When we blindly adopt a religion, a political system, a…

When we blindly adopt a religion, a political system, a literary dogma, we become automatons. We cease to grow.

— Anais Nin

As in political so in literary action a man wins friends for himself mostly by the passion of his prejudices and the consistent narrowness…

— Joseph Conrad

“Considering he was neither priest nor scholar, the young man gave sensible, thoughtful replies -- the more so, perhaps, for being untrained, for he…

— Iain Pears

“Anxiety, and the physical symptoms it causes, is merely fog along the path of independence and discovery.”

— Charles F. Glassman

Those of us who shout the loudest about Americanism, are all too frequently those who . . . ignore some of the basic principles…

— Margaret Chase Smith

Blind belief in authority is the greatest enemy of truth.

— Albert Einstein

“Freedom of speech is unnecessary if the people to whom it is granted do not think for themselves.”

— Mokokoma Mokhonoana

“Soon we will not need people anymore, as everything will be done by automatons, including bringing up children.”

— Andrius B. Tapinas

The illusion of self-awareness. Happy automatons, running on trivial programs. I'll bet you never guess. From the inside, how can you?

— Vernor Vinge

It takes a greater God to steer a world populated with free agents than it does to steer a world of preprogrammed automatons.

— Gregory A. Boyd

I'm more frightened than interested by artificial intelligence - in fact, perhaps fright and interest are not far away from one another. Things can…

— Gemma Whelan

“I’d known back in high school that humanity was nothing but automatons, but I’d been cowered into submission by my stay at Restful Meadows.”

— Nicole Cushing

“I wish my genius ran to making automatons,” he said. “I would invent one that would follow you around with a tray. It would…

— Courtney Milan

Each of the essays in this volume ranges widely across technical and philosophical domains. They examine both familiar automatons from throughout history and delight…

— Rodney Brooks

“We’re automatons in a symphony conducted by a lunatic and performed by blind idealists.” Damon”

— Eleni Papanou