It seems to me, Golan, that the advance of civilization is nothing but an exercise in the limiting of privacy.
Interpretation
The progress of civilization often comes at the cost of individual privacy.
Isaac Asimov's quote reflects the notion that as societies evolve and develop, they tend to impose stricter regulations and observations on personal privacy. This can be seen as a trade-off where advancements in technology and governance may enhance public safety or efficiency but simultaneously encroach upon the personal freedoms and privacy of individuals.
In practice
During a lecture on the implications of technology on society.
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.
. . . More things are wrought by prayer Than this world dreams of. Wherefore let thy voice Rise like a fountain for me night and day. For what are men better than sheeps or goats That nourish a blind life within the brain, If, knowing God, they lift not hands of prayer Not only for themselves but for those who call them friend? For so this whole round earth is every way Bound by gold chains about the feet of God.
Beauty without wit offers nothing but the enjoyment of its material charms, whilst witty ugliness captivates by the charms of the mind, and at last fulfils all the desires of the man it has captivated.
Wrong does not cease to be wrong because the majority share in it.
If people reach perfection they vanish, you know.
The mind, in proportion as it is cut off from free communication with nature, with revelation, with God, with itself, loses its life, just as the body droops when debarred from the air and the cheering light from heaven.
There's a kinship among men who have sat by a dying fire and measured the worth of their life by it.
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