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Part of the inhumanity of the computer is that, once it is competently programmed and working smoothly, it is completely honest. ~ Isaac Asimov

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“Technology makes it possible for people to gain control over everything, except over technology” ~ John Tudor

Packed with world-class speakers, Thinking Digital managed yet again to live up to its promise. Innovative, inspiring, provocative – the two-day conference cerntainly wasn’t short of quotes.

Although a lot more was said, here’s a few snippets that stuck in our minds. You can add yours in the comment section below the post.

Caspar Berry's talk was about the importance of uncertainty.

TDC11 Quotes

“All problems are opportunities in disguise.”
- Erin McKean, CEO of Wordnik

“Locks on content don’t work. You can’t force people to buy, you have to attract them to buy.”
- Gerd Leonhard, Media futurist, on paywalls

“Search is a process, answers are what people want.”
- Conrad Wolfram, CEO Wolfram Research, on ‘intelligent search engine’ Wolfram Alpha.

“It’s really nice to give someone a tool to do something they didn’t think possible.”
- Carlos Ulloa, Founder of HelloEnjoy, on real-time 3D.

“I saw it as an interesting gig. I’m not a political animal, I just like winning.”
- Ewan McIntosh, CEO, NoTosh Ltd, on co-directing the digital strategy helping the SNP in their historic election win.

“Future doctors will prescribe apps rather than pills.”
- Walter de Brouwer, CEO of OLPC Europe

“Our spaces are who we are. By building it, you’re defining yourself.”
- Sam Martin, Director of Content Strategy, Frog Design, on our need to create personal spaces.

“It’s never about the pot of gold. It’s about the rainbow, the beautiful rich colours, the people you meet on the journey.”
- Mary Anne Hobbs

“The good thing about working in a R&D lab is that you don’t have to have all the good ideas. You need to help the smart guys to work through their ideas.”
- Matthew Postgate, Controller BBC Research & Development

“It [the web] is not bad for publishing, it’s bad for printing books.”
- Paul Smith, Writer and Author of Twitchhiker

“Why do we only measure [health] data when we’re dying?”
- Walter de Brouwer, CEO of OLPC Europe

“As frustrating as uncertainty is, it is the very thing that makes us human.”
- Caspar Berry, Decision-making and Risk Analyst

“If you like it, you ought to put a plug on it.”
- Erin McKean, CEO of Wordnik, on our peculiar facination with making everything electric.

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“One day soon the Gillette company will announce the development of a razor that, thanks to a computer microchip, can actually travel ahead in time and shave beard hairs that don’t even exist yet” - Dave Barry

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“Technology is like a fish. The longer it stays on the shelf, the less desirable it becomes.” ~ Andrew Heller

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“We build products that 500 million people see… If 5 million people see a movie, it doesn’t really matter that much.” - Mark Zuckerberg

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“One of the Internet’s strengths is its ability to help consumers find the right needle in a digital haystack of data.” ~ Jared Sandberg

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To err is human, but to really foul things up requires a computer. ~ Farmers’ Almanac, 1978

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Technology is a way of organizing the universe so that man doesn’t have to experience it. ~ Max Frisch

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The question of whether a computer can think is no more interesting than the question of whether a submarine can swim. ~ Edsger W. Dijkstra