I've heard it said that technology makes a good person better, and it makes a bad person worse. That's okay with me. I say we keep building new versions of ourselves, keep exploring the unknown, and keep growing. We're going to be fine. Different, but fine.

— Daniel H. Wilson

I will murder you by the billions to give you immortality. I will set fire to your civilization to light your way forward. But know this: My species is not defined by your dying, but by your living.

— Daniel H. Wilson

Luckily, unreasonable expectations go hand in hand with naive young scientists. The more naive the better - otherwise we would never have the audacity to try and build a 22,000-mile-high space elevator or some sprawling underwater hotel.

— Daniel H. Wilson

Memories fade but words hang around forever.

— Daniel H. Wilson

Robots are interesting because they exist as a real technology that you can really study - you can get a degree in robotics - and they also have all this pop-culture real estate that they take up in people's minds.

— Daniel H. Wilson

Sometimes a technology is so awe-inspiring that the imagination runs away with it - often far, far away from reality. Robots are like that. A lot of big and ultimately unfulfilled promises were made in robotics early on, based on preliminary successes.

— Daniel H. Wilson

Some unspoken human communication is taking place on a hidden channel. I did not realize they communicated this much without words. I note that we machines are not the only species who share information silently, wreathed in codes.

— Daniel H. Wilson

So now what?” I ask. She is quiet for a long time, long enough that I assume she’s gone to sleep.“I think this is just part of it,” she says. “Civilizations fall. People keep going.

— Daniel H. Wilson

The end of the world came, and my job did not change.

— Daniel H. Wilson

The fear of the never-ending onslaught of gizmos and gadgets is nothing new. The radio, the telephone, Facebook - each of these inventions changed the world. Each of them scared the heck out of an older generation. And each of them was invented by people who were in their 20s.

— Daniel H. Wilson