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Freeman Dyson

Freeman Dyson Quotes

Physicist

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Famous Freeman Dyson Quotes

“The great question for our time is, how to make sure that the continuing scientific revolution brings benefits to everybody rather than widening the gap between rich and poor. To lift up poor countries, and poor people in rich countries, from poverty, to give them a chance of a decent life, technology is not enough. Technology must be guided and driven by ethics if it is to do more than provide new toys for the rich.”

PeopleIfsGivingCountryEnoughChancePoorPovertyTechnologyRichRevolutionBenefitsEthicsDrivenLiftsOur TimeDecentGapsToysContinuingPoor PeopleRich And PoorPoor CountriesRich CountriesDecent LifeScientific RevolutionNew Toys
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“Technology must be guided and driven by ethics if it is to do more than provide new toys for the rich.”

IfsTechnologyRichEthicsDrivenToysScientific RevolutionNew Toys
Book:Dear Professor Dyson: Twenty Years of Correspondence Between Freeman Dyson and Undergraduate Students on Science, Technology, Society and Life
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“The technologies which have had the most profound effects on human life are usually simple. A good example of a simple technology with profound historical consequences is hay. ... It was hay that allowed populations to grow and civilizations to flourish among the forests of Northern Europe. Hay moved the greatness of Rome to Paris and London, and later to Berlin and Moscow and New York.”

HumansScienceGrowsGrowthSimpleTechnologyEffectsNew YorkExampleGreatnessCivilizationConsequenceEuropeHorseMovedHistoricalProfoundPopulationLondonForestsHuman LifeParisRomeBerlinGood ExamplesMoscowHayMedieval Europe
Author:Freeman Dyson
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“The most revolutionary aspect of technology is its mobility. Anybody can learn it. It jumps easily over barriers of race and language. ... The new technology of microchips and computer software is learned much faster than the old technology of coal and iron. It took three generations of misery for the older industrial countries to master the technology of coal and iron. The new industrial countries of East Asia, South Korea, and Singapore and Taiwan, mastered the new technology and made the jump from poverty to wealth in a single generation.”

MadeCountryScienceThreeLanguageWealthRacePovertyTechnologyGenerationsMastersIndustryComputerAspectMiserySouthEastFasterRevolutionaryBarriersIronSoftwareCoalAsiaKoreaNew TechnologySingaporeMobilityTaiwanSouth KoreaComputer SoftwareThree GenerationsEast AsiaOld TechnologyMicrochips
Author:Freeman Dyson
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“The technologies which have had the most profound effects on human life are usually simple. A good example of a simple technology with profound historical consequences is hay. Nobody knows who invented hay, the idea of cutting grass in the autumn and storing it in large enough quantities to keep horses and cows alive through the winter. All we know is that the technology of hay was unknown to the Roman Empire but was known to every village of medieval Europe. Like many other crucially important technologies, hay emerged anonymously during the so-called Dark Ages.”

KnowsHumansImportantIdeasEnoughAgeDarkSimpleKnownTechnologyCuttingAliveEffectsExampleConsequenceEuropeToolsHorseHistoricalProfoundWinterHuman LifeGrassEmpiresAutumnVillageCowsQuantityMedievalDark AgesNobody KnowsRoman EmpireGood ExamplesHayMedieval Europe
Author:Freeman Dyson
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“In the long run, the only solution I see to the problem of diversity is the expansion of mankind into the universe by means of green technology... Green technology means we do not live in cans but adapt our plants and our animals and ourselves to live wild in the universe as we find it... When life invades a new habitat, she never moves with a single species. She comes with a variety of species, and as soon as she is established, her species spread and diversify further. Our spread through the galaxy will follow her ancient pattern.”

MeanLongProblemRunningMovingUniverseSpaceAnimalTechnologyMankindDiversitySolutionsGreenPlantSpeciesAncientPatternsSpreadVarietyLong RunsExpansionGalaxyHabitatGreen Technology
Author:Freeman Dyson
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