The Great Geek Manual

Men have called me mad; but the question is not yet settled, whether madness is or is not the loftiest intelligence—whether much that is glorious—whether all that is profound—does not spring from disease of thought—from moods of mind exalted at the expense of the general intellect.

- “Eleanora” by Edgar Allan Poe, 1841.

…modern technology is a major evolutionary transition – as important as when the first cells came together to form multicellular organisms. It would be astonishing if that occurred without disrupting existing life.

- Gregory Stock, as quoted in “Cloning. Problem? No problem.”
First published in Wired, September 1997.

The digital revolution is far more significant than the invention of writing or even of printing. It offers the potential for humans to learn new ways of thinking and organizing social structures.

- Douglas Engelbart

I wish there was a knob on the TV to turn up the intelligence. There’s a knob called “brightness,” but it doesn’t work.

- Leo Gallagher

If you look at a thing 999 times, you are perfectly safe; if you look at it for the 1000th time, you are in danger of seeing it for the first time.

- G. K. Chesterton

…disbelief in magic can force a poor soul into believing in government and business…

- Even Cowgirls Get the Blues by Tom Robbins, 1976.

An unread book is all possible stories. It contains all possible characters, styles, genres, turns of phrase, metaphors, speech patterns, and profound life-changing revelations. An unread book exists only in the primordial soup of your imagination, and there it can evolve into any story you like. An unread book – any unread book – could change your life.

- “Confined By Pages: The Joy of Unread Books” by Kirsty Logan, May 6, 2010.

Modern science has imposed upon humanity the necessity for wandering. Its progressive thought and its progressive technology make the transition through time, from generation to generation, a true migration into uncharted seas of adventure. The very benefit of wandering is that it is dangerous and needs skill to avert evils. We must expect, therefore, that the future will disclose dangers. It is the business of the future to be dangerous; and it is among the merits of science that it equips the future for its duties. The prosperous middle classes, who ruled the nineteenth century, placed an excessive value upon the placidity of existence. They refused to face the necessities for social reform imposed by the new industrial system, and they are now refusing to face the necessities for intellectual reform imposed by the new knowledge. The middle class pessimism over the future of the world comes from a confusion between civilization and security. In the immediate future there will be less security than in the immediate past, less stability. It must be admitted that there is a degree of instability which is inconsistent with civilization. But, on the whole, the great ages have been unstable ages.

- “Science and the Modern World” by Alfred North Whitehead, 1925.