He walked out into the cold morning asking himself this heretical question: Can you start measuring a minute at any instant you wish?
William GaddisRead
I see the player piano as the grandfather of the computer, the ancestor of the entire nightmare we live in, the birth of the binary world where there is no option other than yes or no and where there is no refuge.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The player piano symbolizes the origin of modern computing, highlighting how technology can create limitations in our choices.
In this quote, William Gaddis reflects on the player piano as a precursor to computers, suggesting that just as the player piano automates music without the musician's input, modern technology has evolved to limit human agency through binary choices. Gaddis warns of a future where the simplistic dichotomy of 'yes' or 'no' eliminates the nuance of human experience, creating a nightmare of automation devoid of true freedom.
Themes
Player PianoComputerTechnologyChoicesBinaryFreedom
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about the impact of automation on society.
More from William Gaddis
All quotes βStupidity is the deliberate cultivation of ignorance.
William GaddisRead
Say a word, say a thousand to me on the telephone and I shall choose the wrong one to cling to as though you had said it after long deliberation when only I provoked it from you, I will cling to it from among a thousand, to be provoked and hurl it back with something I mean no more than you meant that, something for you to cling to and retreat clinging to.
William GaddisRead
How real is any of the past, being every moment revalued to make the present possible.
William GaddisRead
If you want to make a million you don't have to understand money, what you have to understand is people's fears about money
William GaddisRead
Similar quotes
You need to invent things and you need to get them to people. You need to commercialize those inventions. Obviously, the best way we've come up with doing that is through companies.
Larry PageRead
But the idea that some day people would want to be able to interact and get stock quotes and talk with other people or all these different things, I just believed that was going to happen
Steve CaseRead
Any program is only as good as it is useful.
Linus TorvaldsRead
The problem with the Internet is that it gives you everything - reliable material and crazy material. So the problem becomes, how do you discriminate?
Umberto EcoRead
The EU can lead the world toward more humane technology. But doing so requires thinking more broadly about reining in social media platforms to prevent them from degrading our democracies.
Tristan HarrisRead
I probably wouldn't be a good spokesman for an electric car, because I'll still get on a private jet, and one flight on a private jet undoes all my electric-car good deeds.
George ClooneyRead