Cat

“We know that blind evolutionary processes can produce human-level general intelligence, since they have already done so at least once. Evolutionary processes with foresight—that is, genetic programs designed and guided by an intelligent human programmer—should be able to achieve a similar outcome with far greater efficiency.”
― Nick Bostrom, Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies

“In 2004 the Department created a Bureau of Public Opinion, which commissioned surveys and research to measure the pulse of the public without the niceties of voting.”
― Evan Osnos, Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Truth, and Faith in the New China

“(Nearly half of all Chinese tourists in one market survey reported eating no more than one “European-style” meal on a trip to the West.)”
― Evan Osnos, Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Truth, and Faith in the New China

“Sitewide, the copy-and-paste strategy underperforms from-scratch messaging by about 25 percent, but in terms of effort-in to results-out it always wins: measuring by replies received per unit effort, it’s many times more efficient to just send everyone roughly the same thing than to compose a new message each time.”
― Christian Rudder, Dataclysm: Love, Sex, Race, and Identity--What Our Online Lives Tell Us about Our Offline Selves