“The days of the digitals are numbered. The metaphor is built into them like a self-destruct mechanism.”

—  Tom Stoppard, The Real Thing

Max, Act I, scene I.
Often misquoted as "The days of the digital watch are numbered."
The Real Thing (1982)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "The days of the digitals are numbered. The metaphor is built into them like a self-destruct mechanism." by Tom Stoppard?
Tom Stoppard photo
Tom Stoppard116
British playwright 1937

Related quotes

Bob van Luijt photo

“If it can be said, it can be built using digital technology.”

Bob van Luijt (1985) Dutch entrepreneur

Source: TEDx talk: "Digital technology through the lens of language" https://www.ted.com/talks/bob_van_luijt_digital_technology_through_the_lens_of_language (15 November 2021)

Mike Godwin photo

“Let today be the first day of a new American Revolution - a Digital Revolution, a revolution built not on blood and conflict, but on language and reason and our faith in each other.”

Mike Godwin (1956) American attorney and author

On conclusion of case Reno v. American Civil Liberties Union — cited in [Goldsmith, Jack L., Tim Wu, 2006, Who Controls the Internet?: Illusions of a Borderless World, Oxford University Press, 22, 0195152662]

Lee Kuan Yew photo

“At the end of the day, we are so many digits in the machine. The point is – are these digits stronger than the competitors' digits?”

Lee Kuan Yew (1923–2015) First Prime Minister of Singapore

MM Lee Kuan Yew on Singapore workers, History of Singapore, 2005
2000s

Francis Escudero photo

“It has been said Mr. President, that while we can only read the prose in the laws we pass, he sees numbers in them, and imagine them in digits.”

Francis Escudero (1969) Filipino politician

2013, Speech: Nomination of Senator Ralph Recto as Senate Pro Tempore

James Bovard photo

“The more that democracy is assumed to be inevitable, the more likely it will self-destruct.”

James Bovard (1956) American journalist

From Attention Deficit Democracy (Palgrave, 2006) http://www.jimbovard.com/Epigrams%20Attention%20Deficit%20Democracy.htm

Leonid Kuchma photo

“With the era of great ideological confrontation behind us, mankind has managed to decrease the threat of self-destruction by nuclear conflagration and to establish sufficiently reliable mechanisms of international security.”

Leonid Kuchma (1938) Second president of Ukraine

Speech at the 50th session of the United Nations General Assembly (excerpts) (1995)

Donald Barthelme photo

“"Is that true," I asked, "that song?"
"It is a metaphor," said Mrs. Davis, "it has metaphorical truth."
"And the end of the mechanical age," I said, "is that a metaphor?"
"The end of the mechanical age," said Mrs. Davis, "is in my judgment an actuality straining to become a metaphor. One must wish it luck, I suppose. One must cheer it on. Intellectual rigor demands that we give these damned metaphors every chance, even if they are inimical to personal well-being and comfort. We have a duty to understand everything, whether we like it or not–a duty I would scant if I could." At that moment the water jumped into the boat and sank us.”

Donald Barthelme book Sixty Stories

"At The End Of The Mechanical Age".
Sixty Stories (1981)

Manuel Castells photo

“The fundamental digital divide is no measured by the number of connections to the Internet, but by the consequences of both connection and lack of connection.”

Manuel Castells (1942) Spanish sociologist (b.1942)

Source: The Internet Galaxy - Reflections on the Internet, Business, and Society (2001), Chapter 9, The Digital Divide in a Global Perspective, p. 269

Willis Lamb photo

“I liked quantum mechanics very much. The subject was hard to understand but easy to apply to a large number of interesting problems.”

Willis Lamb (1913–2008) American Physicist

W. E. Lamb, Super classical quantum mechanics: the best interpretation of non relativistic quantum mechanics, Am. J. Phys. 69, 413-422 (2001).

“There is no god, or love, just time / Saying "Do what you will. Nothing's real today" / We are fleeting numbers, and images / Like the liquid crystal digital readout / Floating on the sea of grey.”

Jonathan Larson (1960–1996) American composer and playwright

Superbia

Related topics