Not Till We Are Lost Quotes

“But you’ll find in life that people will very rarely do the right thing if they’re told to, even if refusing harms them.”
― Dennis E. Taylor, Not Till We Are Lost

“Bridget gave me a hard look. 'Poor Howard. And Bobs in general. You're so civilized and empathetic toward others that you just can't understand that some people are just assholes. This is no different from any number of tin-pot dictators in Earth history. Little men, mostly, who measure their worth by the number of people and amount of resources they control.'
I shook my head, feeling suddenly combative. 'And again, to what end?'
'This isn't an instrumental goal, Howard. The control is the endgame. It's not for anything.”
― Dennis E. Taylor, Not Till We Are Lost

“Ah, pub days. Beer. Anec is not a fan. He suggested self-immolation as a preferable alternative. Said I could try coffee, though.'
'Yeah, I get the impression that he believes beer is a long-running, complex practical joke that bios are pulling on him.”
― Dennis E. Taylor, Not Till We Are Lost

“Mm-hmm. Not sure how well it will do. We’re not anywhere near as omnivorous as humans. Honestly, you’re like a bunch of garburators. Anything that can fit in goes in.”
― Dennis E. Taylor, Not Till We Are Lost

“We’re still fifteen years from Omicron2 Eridani. Plenty of time to debug.” “Unless we blow ourselves up. I don’t see that being debuggable.” “As always, you are a joy to be around, Neil.” “I’ll be there in a few seconds. Then you can bask in more of that joy.”
― Dennis E. Taylor, Not Till We Are Lost

“This is no different from any number of tin-pot dictators in Earth history. Little men, mostly, who measure their worth by the number of people and amount of resources they control.”
― Dennis E. Taylor, Not Till We Are Lost

“There was no way we’d be able to hack into the computer systems of a civilization that was demonstrably more advanced than us and alien and used an unknown language.”
― Dennis E. Taylor, Not Till We Are Lost

“In C and C# tradition, I used single symbols for the math versions and double symbols for the logic versions.”
― Dennis E. Taylor, Not Till We Are Lost

“And raising an AI follows the same general arc. Your human tendency to think of it as just another piece of technology could indicate a dangerous bias in how the matter will be treated.”
― Dennis E. Taylor, Not Till We Are Lost

“me. The biggest attribute of immortality, it turned out, was that problems just kept coming at you. Eventually you realized that the only solution was to head for the hills and adopt the hermit lifestyle.”
― Dennis E. Taylor, Not Till We Are Lost