We only have to look at ourselves to see how intelligent life might develop into something we wouldn't want to meet.
Stephen HawkingRead
I think computer viruses should count as life ... I think it says something about human nature that the only form of life we have created so far is purely destructive. We've created life in our own image.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote suggests that computer viruses, as creations of humans, reflect destructive aspects of human nature.
Stephen Hawking's quote highlights a thought-provoking perspective on the nature of life and creation. By suggesting that computer viruses should be considered a form of life, he indicates that our technological creations mirror human attributes, particularly our capacity for destruction. This raises questions about the ethical implications of our innovations and what it reveals about our own tendencies as creators.
Themes
ComputerVirusesLifeHuman NatureDestructiveCreation
In practice
Example use cases
In a technology ethics discussion, one might cite this quote to prompt a conversation about the implications of creating artificial intelligence.
More from Stephen Hawking
All quotes →I regard the brain as a computer which will stop working when its components fail. There is no heaven or afterlife for broken down computers; that is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark.
Stephen HawkingRead
It surprises me how disinterested we are today about things like physics, space, the universe and philosophy of our existence, our purpose, our final destination. Its a crazy world out there. Be curious.
Stephen HawkingRead
I was not a good student. I did not spend much time at college; I was too busy enjoying myself.
Stephen HawkingRead
The world has changed far more in the past 100 years than in any other century in history. The reason is not political or economic but technological-technologies that flowed directly from advances in basic science. Clearly, no scientist better represents those advances than Albert Einstein: TIME's Person of the Century.
Stephen HawkingRead
In my opinion, there is no aspect of reality beyond the reach of the human mind.
Stephen HawkingRead
Similar quotes
When media make war against each other, it is a case of world-views in collision.
Neil PostmanRead
NVC suggests behind every action, however ineffective, tragic, violent, or abhorrent to us, is an attempt to meet a need.
Marshall B. RosenbergRead
She starched and ironed her face, forming it into just what people wanted to see.
Zora Neale HurstonRead
There is a greater darkness than the one we fight. It is the darkness of the soul that has lost its way. The war we fight is not against powers and principalities, it is against chaos and despair. Greater than the death of flesh is the death of hope, the death of dreams. Against this peril we can never surrender.
J. Michael StraczynskiRead
War is wrong. Conscription for war is inconsistent with freedom of conscience, which is not merely the right to believe but to act on the degree of truth that one receives, to follow a vocation which is God-inspired and God-directed.
Bayard RustinRead
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
Martin Luther King, Jr.Read