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.
We can never be sure that the opinion we are endeavoring to stifle is a false opinion; and if we were sure, stifling it would be an evil still.
Sovereignty is not given, it is taken.
A beautiful woman risking everything for a mad passion. A few wild weeks of happiness cut short by a hideous, treacherous crime. Months of voiceless agony, and then a child born in pain. The mother snatched away by death, the boy left to solitude and the tyranny of an old and loveless man. Yes, it was an interesting background. It posed the lad, made him more perfect as it were. Behind every exquisite thing that existed, there was something tragic.
Some counterfeits reproduce so very well the truth that it would be a flaw of judgment not to be deceived by them.
What matters here are the works - finally without them his life would be uninteresting. What matters, that is, are the astonishing things that he left behind. If we can get the life in relation to the works, then it can take off.
Lord, give me firmness without hardness, steadfastness without dogmatism, love without weakness.
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