Vernor Vinge Quotes - Page 2

Quotes about:

• The work that is truly productive is the domain of a steadily smaller and more elite fraction of humanity.

  Vernor Vinge

  Humanity, Fractions, Domain

  "The Coming Technological Singularity: How to Survive in the Post-Human Era". Presentation at VISION-21 Symposium, edoras.sdsu.edu. March 1993.

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• We humans have millions of years of evolutionary baggage that makes us regard competition in a deadly light.

  Vernor Vinge

  Light, Years, Competition

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• Little fish risking everything for a piece of godhood...and not knowing heaven from hell, even when they find it.

  Vernor Vinge

  Knowing, Heaven, Pieces

  Vernor Vinge (2010). “A Fire Upon The Deep”, p.93, Macmillan

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• It was not called the Net of a Million Lies for nothing.

  Vernor Vinge

  Lying, Millions

  Vernor Vinge (2010). “A Fire Upon The Deep”, p.431, Macmillan

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• Well, what do you know," Pham said. "Butterflies in jackboots.

  Vernor Vinge

  Butterfly, Said, Wells

  Vernor Vinge (2017). “The Zones of Thought Series: (A Fire Upon the Deep, The Children of the Sky, A Deepness in the Sky)”, p.281, Macmillan

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• When I began writing science fiction in the middle 60s, it seemed very easy to find ideas that took decades to percolate into the cultural consciousness; now the lead time seems more like eighteen months.

  Vernor Vinge

  Writing, Science, Ideas

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• Note that I am not proposing that AI research be ignored or less funded.

  Vernor Vinge

  Research, Ignored, Notes

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• And for all my rampant technological optimism, sometimes I think I'd be more comfortable if I were regarding these transcendental events from one thousand years remove... instead of twenty.

  Vernor Vinge

  Thinking, Years, Optimism

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• One of his greatest talents was empathy; no sadist can aspire to perfection without that diagnostic ability.

  Vernor Vinge

  Perfection, Empathy, Talent

  Vernor Vinge (2010). “A Fire Upon The Deep”, p.454, Macmillan

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• Animals can adapt to problems and make inventions, but often no faster than natural selection can do its work - the world acts as its own simulator in the case of natural selection.

  Vernor Vinge

  Animal, World, Problem

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• Life is a green madness just now, trying to squeeze the last bit of warmth from the season.

  Vernor Vinge

  Trying, Green, Lasts

  Vernor Vinge (2010). “A Fire Upon The Deep”, p.119, Macmillan

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• Hexapodia as the key insight...I haven't had a chance to see the famous video from Straumli Realm, except as an evocation. (My only gateway onto the Net is very expensive.) Is it true that humans have six legs?

  Vernor Vinge

  Keys, Video, Legs

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• How to explain? How to describe? Even the omniscient viewpoint quails.

  Vernor Vinge

  Viewpoints, Quails, Omniscient

  Vernor Vinge, Maureen F. McHugh (1993). “The Tor sf sampler: featuring excerpts from the 1993 Nebula and Hugo nominees : A fire upon the deep by Vernor Vinge and China mountain Zhang by Maureen F. McHugh”

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• When people speak of creating superhumanly intelligent beings, they are usually imagining an AI project.

  Vernor Vinge

  Intelligent, Creating, People

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• I never guessed I could cry so hard my face hurt.

  Vernor Vinge

  Hurt, Faces, Cry

  Vernor Vinge (2010). “A Fire Upon The Deep”, p.258, Macmillan

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• Here I had tried a straightforward extrapolation of technology, and found myself precipitated over an abyss. It's a problem we face every time we consider the creation of intelligences greater than our own. When this happens, human history will have reached a kind of singularity - a place where extrapolation breaks down and new models must be applied - and the world will pass beyond our understanding.

  Vernor Vinge

  Technology, Understanding, World

  Vernor Vinge (2002). “The Collected Stories of Vernor Vinge”, p.44, Macmillan

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• The voice was gentle, like a scalpel petting the short hairs of your throat.

  Vernor Vinge

  Hair, Voice, Scalpels

  Vernor Vinge, Maureen F. McHugh (1993). “The Tor sf sampler: featuring excerpts from the 1993 Nebula and Hugo nominees : A fire upon the deep by Vernor Vinge and China mountain Zhang by Maureen F. McHugh”

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• Sometimes the biggest disasters aren't noticed at all – no one's around to write horror stories.

  Vernor Vinge

  Writing, Horror Stories, Sometimes

  "A Fire Upon the Deep". Book by Vernor Vinge, April 1992.

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• Peregrine Wickwrackrum was of two minds about evil: when enough rules get broken, sometimes there is good amid the carnage.

  Vernor Vinge

  Two, Evil, Broken

  Vernor Vinge, Maureen F. McHugh (1993). “The Tor sf sampler: featuring excerpts from the 1993 Nebula and Hugo nominees : A fire upon the deep by Vernor Vinge and China mountain Zhang by Maureen F. McHugh”

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• Poor humans; they will all die.""Poor us; we will not.

  Vernor Vinge

  Poor, Humans, Dies

  Vernor Vinge, Maureen F. McHugh (1993). “The Tor sf sampler: featuring excerpts from the 1993 Nebula and Hugo nominees : A fire upon the deep by Vernor Vinge and China mountain Zhang by Maureen F. McHugh”

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• Pham Nuwen plunked himself down, stretching indolently.

  Vernor Vinge

  Stretching

  Vernor Vinge (2010). “A Fire Upon The Deep”, p.171, Macmillan

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• Once upon a time I was such a good liar; I could talk the fish right into my mouths.

  Vernor Vinge

  Liars, Once Upon A Time, Mouths

  Vernor Vinge (2010). “A Fire Upon The Deep”, p.546, Macmillan

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• Peregrine Wickwrackscar was flying. A pilgrim with legends that went back almost a thousand years-and not one of them could come near to this!

  Vernor Vinge

  Years, Flying, Legends

  Vernor Vinge (2010). “A Fire Upon The Deep”, p.595, Macmillan

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• He claimed that nearby gun thunder cleared the mind - but most everybody else agreed it made you daft.

  Vernor Vinge

  Gun, Mind, Thunder

  Vernor Vinge (2010). “A Fire Upon The Deep”, p.373, Macmillan

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• I have come to kill you."The death's heads shrugged. "You have come to try.

  Vernor Vinge

  Trying

  Vernor Vinge (2017). “The Zones of Thought Series: (A Fire Upon the Deep, The Children of the Sky, A Deepness in the Sky)”, p.477, Macmillan

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