Part of the inhumanity of the computer is that, once it is competently programmed and working smoothly, it is completely honest.
Interpretation
Computers, when properly programmed, operate with complete honesty and consistency, lacking human flaws.
Isaac Asimov's quote highlights a fundamental characteristic of computers: their ability to function with pure logic and honesty once they have been programmed correctly. Unlike humans, who can be influenced by emotions and biases, computers perform tasks based solely on the instructions given to them, presenting a kind of inhumanity that is devoid of deception but can also lead to unintended consequences if not carefully managed.
In practice
In a tech conference discussing the implications of artificial intelligence.
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.
Our technologies become more complex while we become more simple. They learn about us while we come to know less and less about them. No one person can understand everything going on in an iPhone, much less pervasive systems.
People think 'big data' avoids the problem of discrimination because you are dealing with big data sets, but, in fact, big data is being used for more and more precise forms of discrimination - a form of data redlining.
It's technology married with liberal arts, married with the humanities, that yields us the results that make our heart sing.
Technology will move faster than governments, so don't legislate before you understand the consequences.
Our hardware is likely to turn into something like us a lot faster than we are likely to turn into something like our hardware...I very much doubt that our grandchildren will understand the distinction between that which is a computer and that which isn't.
There are only two industries that refer to their customers as 'users'.
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