“Once the computers got control, we might never get it back. We would survive at their sufferance. If we're lucky, they might decide to keep us as pets.”

—  Marvin Minsky

Life Magazine (20 November 1970), p. 68

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update Jan. 15, 2024. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Once the computers got control, we might never get it back. We would survive at their sufferance. If we're lucky, they …" by Marvin Minsky?
Marvin Minsky photo
Marvin Minsky65
American cognitive scientist 1927–2016

Related quotes

Arthur C. Clarke photo

“Democracy is our most important possession. If we throw it away when the going gets tough, we might never get it back.”

Arthur C. Clarke A Time Odyssey

Source: 2000s and posthumous publications, A Time Odyssey, Sunstorm (2005), Chapter 24, “BDO” (p. 182)

Orson Scott Card photo

“What difference does it make, whether we keep our silence because [they] force us or because we're afraid they might force us?”

Orson Scott Card (1951) American science fiction novelist

Homecoming saga, Earthborn (1995)

Steven Erikson photo

“I mean the only thing us dead soldiers got in common is that none of us was good enough or lucky enough to survive the fight. We're a host of failures.”

Steven Erikson book The Bonehunters

The Bonehunters (2006)

Suzanne Collins photo

“There's no going back. So we might as well get on with things.”

Suzanne Collins book Mockingjay

Source: Mockingjay

Seal (musician) photo

“Miracles will happen as we trip. But we're never gonna survive, unless…
We get a little crazy”

Seal (musician) (1963) British singer-songwriter

"Crazy"
Seal (1991)
Context: A man decides after seventy years,
That what he goes there for, is to unlock the door.
While those around him criticize and sleep...
And through a fractal on a breaking wall,
I see you my friend, and touch your face again.
Miracles will happen as we trip. But we're never gonna survive, unless...
We get a little crazy

Michael Crichton photo

“They didn't understand what they were doing. I'm afraid that will be on the tombstone of the human race. I hope it's not. We might get lucky.”

Michael Crichton Prey

Source: Prey (2002)

John McDonnell photo

“My fear is that if we did have another referendum, we might get the same or similar result and the country will still be divided. Somehow we have got to try and bring the country back together again.”

John McDonnell (1951) British politician (born 1951)

Source: Labour could form minority government without election - McDonnell https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-46288429 BBC News (21 November 2018)

Booth Tarkington photo

“The somewhere we're goin' to, and got to go to if we don't want to get wiped out, it's somewhere everlastingly and eternally ahead! It's like to-morrow; when we get there we aren't there; we got to keep goin', and we got to everlastingly and eternally keep goin' – and goin' fast! If we don't, the Almighty hasn't got a bit o' use for us; He turns us right into dust and scattered old bones, and nothin's left of our whole country and our finest cities except some street paving and a few cellars with weeds in 'em.”

Booth Tarkington (1869–1946) American novelist

The Plutocrat (1927), chapter 30 (Earl Tinker speaking to Jean-Edouard Le Seyeux)

“You might get lucky and die in some corner.
~Soi Fon”

Tite Kubo (1977) Japanese manga artist

Bruce Schneier photo

“I mean, the computer industry promises nothing. Did you ever read a shrink-wrapped license agreement? You should read one. It basically says, if this product deliberately kills your children, and we knew it would, and we decided not to tell you because it might harm sales, we're not liable. I mean, it says stuff like that. They're absurd documents. You have no rights.”

Bruce Schneier (1963) American computer scientist

[Hartford Advocate, 2006-04-27, Your computer is not secure]
Politics and societal issues of the digital age

Related topics