It seems to me, Golan, that the advance of civilization is nothing but an exercise in the limiting of privacy.
Interpretation
The progress of civilization often comes at the cost of individual privacy.
Isaac Asimov's quote reflects the notion that as societies evolve and develop, they tend to impose stricter regulations and observations on personal privacy. This can be seen as a trade-off where advancements in technology and governance may enhance public safety or efficiency but simultaneously encroach upon the personal freedoms and privacy of individuals.
In practice
During a lecture on the implications of technology on society.
Democracy cannot survive overpopulation. Human dignity cannot survive it. Convenience and decency cannot survive it. As you put more and more people into the world, the value of life not only declines, but it disappears. It doesn't matter if someone dies.
Science does not promise absolute truth, nor does it consider that such a thing necessarily exists. Science does not even promise that everything in the Universe is amenable to the scientific process.
Democracy cannot survive overpopulation.
Although the time of death is approaching me, I am not afraid of dying and going to Hell or (what would be considerably worse) going to the popularized version of Heaven. I expect death to be nothingness and, for removing me from all possible fears of death, I am thankful to atheism.
A subtle thought that is in error may yet give rise to fruitful inquiry that can establish truths of great value.
During the century after Newton, it was still possible for a man of unusual attainments to master all fields of scientific knowledge. But by 1800, this had become entirely impracticable.
I could not help but think that somewhere along the way we had missed what was radical about our faith and replaced it with what is comfortable.
The poor are great! The poor are wonderful! The poor are very generous! They give us much more than what we give them.
The universe has become not only conscious and aware of itself but capable in some respects of choosing its path into the future--though all three, the consciousness, the knowledge, and the choice, are dispersed over a vast crowd of beings, acting both individually and collectively.
It is in the interest of tyrants to reduce the people to ignorance and vice. For they cannot live in any country where virtue and knowledge prevail.
Intelligence has got the upper hand to such an extent that it transforms the real task into an unreal trick and reality into a play.
A man should ever, as much as in him lieth, be ready booted to take his journey, and above all things look he have then nothing to do but with himself.
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