“There are various forms of hostage-taking, each with distinct characteristics. Broadly speaking, one can categorise them into political and criminal hostage-takings. Political hostage-taking involves abducting someone to gain a political leverage—this is the first type. The second type is criminal hostage-taking, where the motive is ransom.”— Sir Terry Waite
The quote archive
A growing archive of 3,000+ moments, drawn from every interview.
We therefore see the drone (robot) exhibiting (through software) signs of the moral-affective function of 'guilt' when engaging in each mission. The aim of such developments is to introduce a level of ethics into the battlefield which, as more drones and high power long range weapons are used, is becoming increasingly fraught with collateral damage.
— Ronald ArkinRoboticist & Pioneer of Ethical Autonomous Systems and Robot Ethics
If it did more damage than expected—for example, if a nearby cemetery or mosque was harmed by an attack on a suspected terrorist safe house—then it could use this information to restrict its choice of weapon in future engagements. It could also pass the information to other drones.
— Ronald ArkinRoboticist & Pioneer of Ethical Autonomous Systems and Robot Ethics
After each strike the drone would be updated with information about the actual destruction caused. It would note any damage to nearby buildings and would subsequently receive information from other sources, such as soldiers in the area, fixed cameras on the ground and other aircraft. Using this information, it could compare the level of destruction it expected with what actually happened.
— Ronald ArkinRoboticist & Pioneer of Ethical Autonomous Systems and Robot Ethics
This timely book outlines and directly addresses the ethical dilemmas posed by the development of autonomous military robots, which will confront roboticists and military policy makers in the future. Arkin's thesis, that appropriately designed military robots will be better able to avoid civilian casualties than existing human war-fighters and might therefore make future wars more ethical, is likely to be the subject of intense debate and controversy for years to come.
— Ronald ArkinRoboticist & Pioneer of Ethical Autonomous Systems and Robot Ethics
It feels great to have the iPad launched into the world...it's going to be a game changer.
— Steve JobsCo-Founder of Apple & Pioneer of Personal Computing
It hurts the laggards and benefits the smart ones- the smart ones will take the advantages and not say anything, and the laggards will complain.
— Charles WyploszLeading economist specializing in European monetary integration and financial crises.
I have never seen a good case for protectionism, but I can see a case for slowing down trade integration because it can be highly disruptive to domestic firms, markets and people's income in the short-run.
— Charles WyploszLeading economist specializing in European monetary integration and financial crises.
Every country that has managed to raise its standards of living has somehow integrated itself commercially with the rest of the world, it's probably a necessary condition.
— Charles WyploszLeading economist specializing in European monetary integration and financial crises.
The case for free trade is much stronger than the case for free capital movement. The case for free capital movement is weak, because financial markets suffer from very serious failures (right now is a nice example of that).
— Charles WyploszLeading economist specializing in European monetary integration and financial crises.
The general theory that integration is good for better allocation of resources is not the big thing, the big thing is that it makes it harder for governments to play with financial markets.
— Charles WyploszLeading economist specializing in European monetary integration and financial crises.
Taxes are the price of civilisation.
— Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.Supreme Court Justice; Major Legal Scholar & Reformer
The group found that, on average, people living in Manhattan travel 2.5 miles most days, compared to five miles in Los Angeles. But we also found that when you look at the longest trips people make, people that live in New York go significantly further, 69 miles on a weekday compared to 29 in Los Angeles
— Ramón CáceresUnknown.
Mobile telephones can really revolutionize the study of human behavior
— Ramón CáceresUnknown.
This is a race to the future, a future powered by renewable energy sources and underpinned by efficient energy use. The winning nations, corporation and citizens will reap enormous benefits in terms of jobs, sustainable economic development, energy security and vastly improved local environments.
— Kumi NaidooEnvironmental activist & former Executive Director of Greenpeace International
During the twentieth century we saw consumption boom beyond the planets natural limits, beyond what the planet is capable of sustaining. Everything is connected, forest destruction is a major cause of global warming, climate change.
— Kumi NaidooEnvironmental activist & former Executive Director of Greenpeace International
We can cut our carbon emissions while achieving economic growth by replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy and energy efficiency. The technologies are already there, all we need is the political will.
— Kumi NaidooEnvironmental activist & former Executive Director of Greenpeace International