…intelligence is not the same thing as rationality, since being good at computing something is no guarantee that a person will try to compute the right things. Rationality also requires reflectiveness, open-mindedness, and mastery of cognitive tools like formal logic and mathematical probability.

— Steven Pinker, Rationality

Humanists often contend that machines tend to dehumanize people by forcing them to have rigid personalities, but really, the contrary is true. Because the machines are rigid, the people who use them must—if they are to be successful—supply more than their share of flexibility.

— Gerald Weinberg, The Psychology of Computer Programming

Two sages were standing on a bridge over a stream. One said to the other, “I wish I were a fish. They are so happy!” The second replied, “How do you know whether fish are happy or not?” You’re not a fish.” The first said, “But you’re not me, so how do you know whether I know how fish feel?”

— Douglas R Hofstadter and Daniel C. Dennett, The Mind’s I

The natural enemies of this spirit are cleverness and specialisation: hence the contempt so rightly shown for, in the Roman world, experts and technicians – the Graeculus esuriens – the remote but unmistakable ancestors of the sharp, wizened figures of the modern Alexandrian Age – the terrible Eighteenth Century – all the avocasserie and écrivasserie, the miserable crew of attorneys and scribblers, with the predatory, sordid, grinning figure of Voltaire at their head, destructive and self-destructive, because blind and deaf to the true word of God.

— Isaiah Berlin, Henry Hardy, and Michael Ignatieff, The Hedgehog and the Fox

He means the same thing Kelly Johnson did: if something is ugly, it can’t be the best solution. There must be a better one, and eventually someone else will discover it.

— Paul Graham, Hackers & Painters