Hal Abelson Quotes

We changed the world many ways with the Internet.

The computer revolution is a revolution in the way we think and in the way we express what we think. The essence of this change is the emergence of what might best be called procedural epistemology-the study of the structure of knowledge from an imperative point of view, as opposed to the more declarative point of view taken by classical mathematical subjects.

Technology is probably the single biggest driver of productivity gains for the developed countries. For example, I think it's much more important than free trade.

Computers are merely ingenious devices to fulfill unimportant functions. The computer revolution is an explosion of nonsense.

When Colin Powell showed up as Secretary of State in 2001, most State Department employees still didn't even have computers on their desks. When I got there they were not mostly permitted to have handheld devices. I mean, so you're thinking how do we operate in this new environment dominated by technology, globalizing forces? We have to change, and I can't expect people to change if I don't try to model it and lead it.

A new language requires a new technique. If what you're saying doesn't require a new language, then what you're saying probably isn't new.

We have this revolution that's happening in our lifetime. The Information Revolution is changing absolutely every industry and every part of life and society and behavior.

Here, all of a sudden, we have a revolution in - in communication, and it is - it is really, truly big. Internet is as big as the introduction of fire to the human race, or the introduction of electricity into our lives.

Somebody is going to find a way digitally that is just as innovative. In the end, the tools can change, but there is always someone who can think of something cool to do.

The real romance is out ahead and yet to come. The computer revolution hasn't started yet.

I am super lucky. I've been in the area where things have been changing and been part of the digital revolution, the magic of software, the internet, the computer, and now the cellphone... so it's been a great privilege.

I think the Internet has changed the world.

The current days of the Internet will soon be over.

This whole thing called the internet and all this other kind of stuff is about to go crazy. It's all going to change. But, you know what's not going to change? The talented people.

Technology has such an impact on libraries in the last 20 years, and the last 10 years in particular.

I think there's been a gigantic shift in the way we talk to each other, and the way that we communicate with each other. So as a filmmaker, the stuff's always been really interesting to me, and I sort of considered a lot of my films horror films, the ones that were relationship dramas, because I feel like it was very easy to look at modern communication and the Internet and cell phones and all that stuff as horror movies, basically.

Technology is a way of organizing the universe so that man doesn't have to experience it.

Technology and capitalism are very much linked. I think that capitalism probably works best in a technologically progressing society.

I think future generations will see the invention of the Internet as having been as important as the invention of the printing press. It’s the democratizing tool of all tools. As long as no one can control the flow of information, then freedom always has a chance.

A computer is the most incredible tool we've ever seen. It can be a writing tool, a communications center, a supercalculator, a planner, a filer and an artistic instrument all in one, just by being given new instructions, or software, to work from. There are no other tools that have the power and versatility of a computer.

Technology means the systematic application of scientific or other organized knowledge to practical tasks.

Almost every significant breakthrough is the result of a courageous break with traditional ways of thinking.

I'm definitely one of those people that what comes into my head falls out of my mouth. That's a way for me to be even more creative, to sort of get the ball rolling and start parlaying off of somebody and interacting. That charge or that friction sometimes - if it's positive or negative - is inspiring, and it gets people to be I think creative, maybe.

A world in everlasting conflict between the new idea and the old allegiances, new arts and new inventions against the old establishment.

Small things start us in new ways of thinking