--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: If we have learned anything at all in…" description: "\"If we have learned anything at all in this century, it is that all new technologies will be put to use, sooner or later, for better or worse, as it is ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4eb/lewis-thomas-2299_century_if-we-have-learned-anything-at-all-in-th_2845963.jpg" --- # If we have learned anything at all in this century, it is… ![“If we have learned anything at all in this century, it is that all new technologies will be put to use, sooner or later, for better or worse, as it is in our nature to do.” quote by Lewis Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4eb/lewis-thomas-2299_century_if-we-have-learned-anything-at-all-in-th_2845963.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4eb/lewis-thomas-2299_century_if-we-have-learned-anything-at-all-in-th_2845963.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4eb/lewis-thomas-2299_century_if-we-have-learned-anything-at-all-in-th_2845963.jpg) > “If we have learned anything at all in this century, it is that all new technologies will be put to use, sooner or later, for better or worse, as it is in our nature to do.” [Lewis Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-thomas/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. New technologies inevitably become used, for good or ill, reflecting human nature. **In simple terms:** Technology will be used, for better or worse. Key Takeaway Prepare for both positive and negative impacts of tech. Themes technology ethics human nature Mood thoughtful cautious Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - policy making - product development - public discourse - education curricula Key Concepts innovation diffusion risk assessment Questions to Reflect On - What safeguards can mitigate negative uses? - How do we balance innovation with caution? A Different Perspective Predicting specific outcomes is difficult; unintended consequences arise. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Nature](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nature/) [New technologies](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/new-technologies/) [New technology](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/new-technology/) [Sooner or later](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sooner-or-later/) [Technology](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/technology/) ## Related quotes > [We hanker to go on, even in the face of plain evidence that long, long lives are not necessarily pleasurable in the kind of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-thomas/we-hanker-to-go-on-even-in-the-face-of-plain-evidence-that-long-long/) [Lewis Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-thomas/) > [We have plenty of technologies we could use to destroy the planet, and we don't. There's more love on this planet than hate; there's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dan-brown/we-have-plenty-of-technologies-we-could-use-to-destroy-the-planet-and/) [Dan Brown](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dan-brown/) > [When new technologies impose themselves on societies long habituated to older technologies, anxieties of all kinds result.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marshall-mcluhan/when-new-technologies-impose-themselves-on-societies-long-habituated/) [Marshall McLuhan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marshall-mcluhan/) > [Given the incredible power of these new technologies, shouldn't we be asking how we can best coexist with them? And if our own extinction…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-joy/given-the-incredible-power-of-these-new-technologies-shouldn-t-we-be/) [Bill Joy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-joy/) > [There are certain things I am clueless about as far as the new technologies. I see these people in front of these computers all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-de-niro/there-are-certain-things-i-am-clueless-about-as-far-as-the-new/) [Robert De Niro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-de-niro/) > [Design is not about decorating functional forms - it is about creating forms that accord with the character of the object and that show…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-behrens/design-is-not-about-decorating-functional-forms-it-is-about-creating/) [Peter Behrens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-behrens/) > [The imperative to develop new technologies and implement them on a heroic scale no longer seems like the childish preoccupation of a few nerds…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neal-stephenson/the-imperative-to-develop-new-technologies-and-implement-them-on-a/) [Neal Stephenson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neal-stephenson/) > [Technology is going to transform people's lives and society everywhere in the world. 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But we are looking at carbon the same way we look at every pollutant under the Clean Air Act; we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gina-mccarthy/any-first-generation-technology-will-but-we-are-looking-at-carbon-the/) [Gina McCarthy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gina-mccarthy/) > [Well, for starters, we have to do more to create demand for new technologies that can reduce our dependence on foreign oil and environmental…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sherwood-boehlert/well-for-starters-we-have-to-do-more-to-create-demand-for-new/) [Sherwood Boehlert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sherwood-boehlert/) > [All the big ideas for getting us onto a lower carbon trajectory involve a lot of people doing a lot of work, and that's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/van-jones/all-the-big-ideas-for-getting-us-onto-a-lower-carbon-trajectory/) [Van Jones](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/van-jones/) > [Capitalism historically has been a very dynamic force, and behind that force is technical progress, innovation, new ideas, new products, new technologies, and new…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/manmohan-singh/capitalism-historically-has-been-a-very-dynamic-force-and-behind-that/) [Manmohan Singh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/manmohan-singh/) ## More by Lewis Thomas > [“We are endowed with genes which code out our reaction to beavers and otters, maybe our reaction to each other as well. We are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-thomas/we-are-endowed-with-genes-which-code-out-our-reaction-to-beavers-and/) [Lewis Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-thomas/) > [We are a spectacular, splendid manifestation of life. We have language. . . . We have affection. We have genes for usefulness, and usefulness…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-thomas/we-are-a-spectacular-splendid-manifestation-of-life-we-have-language/) [Lewis Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-thomas/) > [“It is not a simple thing to decide where we fit, for at one time or another in our lives we manage to organize…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-thomas/it-is-not-a-simple-thing-to-decide-where-we-fit-for-at-one-time-or/) [Lewis Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-thomas/) > [It is in our genes to understand the universe if we can, to keep trying even if we cannot, and to be enchanted by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-thomas/it-is-in-our-genes-to-understand-the-universe-if-we-can-to-keep/) [Lewis Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-thomas/) > [If an idea cannot move on its own, pushing it doesn't help; best to let it lie there.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-thomas/if-an-idea-cannot-move-on-its-own-pushing-it-doesn-t-help-best-to-let/) [Lewis Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-thomas/) > [Left to ourselves, mechanistic and autonomic, we hanker for friends.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-thomas/left-to-ourselves-mechanistic-and-autonomic-we-hanker-for-friends/) [Lewis Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-thomas/) > [I do not agree with this century's fashion of running down the human species as a failed try, a doomed sport. At our worst,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-thomas/i-do-not-agree-with-this-century-s-fashion-of-running-down-the-human/) [Lewis Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-thomas/) > [It would seem to me... an offense against nature, for us to come on the same scene endowed as we are with the curiosity,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-thomas/it-would-seem-to-me-an-offense-against-nature-for-us-to-come-on-the/) [Lewis Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-thomas/) > [The drive to be useful is encoded in our genes. But when we gather in very large numbers, as in the modern nation-state, we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-thomas/the-drive-to-be-useful-is-encoded-in-our-genes-but-when-we-gather-in/) [Lewis Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-thomas/) > [I would send the complete works of Johann Sebastian Bach into outer space on the Voyager spacecraft. But that would be boasting.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-thomas/i-would-send-the-complete-works-of-johann-sebastian-bach-into-outer/) [Lewis Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-thomas/) > [“Nature abhors a long silence.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-thomas/nature-abhors-a-long-silence/) [Lewis Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-thomas/) > [“The future is too interesting and dangerous to be entrusted to any predictable, reliable agency. We need all the fallibility we can get. Most…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-thomas/the-future-is-too-interesting-and-dangerous-to-be-entrusted-to-any/) [Lewis Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-thomas/) > [We pass the word around; we ponder how the case is put by different people, we read the poetry; we meditate over the literature;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-thomas/we-pass-the-word-around-we-ponder-how-the-case-is-put-by-different/) [Lewis Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-thomas/) > [“The uniformity of the earth's life, more astonishing than its diversity, is accountable by the high probability that we derived, originally, from some single…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-thomas/the-uniformity-of-the-earth-s-life-more-astonishing-than-its/) [Lewis Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-thomas/) > [Having long suspected that there was something alive in there, running the place, separate from everything else, absolutely individual and independent, we've celebrated by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-thomas/having-long-suspected-that-there-was-something-alive-in-there-running/) [Lewis Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-thomas/) [Explore all 173 Lewis Thomas quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-thomas/) ## More Century quotes > [I know always that I am an outsider; a stranger in this century and among those who are still men.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-know-always-that-i-am-an-outsider-a-stranger-in-this-century-and/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [ \[The Dalai Lama\] told me some years ago, "I've made every concession to China, and I've been as open and tolerant as I could,… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pico-iyer/the-dalai-lama-told-me-some-years-ago-i-ve-made-every-concession-to/) [Pico Iyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pico-iyer/) > [Anybody looking for a quiet life has picked the wrong century to born in.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/anybody-looking-for-a-quiet-life-has-picked-the-wrong-century-to-born/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [The poetry from the eighteenth century was prose; the prose from the seventeenth century was poetry.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-hare/the-poetry-from-the-eighteenth-century-was-prose-the-prose-from-the/) [David Hare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-hare/) > [In the nineteenth century some parts of the world were unexplored, but there was almost no restriction on travel.:; Up to 1914 you did…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-orwell/in-the-nineteenth-century-some-parts-of-the-world-were-unexplored-but/) [George Orwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-orwell/) > [Talented people can predict with great accuracy what's about to happen just a tiny bit ahead of their competitors. It might be two seconds…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kevin-maney/talented-people-can-predict-with-great-accuracy-what-s-about-to/) [Kevin Maney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kevin-maney/) > [The world's history is a divine poem, of which the history of every nation is a canto, and every man a word. Its strains…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-a-garfield/the-world-s-history-is-a-divine-poem-of-which-the-history-of-every/) [James A. Garfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-a-garfield/) > [The nineteenth century lynching mob cuts off ears, toes, and fingers, strips off flesh, and distributes portions of the body as souvenirs among the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ida-b-wells/the-nineteenth-century-lynching-mob-cuts-off-ears-toes-and-fingers/) [Ida B. Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ida-b-wells/) > [At no time in the past century has public distrust of the government been so broadly distributed across the political spectrum, as it is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/phil-zimmermann/at-no-time-in-the-past-century-has-public-distrust-of-the-government/) [Phil Zimmermann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/phil-zimmermann/) > [While husbands and lovers in the stories are of all kinds, ranging from sympathetic to disgusting, women are invariably deceivers: inconstant, unscrupulous, quarrelsome, querulous,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barbara-tuchman/while-husbands-and-lovers-in-the-stories-are-of-all-kinds-ranging/) [Barbara Tuchman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barbara-tuchman/) > [The young people today are the 21st century.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-scorsese/the-young-people-today-are-the-21st-century/) [Martin Scorsese](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-scorsese/) > [The wisdom of our actions in the first three years of peace will determine the course of world history for half a century.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-a-wallace/the-wisdom-of-our-actions-in-the-first-three-years-of-peace-will/) [Henry A. Wallace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-a-wallace/) > [For me, the melancholy of the late XXth Century is walking late at night by the Mont Blanc pen store and seeing these things…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/for-me-the-melancholy-of-the-late-xxth-century-is-walking-late-at/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) > [In a general way, the literature of the twentieth century is essentially psychological; and psychology consists of describing states of the soul by displaying…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-weil/in-a-general-way-the-literature-of-the-twentieth-century-is/) [Simone Weil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simone-weil/) > [Consequently, citizen legislators, rotating back to their communities after a short period of public service—considered an indispensable and routine characteristic and design of representative…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/consequently-citizen-legislators-rotating-back-to-their-communities/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) Browse all 5,406 Century quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "If we have learned anything at all in this century, it is that all new technologies will be put to use, sooner or later, for better or worse, as it is in our nature to do.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Lewis Thomas" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-thomas/if-we-have-learned-anything-at-all-in-this-century-it-is-that-all-new/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Century" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-thomas/if-we-have-learned-anything-at-all-in-this-century-it-is-that-all-new/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4eb/lewis-thomas-2299_century_if-we-have-learned-anything-at-all-in-th_2845963.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4eb/lewis-thomas-2299_century_if-we-have-learned-anything-at-all-in-th_2845963.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4eb/lewis-thomas-2299_century_if-we-have-learned-anything-at-all-in-th_2845963.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“If we have learned anything at all in this century, it is that all new technologies will be put to use…” — Lewis Thomas", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Lewis Thomas", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-thomas/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "If we have learned anything at...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-thomas/if-we-have-learned-anything-at-all-in-this-century-it-is-that-all-new/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-thomas/if-we-have-learned-anything-at-all-in-this-century-it-is-that-all-new/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```