Imagine that you're an intelligent extraterrestrial, concerned only with verifiable truths. You discover a species that has divided itself into thousands - no, by now millions - of tribal groups holding an incredible variety of beliefs about the origin of the universe and the way to behave in it. Although many of them have ideas in common, even when there's 99% overlap, the remaining one percent's enough to set them killing and torturing each other, over trivial points of doctrine, utterly meaningless to outsiders. "How to account for such irrational behavior? (...) religion was the by-product of fear - a reaction to a mysterious and often hostile universe. For much of human prehistory, it may have been a necessary evil - but why was it so much more evil than necessary - and why did it survive when it was no longer necessary?
Arthur C. ClarkeIt is vital to remember that information-- in the sense of raw data-- is not knowledge, that knowledge is not wisdom, and that wisdom is not foresight. But information is the first essential step to all of these.
Arthur C. ClarkeMy favourite definition of an intellectual: 'Someone who has been educated beyond his/her intelligence.
[Sources and Acknowledgements: Chapter 19]
Tags: intelligence education intellectuals
It was the mark of a barbarian to destroy something one could not understand.
Arthur C. ClarkeA man who grows that much hair,' critics were fond of saying, 'must have a lot to hide.
Arthur C. ClarkeReligion is a by-product of fear. For much of human history it may have been a necessary evil, but why was it more evil than necessary? Isn’t killing people in the name of god a pretty good definition of insanity?
Arthur C. ClarkeTags: religion-and-science
In this single galaxy of ours there are eighty-seven thousand million suns. [...] In challenging it, you would be like ants attempting to label and classify all the grains of sand in all the deserts of the world. [...] It is a bitter thought, but you must face it. The planets you may one day possess. But the stars are not for man.
Arthur C. ClarkeNow I'm a scientific expert; that means I know nothing about absolutely everything.
Arthur C. ClarkeTags: science generalist
What are you doing, Dave?
Arthur C. ClarkeWhether we are based on carbon or on silicon makes no fundamental difference; we should each be treated with appropriate respect.
Arthur C. ClarkeTags: computers diversity robots artificial-intelligence
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