The sun, the moon and the stars would have disappeared long ago... had they happened to be within the reach of predatory human hands.
Havelock EllisRead
The greatest task before civilization at present is to make machines what they ought to be, the slaves, instead of the masters of men.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the importance of controlling technology rather than being controlled by it.
Havelock Ellis's quote highlights the critical challenge society faces in ensuring that machines serve humanity rather than dominate it. As technology advances, it is crucial to maintain human oversight and ethical considerations to prevent becoming subservient to the very creations meant to enhance our lives.
Themes
TechnologyControlHumanityMachinesCivilization
In practice
Example use cases
In a debate on technology's role in our lives, this quote can help illustrate the need for responsible innovation.
More from Havelock Ellis
All quotes βLife is livable because we know that wherever we go most of the people we meet will be restrained in their actions towards us by an almost instinctive network of taboos.
Havelock EllisRead
To live remains an art which everyone must learn, and which no one can teach.
Havelock EllisRead
The absence of flaw in beauty is itself a flaw.
Havelock EllisRead
Every man of genius sees the world at a different angle from his fellows, and there is his tragedy.
Havelock EllisRead
It is on our failures that we base a new and different and better success.
Havelock EllisRead
Similar quotes
As I walked down the street while talking on the phone, sophisticated New Yorkers gaped at the sight of someone actually moving around while making a phone call. Remember that in 1973, there weren't cordless telephones, let alone cellular phones. I made numerous calls, including one where I crossed the street while talking to a New York radio reporter - probably one of the more dangerous things I have ever done in my life.
Martin CooperRead
The truth is I've been doing Kickstarter before there was Kickstarter; there was no Internet. Social Media was writing letters, making phone calls, beating the bushes.
Spike LeeRead
I can't blame modern technology for my predilection for distraction, not after all the hours I've spent watching lost balloons disappear into the clouds. I did it before the Internet, and I'll do it after the apocalypse, assuming we still have helium and weak-gripped children.
Colson WhiteheadRead
The social media platforms have taken over the distribution of news globally. They treat a lie the same way you would treat a fact.
Maria RessaRead
It used to be that we imagined that our mobile phones would be for us to talk to each other. Now, our mobile phones are there to talk to us.
Sherry TurkleRead
Because of the nature of Moore's law, anything that an extremely clever graphics programmer can do at one point can be replicated by a merely competent programmer some number of years later.
John CarmackRead