes

Motivational Quotes

Inspirational Quotes

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Text Quotes

Cyberspace, especially, draws us into the instant (James Gleick Quotes) A bit, the smallest unit of information, the fundamental particle of information theory, is a choice, yes or no, on or off. It’s a choice that you can embody in electrical circuits, and it is thanks to that that we have all this ubiquitous computing. (James Gleick Quotes) For [Richard] Feynman, the essence of the scientific imagination was a powerful and almost painful rule. What scientists create must match reality. It must match what is already known. Scientific creativity is imagination in a straitjacket (James Gleick Quotes) At its most fundamental, information is a binary choice. In other words, a single bit of information is one yes-or-no choice (James Gleick Quotes) It’s important with any new technology to try to pay conscious attention to what the drawbacks might be. We choose to multitask. Sometimes our choices aren’t the wisest of choices, and we regret them, but they are our choices. I think it’d be wrong to think that they’re automatically bad (James Gleick Quotes) The ability to write and read books is one of the things that transformed us as a species (James Gleick Quotes) (When McLuhan announced that the medium was the message, he was being arch. The medium is both opposite to, and entwined with, the message.) (James Gleick Quotes) Alphabetical order had to be invented to help people organize the first dictionaries. On the other hand, we may have reached a point where alphabetical order has gone obsolete. Wikipedia is ostensibly in alphabetical order, but, when you think about it, it’s not in any order at all. You use a search engine to get into it. (James Gleick Quotes) Cyberspace as a mode of being will never go away. We live in cyberspace. (James Gleick Quotes) The body itself is an information processor. Memory resides not just in brains but in every cell. No wonder genetics bloomed along with information theory. DNA is the quintessential information molecule, the most advanced message processor at the cellular level - an alphabet and a code, 6 billion bits to form a human being. (James Gleick Quotes) For much of the twentieth century, 1984 was a year that belonged to the future - a strange, gray future at that. Then it slid painlessly into the past, like any other year. Big Brother arrived and settled in, though not at all in the way George Orwell had imagined. (James Gleick Quotes) A good part of ‘The Information’ is about the transition from an oral to a literary culture. Books effected such a great transformation in the way we think about the world, our history, our logic, mathematics, you name it. I think we would be greatly diminished as a people and as a culture if the book became obsolete. (James Gleick Quotes) Information is not knowledge, and knowledge is not wisdom. Reading - even browsing - an old book can yield sustenance denied by a database search. Patience is a virtue, gluttony a sin. (James Gleick Quotes) A book is not necessarily made of paper. A book is not necessarily made to be read on a Kindle. A book is a collection of text, organized in one of a variety of ways. You could say that words printed on paper and bound between cloth covers will someday be obsolete. But if and when that day comes, there will still be a thing called books. (James Gleick Quotes) We get better search results and we see more appropriate advertising when we let Google know who we are. (James Gleick Quotes) Strangely enough, the linking of computers has taken place democratically, even anarchically. Its rules and habits are emerging in the open light, rather shall behind the closed doors of security agencies or corporate operations centers. (James Gleick Quotes) The word ‘code’ turns out to be a really important word for my book, ‘The Information.’ The genetic code is just one example. We talk now about coders, coding. Computer guys are coders. The stuff they write is code. (James Gleick Quotes) I’ll cheerfully confess to spending a lot of time playing completely disgusting computer games that have no redeeming social value. (James Gleick Quotes) We have met the Devil of Information Overload and his impish underlings, the computer virus, the busy signal, the dead link, and the PowerPoint presentation. (James Gleick Quotes) I’m trying to look at many, many things in modern life that I believe are going faster, and I’m trying to look at why they’re going faster and what effect they have on us. We all know about FedEx and instant pudding, but it doesn’t mean we’ve looked at all the consequences of our desire for speed. (James Gleick Quotes) I think we are always right to worry about damaging consequences of new technologies even as we are empowered by them. History suggests we should not panic nor be too sanguine about cool new gizmos. There’s a delicate balance. (James Gleick Quotes) It is not true that people who accomplish things don’t waste time and that people who waste time don’t accomplish things. The very concept is ill-informed. You can’t waste time and you can’t save time; you can only choose what you do at any given moment. (James Gleick Quotes) Information theory began as a bridge from mathematics to electrical engineering and from there to computing. (James Gleick Quotes) Patent battles have become a strong catalyst for mergers, reducing competition in various domains. The largest corporations, with gigantic patent portfolios, routinely enter into cross-licensing agreements with their largest competitors. (James Gleick Quotes) As for memes, the word ‘meme’ is a cliche, which is to say it’s already a meme. We all hear it all the time, and maybe we even have started to use it in ordinary speech. The man who invented it was Richard Dawkins, who was, not coincidentally, an evolutionary biologist. And he invented it as an analog for the gene. (James Gleick Quotes) The cells of an organism are nodes in a richly interwoven communications network, transmitting and receiving, coding and decoding. Evolution itself embodies an ongoing exchange of information between organism and environment. (James Gleick Quotes) In the 1920s, a generation before the coming of solid-state electronics, one could look at the circuits and see how the electron stream flowed. Radios had valves, as though electricity were a fluid to be diverted by plumbing. With the click of the knob came a significant hiss and hum, just at the edge of audibility. (James Gleick Quotes) In general, I think people should be skeptical of the Internet as a reference tool because so much of what’s on it is unreliable and costumed - a hall of mirrors (James Gleick Quotes) Children and scientists share an outlook on life. ‘If I do this, what will happen?’ is both the motto of the child at play and the defining refrain of the physical scientist (James Gleick Quotes) In the mind’s eye, a fractal is a way of seeing infinity (James Gleick Quotes)

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