Roger Williams Quotes

The natives are very exact and punctual in the bounds of their lands, belonging to this or that prince or people, even to a river, brook, &c. And I have known them make bargain and sale amongst themselves for a small piece or quantity of ground ; notwithstanding a sinful opinion amongst many, that christians have right to heathen's land.

I present you with a Key : I have not heard of the like yet framed, since it pleased God to bring that mighty continent of America to light. Others of my countrymen have often, and excellently, and lately, written of the country, and none that I know beyond the goodness and worth of it. This Key respects the native language of it, and happily may unlock some rarities concerning the natives themselves, not yet discovered.

Enforced uniformity confounds civil and religious liberty and denies the principles of Christianity and civility. No man shall be required to worship or maintain a worship against his will.

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.

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.

It was the worst thing ever. Nothing mattered. Not pain, not accomplishments, not anything.

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

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.

"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."

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.

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.

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.

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.

Learning and growing. And what would it become when it was fully mature?

"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.