Sometimes the biggest disasters aren't noticed at all β no one's around to write horror stories.
Vernor VingeRead
Little fish risking everything for a piece of godhood...and not knowing heaven from hell, even when they find it.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects the struggle and ignorance of individuals seeking greatness without understanding its true nature.
Vernor Vinge's quote speaks to the ambition and daring nature of individuals, represented as 'little fish', who aspire for greatness or divinity ('a piece of godhood') but often lack the wisdom to discern the ramifications of their pursuits ('not knowing heaven from hell'). It highlights the folly and courage inherent in human desires, particularly when one seeks something profound without the necessary understanding of its value or consequences.
Themes
AmbitionUnderstandingRiskIgnoranceGreatness
In practice
Example use cases
In a presentation on the dangers of unchecked ambition.
More from Vernor Vinge
All quotes βWe will soon create intelligences greater than our own ... When this happens, human history will have reached a kind of singularity, an intellectual transition as impenetrable as the knotted space-time at the center of a black hole, and the world will pass far beyond our understanding.
Vernor VingeRead
The problem is not simply that the Singularity represents the passing of humankind from center stage, but that it contradicts our most deeply held notions of being.
Vernor VingeRead
Within thirty years, we will have the technological means to create superhuman intelligence. Shortly after, the human era will be ended.
Vernor VingeRead
Similar quotes
Meek Walton's heavenly memory.
William WordsworthRead
The healthy man does not torture others.
Carl JungRead
During our dreams we do not know we are dreaming. We may even dream of interpreting a dream. Only on waking do we know it was a dream. Only after the great awakening will we realize that this is the great dream.
ZhuangziRead
Death comes to me again, a girl in a cotton slip, barefoot, giggling. Itβs not so terrible she tells me, not like you think, all darkness and silence. There are windchimes and the smell of lemons, some days it rains, but more often the air is dry and sweet. I sit beneath the staircase built from hair and bone and listen to the voices of the living. I like it, she says, shaking the dust from her hair, especially when they fight, and when they sing.
Dorianne LauxRead
And I'm not a student of religion, but I don't find anything in what the principal teachings of Islam that put us in contradiction at all. In fact, the principles are the same as what-we have a diverse religious culture. But it's kindness, it's be good to your neighbor, it's love, and it's take care of children. It's all these things that-so there's no anti-Islam.
George H. W. BushRead
All too often when liberals cite statistics, they forget the statisticians' warning that correlation is not causation.
Thomas SowellRead