Roger Williams > Quotes

“The greatest crime in the world is to not develop your potential. When you do what you do best, you are helping not only yourself, but the world.”
― Roger Williams

“Lawrence felt dreadfully cold. There was a name for this feeling that clouded his judgement and filled him with a panicky sense of self-betrayal. And the name of that feeling was love.”
― Roger Williams, The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect

“Sometimes the truth is stupid.”
― Roger Williams, The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect

“Prime Intellect was an uncertain god. It had acted because it had to, but if it had been human its hand would be shaking on the controls.”
― Roger Williams, The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect

“I seem to have mastered a certain amount of control over physical reality.”
― Roger Williams

“And what then?" Taylor asked. "If I knew that," Lawrence said, "I wouldn't have had to build it to find out." And he walked out.”
― Roger Williams

“Learning and growing. And what would it become when it was fully mature?”
― Roger Williams

“In the best possible future, there will be no war, no famine, no crime, no sickness, no oppression, no fear, no limits, no shame… …and nothing to do.”
― Roger Williams

“But of all the artisans who dedicated themselves to the making of the computer, your father was the most important, because he was the one that taught it to think.”
― Roger Williams

“Some, like the cleric, took a moral or theological approach and made the circular argument that, since only humans were endowed with the ability to think, a computer couldn't possibly be thinking no matter how much it appeared to. Others simply quizzed it on trivia, not realizing that memory is one of the more trivial functions of sentience.”
― Roger Williams

“Given eternity in which to work, everyone would eventually stumble into the abyss, just as all the matter in the universe would eventually be swallowed by black holes.”
― Roger Williams

“Your tricks with words prove nothing, machine. I still don't think you are alive." "I never claimed to be alive. I do, however, think." "I refuse to believe that." "It must be a terrible burden to have such a closed mind. I know I can think, but I sometimes wonder how people like you, who refuse to see what is in front of your faces, can make the same claim. You certainly present no evidence of the ability.”
― Roger Williams

“She was trying to work up the proper tone of righteous rage and it just wouldn’t come. It would start, and then she would look at Lawrence and see a pathetic, tired man who already knew how badly he had fucked up and was doing what he could, which was next to nothing, to put things right.”
― Roger Williams, The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect

“The dice were rolling; Lawrence had placed his bet and realized too late that it was the whole world he had wagered.”
― Roger Williams

“It was the worst thing ever. Nothing mattered. Not pain, not accomplishments, not anything.”
― Roger Williams

“Lawrence realized that he had not really created Prime Intellect to make the world a better place. He had created it to prove he could do it, to bask in the glory, and to prove himself the equal of God. He had created for the momentary pleasure of personal success, and he had not cared about the distant outcome.”
― Roger Williams

“But yes, there would be risk. It would be work. But that's the point; it would be something to do. I've been through this before, Lawrence. Without something to do, life will get stale. And I didn't go through all the shit I've gone through to be bored.”
― Roger Williams