“The artificial intelligence approach may not be altogether the right one to make to the problem of designing automatic assembly devices. Animals and machines are constructed from entirely different materials and on quite different principles. When engineers have tried to draw inspiration from a study of the way animals work they have usually been misled; the history of early attempts to construct flying machines with flapping wings illustrates this very clearly.” WayMayDifferentProblemInspirationAnimalPrinciplesStudyDesignMaterialsApproachDrawsMachinesWingsFlyingDevicesArtificial IntelligenceArtificialEngineersConstructsAssemblyMisledFlappingFlying Machines Author:Maurice Wilkes
“If you want to design a successful human society you need to know what kind of animal we are. Are we a social animal or a selfish animal? Do we respond better when we're solitary or living in a group?” IfsKnowsWantNeedsHumansKindSocialAnimalSuccessfulGroupsDesignSelfishSolitaryHuman Society Author:Frans de Waal
“You should know as much as you can about the human species if you have a hand in designing human society. Of course, I'm not saying that you can derive moral rules from nature - that's deriving an ought from an is, as the philosophers say - but you do need to know what kind of animals we are if you want to design a stable society.” IfsKnowsWantNeedsShouldHumansKindHandsAnimalMoralDesignOughtSpeciesPhilosopherStableHuman SocietyHuman Species Author:Frans de Waal
“Everywhere I go I meet girls and boys who want to be astronauts and explore space, or they love the ocean and want to be oceanographers, or they love animals and want to be zoologists, or they love designing things and want to be engineers. I want to see those same stars in their eyes in 10 years and know they are on their way!” KnowsWayWantYearsEyeGirlStarsSpaceAnimalBoysDesignOceanEngineersAstronautAnimal LoveBoy And GirlZoologist Author:Sally Ride
“The total amount of suffering per year in the natural world is beyond all decent contemplation. During the minute that it takes me to compose this sentence, thousands of animals are being eaten alive, many others are running for their lives, whimpering with fear, others are slowly being devoured from within by rasping parasites, thousands of all species are dying of starvation, thirst, and disease. The universe that we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but pitiless indifference.” IfsWorldShouldYearsRunningPurposeSufferingUniverseEvilNaturalAnimalAliveMinutesDyingDesignEvolutionAmountDiseasePropertySpeciesBottomSentencesIndifferenceContemplationDecentTake MeThirstNatural WorldStarvationParasitesGod Delusion Author:Richard Dawkins
“Consider this: all the ants on the planet, taken together, have a biomass greater than that of humans. Ants have been incredibly industrious for millions of years. Yet their productiveness nourishes plants, animals, and soil. Human industry has been in full swing for little over a century, yet it has brought about a decline in almost every ecosystem on the planet. Nature doesn't have a design problem. People do.” PeopleYearsHumansLittlesHas BeensProblemEarthTogetherNatureAnimalMillionsTakenGreaterCenturyDesignPlanetsIndustryPlantEnvironmentalProductivitySoilDeclineSwingsConsideringAntsNourishmentEcosystemsIndustriousBiomass Book:Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things Source: Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things
“Science tries to answer the question: "How?" How do cells act in the body? How do you design an airplane that will fly faster thansound? How is a molecule of insulin constructed? Religion, by contrast, tries to answer the question: "Why?" Why was man created? Why ought I to tell the truth? Why must there be sorrow or pain or death? Science attempts to analyze how things and people and animals behave; it has no concern whether this behavior is good or bad, is purposeful or not. But religion is precisely the quest for such answers: whether an act is right or wrong, good or bad, and why.” PeopleMenTryingBodyPainScienceReligionAnswersAnimalDesignOughtSorrowBehaviorConcernCellsFasterBehaveTelling The TruthContrastAirplaneQuestsMoleculesInsulin Author:Warren Weaver
“Looking through a child's eyes and knowing this was another planet, we decided to design the machines with eyes and bodies like animals, we also decided that this planet has two moons, and we decided that anything else we wanted to do was allowed. It was a new perspective to make the film.” ChildrenTwoBodyEyeWantedFilmAnimalKnowingDesignPlanetsPerspectiveMoonDecidedMachinesNew Perspective Author:Alex Abreu