Neal Stephenson Quotes

I'm very pro-science and pro-technology; I believe that these have been key drivers of progress in the world in the last centuries.

Avoid the spectacle of technology and instead focus on technology and science solving real problems.

Color television! Bah, I won't believe it until I see it in black and white.

Technology changes all the time; human nature, hardly ever.

People use technology only to mean digital technology. Technology is actually everything we make.

'The Victorian Internet' is a must read for anyone interested in the history of technology and in the cycles of hype, boom, and bust that seem to only quicken with each new wave of innovation. Highly recommended.

Prosperity in human society is misunderstood. The difference between a rich and poor society is the number of problems that society solves for its citizens. That means technological innovation is the source of all prosperity, but with every tech innovation, you also get disruption - ultimately, social and civic disruption.

A society without civil, political, and property rights may indeed find it difficult to innovate innovation outside the military sector, but it often has a relatively easy time adopting technologies that have already been developed elsewhere.

Engineers and entrepreneurs are fundamentally dissatisfied with the way the world is and want to make it better. There are so many things you could do with technology if you can match it up with real problems.

As humans, we've always innovated our way out of problems, whether it was the first torch to light a dark cave or the steam engine that sparked a revolution.

I have sometimes thought the power of computers had exceeded our ability to use them, but Mr. Jobs and his team kept giving us devices that made indispensable things easier in ways you never thought of.

Technology is probably the single biggest driver of productivity gains for the developed countries. For example, I think it's much more important than free trade.

A tool is but the extension of a man's hand, and a machine is but a complex tool. And he that invents a machine augments the power of a man and the well-being of mankind.

Everything that you are taking advantage of, inventing and using, is still a generation or two behind when it comes to the U.S. government.

Invention breeds invention. No sooner is the electric telegraph devised than gutta-percha, the very material it requires, is found. The aeronaut is provided with gun-cotton, the very fuel he wants for his balloon.

Technology is an important element in progress. See, we can always do something better. We can improve water technology, or energy efficiency. There is always progress forward using technology and that's where innovation starts.

There's no question that as science, knowledge and technology advance, that we will attempt to do more significant things. And there's no question that we will always have to temper those things with ethics.

Techno-optimism is a belief in the power of technology to extend our sphere of possibilities and, ultimately, a belief that technology helps us solve and transcend problems, limitations and obstacles.

I'm a futurist. Technology is our way out of almost every problem we have. Technology can create a new sense of community.

When you look at the actual data on technological innovation, one thing you see is that what I call the 'low-hanging fruit' has been exhausted. So radio, flush toilets, electricity, and automobiles - a lot of very basic inventions - have spread to almost all households.

We know that, when it comes to technology and the economy, if you're not constantly moving forward, then - without a doubt - you're moving backwards.

Technology is rooted in the past. It dominates the present and tends into the future. It is a real historical movement - one of the great movements which shape and represent their epoch.

Much of contemporary science is really the length and shadow of the technology we apply.

I don't think love for technology itself breeds change.

I want to see what technology's going to be like in a few hundred years, if the human race hasn't completely obliterated itself by then.