Norbert Wiener
The founder of cybernetics, a field that explores control and communication in animals and machines.
Most quoted
"We are not fighting for a definitive victory in the indefinite future. It is the greatest possible victory to be, to continue to be, and to have been. No defeat can deprive us of the success of having existed for some moment of time in a universe that seems indifferent to us."
— from Cybernetics, 1948
"The future offers very little hope for those who expect that our new mechanical slaves will offer us a world in which we may rest from thinking. Help us they may, but at the cost of supreme demands upon our honesty and our intelligence."
— from God and Golem, Inc., 1964
"It is my thesis that the physical functioning of the living individual and the operation of some of the newer communication machines are precisely parallel in their analogous attempts to control entropy through feedback."
— from Cybernetics, 1948
All quotes by Norbert Wiener (386)
The machine is a tool for connection, but it can also be a tool for isolation.
The future is a mystery, but it is a mystery that we can unravel.
The machine is a reflection of our potential, and it can help us to reach new heights.
The world is a story, and we are the authors who write its chapters.
The human mind is a universe of possibilities, and it is constantly expanding its horizons.
The machine is a tool for transformation, and it can change the world for the better.
The machine has a soul, and it is the soul of a man.
I am a mathematician, and I am a Jew. These are two facts that have shaped my life profoundly.
The world is a very complicated place, and we are only beginning to understand its complexities.
My work on cybernetics is an attempt to understand the nature of control and communication in both machines and living organisms.
The future of humanity depends on our ability to use technology wisely and ethically.
I have always been fascinated by the interplay between order and chaos.
The human brain is the most complex machine ever created.
We must be careful not to create machines that are more intelligent than we are.
The pursuit of knowledge is a lifelong journey.
Mathematics is the language of the universe.
I believe that science and religion can coexist.
The greatest challenge facing humanity is to learn how to live together in peace.
My childhood was a time of intense intellectual curiosity.
I have always been drawn to the unconventional and the unexplored.
Contemporaries of Norbert Wiener
Other Mathematicss born within 50 years of Norbert Wiener (1894–1964).