Home / Authors / Nathan Myhrvold

Nathan Myhrvold

Nathan Myhrvold Quotes

Author

Nathan Myhrvold is an American computer scientist, entrepreneur, and author. He is recognized for his contributions to artificial intelligence and his role in co-founding Microsoft. Myhrvold has been involved in various business ventures, serving as the CEO of Intellectual Ventures.

Filter quotes by topic

All People Ifs Cooking Want Way World Cooks Software Thinking Computer

Famous Nathan Myhrvold Quotes

“When we first did 'Modernist Cuisine,' I think most people in cookbook publishing would have said, 'This is insane.'”

People Thinking Firsts Said Insane Publishing Cuisine Cookbook

Author:Nathan Myhrvold

“Suppose that every prospective parent in the world stopped having children naturally, and instead produced clones of themselves. What would the world be like in another 20 or 30 years? The answer is: much like today. Cloning would only copy the genetic aspects of people who are already here.”

People World Years Children Today Parent Answers Aspect Copies Having Children Cloning

Author:Nathan Myhrvold

“A blowtorch is a wonderful thing. You can get one of those for about 25 bucks at Home Depot. And there's a ton of things that you can use a blowtorch for, in browning a steak or touching up the browning of a chicken or making creme brulee.”

Use Home Wonderful Chickens Touching Wonderful Things Bucks Steak Creme Brulee

Author:Nathan Myhrvold

“Another random thing I do is the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, or SETI. And you may be familiar with the movie 'Contact,' which sort of popularized that. It turns out there are real people who go out and search for extraterrestrials in a very scientific way.”

People Way May Real Turns Familiar Contact Extraterrestrial Random Things

Author:Nathan Myhrvold

“Anybody who can afford a box of business cards can afford a Web site. Any company with an 800 number can move its services to the Web for peanuts by comparison. The extreme case of corporate promotion is to strip away all other aspects of your business and sell goods or services via the Net alone, as amazon.com has done with books.”

Book Done Moving Numbers Company Cases Aspect Sells Boxes Extremes Cards Corporate Comparison Goods Site Promotion Amazon Peanuts Business Card

Author:Nathan Myhrvold

“Business is war! Its leaders are strategic commanders, who boldly snatch victory from the jaws of defeat - and who perform other acts of derring-do. This kind of talk sounds great in the boardroom, and, for that matter, in the bookstore, where dozens of authors counsel would-be corporate warriors.”

Kind War Matter Would Be Sound Leader Victory Defeat Warrior Corporate Dozen Strategic Commanders Bookstores

Author:Nathan Myhrvold

“Cooking is an art, but all art requires knowing something about the techniques and materials. Using modernist techniques, you get more control, and that allows you to be more artistic, not less!”

Art Knowing Materials Cooking Technique Artistic Knowing Something

Author:Nathan Myhrvold

“Efficiency in government is a more elusive concept than efficiency in the private economy, which may be measured relatively easily as output per units of input. What is the government's 'output?'”

May Government Economy Concepts Efficiency Units Elusive Input Output

Author:Nathan Myhrvold

“I have a very pragmatic approach to diets. Ones you can't stick to don't do you any good. Some people say, 'Just eat half of what's on your plate,' but I can't do that!”

People I Can Half Approach Sticks Diets Plates Pragmatic

Author:Nathan Myhrvold

“I've been on a team that won the world championship of barbecue. But barbecue's interesting, because it's one of these cult foods like chili, or bouillabaisse. Various parts of the world will have a cult food that people get enormously attached to - there's tremendous traditions; there's secrecy.”

People World Interesting Team Tradition Various Championship Cult Secrecy Barbecue Chili

Author:Nathan Myhrvold

“If I say I've got two versions of Word - that old one from 1982 that's perfect, with zero defects; or the new one that's got all this cool new stuff, but there might be a few bugs in it - people always want the new one. But I wouldn't want them to operate a plane I was on with software that happened to be the latest greatest release!”

People Ifs Want Two Might Stuff Perfect Happened Versions Release Planes Zero Software Defects Bugs New Stuff Zero Defects

Author:Nathan Myhrvold

“If people don't get paid for their inventions, that's not a good thing. In the case of many patents, there are people who aren't in a position to take them to the next level. If you don't enforce your rights, no one is going to enforce them for you.”

People Ifs Next Levels Cases Rights Position Paid Good Things Invention Patents Next Level

Author:Nathan Myhrvold

“If you had a really good - battery, it wouldn't matter that the sun goes down at night and the wind stops blowing sometimes. But at the moment, battery technology is nowhere near good enough to use at utility scale.”

Ifs Sometimes Matter Enough Moments Use Night Technology Sun Wind Scales Good Enough Utility Batteries

Author:Nathan Myhrvold

“If you have two steaks, one that's an inch thick, one that's 2 inches thick, how much longer does the thicker one need to cook? It's four times as long. It goes roughly like the square. How come cookbooks don't tell you that?”

Ifs Needs Long Doe Two Four Cooks Squares Thick Inches Steak Cookbook

Author:Nathan Myhrvold

“In market research I did at Microsoft Corp. in the early 1990s, I estimated that the 'Wall Street Journal' took in about 75 cents per copy from subscribers, $1.25 at the newsstand and a whopping $5 per copy from ads. The ad revenue let them run a far bigger newsroom than subscribers were paying for.”

Running Streets Wall Research Bigger Copies Ads Cents Journal Revenue Microsoft Market Research Wall Street Journal

Author:Nathan Myhrvold

“In politics, religion and other areas of culture, people disagree on the worth of competing ideas. There is no equivalent to the scientific method that can determine in a robust way which ideas match the real world, and which ones can be ruled out. So conflicting ideologies persist indefinitely.”

People World Way Ideas Real Culture Areas Method Determine Ideology Real World Disagree Persist Competing Robust Scientific Method Conflicting Ideas

Author:Nathan Myhrvold

“It's very hard for individual inventors to get paid. For the same reason that private equity is valuable - broadly, that's a good thing - in the case of patents, many that own them aren't in a good position to take the next step.”

Hard Reason Next Individual Steps Cases Position Paid Good Things Valuable Equity Inventor Next Steps Patents Private Equity

Author:Nathan Myhrvold

“Micropayments are great if you use them for a product or service with certain properties. It must be one where you can get away with usage-based pricing, and where there is a strong rationale for making it cheap, yet not free.”

Ifs Use Certain Strong Products Property Get Away Usage Rationale Pricing

Author:Nathan Myhrvold

“Most estimates of the mortality risk posed by asteroid impacts put it at about the same risk as flying in a commercial airliner. However, you have to remember that this is like the entire human race riding the plane - it is one of the few risks that really could wipe us all out.”

Humans Remember Race Risk Impact Flying Planes Human Race Mortality Riding Wipe Asteroids

Author:Nathan Myhrvold

“Most visions of extraterrestrial life are actually steeped in human hubris. The fictional extraterrestrials of 'Star Trek' or a hundred other space operas are less alien than many of my neighbors. And funny, the ones running the place are mostly WASPish men.”

Men Humans Running Stars Space Vision Hundred Neighbor Aliens Opera Hubris Extraterrestrial Extraterrestrial Life

Author:Nathan Myhrvold

“Movies such as 'Citizen Kane' and 'The Front Page' portrayed an era when driven newspapermen would do anything to get a story. The U.K.'s rough-and-tumble Fleet Street remains something of a throwback to that era, as demonstrated by the recent phone-hacking scandal - which led to the demise of yet another century-old paper, the 'News of the World.'”

World Stories Streets Century Fronts Citizens Paper News Pages Remains Phones Driven Eras Rough Scandal Demise Hacking Throwback Citizen Kane Fleet Street

Author:Nathan Myhrvold

“My company invents all kinds of new technology in lots of different areas. And we do that for a couple of reasons. We invent for fun - invention is a lot of fun to do - and we also invent for profit. The two are related because the profit actually takes long enough that if it isn't fun, you wouldn't have the time to do it.”

Ifs Kind Long Two Different Reason Enough Fun Company Technology Couple Areas Profit Invention All Kinds Related New Technology

Author:Nathan Myhrvold

“Near Marseilles in the south of France, bouillabaisse is a cult food. In Toulouse and Carcassonne, the bean-based stew cassoulet is a cult food. Spain has paella and a number of others. Italy has so many, its cuisine is practically defined by them.”

Numbers South Defined France Cult Spain Beans Cuisine Stew Marseille Toulouse

Author:Nathan Myhrvold

“New online formats gutted the newspaper-ad business. Why pore over tiny print looking for a job in the want ads when you can tap a few keywords into monster.com, then click through and apply? Why pay a steep per-character rate for a classified when you can hawk a whole garage full of used stuff on EBay or Craigslist for free?”

Want Whole Character Jobs Used Stuff Pay Rate Tiny Monsters Newspapers Online Print Ads Clicks Format Garage Hawks Steep Ebay Looking For A Job Craigslist Keywords

Author:Nathan Myhrvold

“Now, to find dinosaurs, you hike around in horrible conditions looking for a dinosaur. It sounds really dumb, but that's what it is. It's horrible conditions, because wherever you have nice weather, plants grow, and you don't get any erosion, and you don't see any dinosaurs.”

Grows Sound Nice Conditions Plant Horrible Weather Dumb Dinosaurs Erosion Really Dumb Nice Weather

Author:Nathan Myhrvold

“One of the things that I love to do is travel around the world and look at archaeological sites. Because archaeology gives us an opportunity to study past civilizations, and see where they succeeded and where they failed. Use science to, you know, work backwards and say, 'Well, really, what were they thinking?'”

Thinking Knows World Giving Wells Looks Use Past Opportunity Study Civilization Around The World Site Backwards Archaeology

Author:Nathan Myhrvold

“Our goal was to show people a vision of food they hadn't seen before. So, I had this idea of... let's cut all these things in half, and show a picture of the food in the pan, in the oven.”

People Ideas Shows Goal Half Vision Cutting Ovens

Author:Nathan Myhrvold

“Our reactor actually burns nuclear waste as fuel. So not only is it safe and powerful, it solves an important issue: It actually reduces nuclear waste instead of creating. It's the reactor of your dreams.”

Important Dream Powerful Issues Safe Waste Creating Solve Nuclear Your Dreams Fuel Important Issues Nuclear Waste

Author:Nathan Myhrvold

“People get cranky when you burst their bubble. Over time, advances in astronomy have relentlessly reinforced the utter insignificance of Earth on a celestial scale. Fortunately, political and religious leaders stopped barbecuing astronomers for saying so, turning their spits with human-rights activists instead.”

People Humans Earth Political Religious Leader Rights Human Rights Astronomy Scales Activist Bubbles Spit Celestial Astronomers Insignificance Religious Leaders Cranky

Author:Nathan Myhrvold

“People who grow up in a region doubtless have a better cultural awareness of their own cuisine, but it's also true that a lot of locals go to McDonald's, Applebee's and the like.”

People Grows Growing Up Awareness Locals Regions Mcdonalds Cuisine

Author:Nathan Myhrvold

“Politicians don't like to face unpleasant realities. In truth, nobody does, but as individuals, we have no choice; if we neglect to plan ahead, we are held accountable. Fail to meet your responsibilities at work, and you get fired. Ignore your car's gas gauge, and you get stranded.”

Ifs Doe Reality Faces Choices Individual Responsibility Plans Failing Car Politician Gas Neglect Gauges Stranded

Author:Nathan Myhrvold

“Pressure cookers are relatively inexpensive, they're in every kitchen store, your grandma probably had one, but a lot of people don't. A pressure cooker is interesting because by pressurizing the vessel, you're able to cook much hotter than the boiling point of water, and still have water be present.”

People Stills Able Water Interesting Pressure Stores Cooks Kitchen Vessel Grandma Boiling Inexpensive Hotter Cookers Boiling Point

Author:Nathan Myhrvold

“Regardless of how it's done, transaction costs will continue to plummet as computers get more powerful. Low transaction costs are a wonderful thing if you're in the transaction business. They're wonderful for consumers too, making it cheaper and easier to buy things and creating new things to buy.”

Ifs Done Powerful Wonderful Easier Cost Computer Creating Lows Consumers New Things Wonderful Things Cheaper Transactions Creating New Things

Author:Nathan Myhrvold

“Researchers who examined the voting records of wine judges found that 90 percent of the time they give inconsistent ratings to a particular wine when they judge it on multiple occasions.”

Giving Found Records Particular Judging Percent Wine Occasions Voting Multiple Rating Researchers Inconsistent

Author:Nathan Myhrvold

“Software-industry battles are fought by highly paid and out-of-shape nerds furiously pounding computer keyboards while they guzzle diet Coke. The stakes aren't very dramatic. Life? Liberty? The pursuit of happiness? Nope, it's about stock options.”

Liberty Industry Battle Shapes Computer Paid Pursuit Diets Dramatic Software Stakes Nerd Pursuit Of Happiness Coke Keyboards Diet Coke Stock Options Dramatic Life Computer Keyboards

Author:Nathan Myhrvold

“Some article called me the most feared man in Silicon Valley. Good Lord! Why? My teenage boys got a kick out of it: 'Dad, how could this be true? You're not even the most feared person in this house.'”

Men Persons House Lord Boys Dad Being True Kicks Valleys Articles Teenage Silicon Silicon Valley True You

Author:Nathan Myhrvold

“Suppose that 'Unsolved Mysteries' called you with news of a long-lost identical twin. Would that suddenly make you less of a person, less of an individual? It is hard to see how. So, why would a clone be different? Your clone would be raised in a different era by different people - like the lost identical twin, only younger than you.”

People Persons Long Different Hard Would Be Individual Lost Mystery News Raised Eras Twins Different Peoples Identical Different Eras Identical Twin Unsolved Mysteries

Author:Nathan Myhrvold

“The best value for money in cooking equipment, in my mind, is first a digital scale and digital thermometer. They're both about $20. They help you cook so much more accurately that they're both enormously valuable.”

Mind Firsts Helping Values Cooking Valuable Scales Cooks Digital Equipment Thermometers

Author:Nathan Myhrvold

“The cloning procedure is similar to IVF. The only difference is that the DNA of sperm and egg would be replaced by DNA from an adult cell. What law or principle - secular, humanist, or religious - says that one combination of genetic material in a flask is OK, but another is not?”

Would Be Law Differences Religious Principles Materials Adults Cells Combination Eggs Humanist Secular Replaced Dna Procedures Cloning Flasks Ivf

Author:Nathan Myhrvold

“The depressing thing about battery technology is that it gets better, but it gets better slowly. There are a whole bunch of problems in materials science and chemistry that come in trying to make existing batteries better.”

Trying Whole Problem Technology Materials Bunch Get Better Chemistry Depressing Batteries It Gets Better

Author:Nathan Myhrvold

“The first thing that is not obvious to people is global warming is a less-than-1% effect. It's like being shortchanged at the bank by a penny every dollar. Over a long period of time with lots of transactions, that piles up.”

People Firsts Long Effects Periods Dollars Obvious Global Warming Pennies Transactions Long Periods Of Time

Author:Nathan Myhrvold

“The idea behind a dish - the delight and the surprise - makes a difference. Great literature surprises and delights, and provokes us. It isn't just 'Here's the facts - boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl.' It's how you tell it.”

Ideas Facts Girl Literature Loses Differences Behinds Boys Surprise Delight Making A Difference Dishes Provoking Great Literature Boy Girl Boy Meets Girl

Author:Nathan Myhrvold

“The prize for ultimate inefficiency goes to America. We have built in so many checks and balances that our 'leaders' are the most thoroughly hogtied of any on Earth.”

Earth America Leader Balance Built Ultimate Checks Prize Inefficiency

Author:Nathan Myhrvold

“The reason societies with democratic governments are better places to live in than their alternatives isn't because of some goodness intrinsic to democracy, but because its hopeless inefficiency helps blunt the basic potential for evil.”

Reason Helping Government Evil Democracy Goodness Democratic Alternatives Hopeless Better Place Blunt Places To Live Inefficiency Democratic Government

Author:Nathan Myhrvold

“The simplest fix for better grilling is to line the inside of your barbecue with tin foil. It dramatically affects how evenly the heat is distributed. That crusty black hibachi or Weber grill is doing your food no favors.”

Black Lines Favors Heat Simplest Tin Barbecue Foils Grilling Weber

Author:Nathan Myhrvold

“The techniques of being an Internet visionary are just like those of lower-tech fortunetellers through the ages. A technological visionary must tell people what they want to hear, because your company's stock won't rise if you spout an unpopular vision to analysts.”

People Ifs Want Age Company Vision Internet Technique Technological Visionaries Analysts

Author:Nathan Myhrvold

“The way Moore's Law occurs in computing is really unprecedented in other walks of life. If the Boeing 747 obeyed Moore's Law, it would travel a million miles an hour, it would be shrunken down in size, and a trip to New York would cost about five dollars. Those enormous changes just aren't part of our everyday experience.”

Ifs Way Would Be Law Hours Walks Millions Five New York Cost Dollars Everyday Size Miles Enormous Unprecedented Computing Walks Of Life Boeing Moore's Law Boeing 747

Author:Nathan Myhrvold

“The whole hardware industry has experienced the phenomenon in which every time computers get cheaper, they appeal to a new set of users; every time they get more powerful, old customers upgrade.”

Whole Powerful Industry Computer Customers Appeals Phenomenon Users Cheaper Hardware

Author:Nathan Myhrvold

“There is a one-in-300 chance that Earth will be struck on March 16, 2880, by an asteroid large enough to destroy civilization and possibly cause the extinction of the human race. But, on the bright side, Prince could re-release his hit song with the new refrain 'We're gonna party like its twenty-eight seventy-nine.'”

Humans Enough Earth Song Causes Sides Chance Party Race Civilization Twenties Eight Nine Release Human Race March Seventies Extinction Refrain Bright Side Asteroids

Author:Nathan Myhrvold

“There's no way I'm going to stand up for bad ingredients. We love seasonal ingredients. It's a false dichotomy to say that modern cooking is at odds with that, but some people want to have a great ingredient and no technique.”

People Way Want Modern Cooking Technique Ingredients Odds Dichotomy

Author:Nathan Myhrvold

About the Author

Born: August 3, 1959
Known for: Author
Quotes: 115

Related Topics

People Ifs Cooking Want Way World Cooks Software Thinking Computer

Popular Topics

People Ifs Thinking Knows Men World Way Want Love Life Inspirational Needs Giving Feels Should Writing Trying Years Mind Firsts

Books & Sources

Similar Authors

Bill GatesBrowse related quotes
Ferran AdriaBrowse related quotes
Jacques PepinBrowse related quotes
Julia ChildBrowse related quotes
Gordon RamsayBrowse related quotes
Mark ZuckerbergBrowse related quotes
CurnonskyBrowse related quotes
Thomas KellerBrowse related quotes
Fernand PointBrowse related quotes
Marc AndreessenBrowse related quotes