Quotes About Ethics

Used books are the sluts of the literary world. Passed around from person to person, spreading their pages for anyone, getting cheaper and cheaper until eventually they end up in prison.

Our problems don't stem from our ignorance so much as our disobedience of that which we know to be right.

It was wrong to do this, said the angel. You should live like a flower, Holding malice like a puppy, Waging war like a lambkin. Not so, quoth the man Who had no fear of spirits; It is only wrong for angels Who can live like the flowers, Holding malice like the puppies, Waging war like the lambkins.

No man can observe you as I have observed you and not know that it was a matter of conscience with you, but I am afraid, my friend, that it is one of the blunders of virtue. The

No wrong will ever be done you by our nation."3

To avoid public mention of any name unless it can be done with favorable intent and connotation; reserve all criticism for the private conference; speak only good in public.

In my interviews with World War II veterans, they sometimes tell me that the reason they fought was they had learned as children the difference between right and wrong and they didn't want to live in a world in which wrong prevailed, so they fought.

But you can't argue that the world isn't in an unhealthy moral state. Wouldn't think of it dearest. People lie, cheat, rape, swindle, kill, maim, torture and destroy. Bad thing. People also pop into bed together and cosy up. Good thing. If we think fucking is a sign of moral decay then we're a little bit stupid-stupid, aren't we?

If you spend your life on a moral hill-top, you see nothing but the mud below. If, like me, you live in the mud itself, you get a damned good view of clear blue sky and clean green hills above. There's none so evil-minded as those with a moral mission, and none so pure in heart as the depraved.

Either a municipal bog is a private place or it isn't. If it is a private place in which to shit, how is it not a private place in which to fellate?

They [the Catholic Church] thought that slavery was perfectly fine and then they didn't. And what is the point of the Catholic Church if it says: 'Oh well, we couldn't know better because nobody else did.' THEN WHAT ARE YOU FOR?!

A society in which the individual feels responsible for his or her actions is more likely to work together and survive to spread its values.

Our future is a race between the growing power of our technology and the wisdom with which we use it. Let's make sure that wisdom wins.

Maybe it says something about human nature that the only form of life we have created so far is purely destructive.

There has been relatively little change in human DNA in the last 10,000 years. But it is likely that we will be able to redesign it completely in the next thousand. Of course, many people will say that genetic engineering on humans should be banned. But I rather doubt that they will be able to prevent it. Genetic engineering on plants and animals will be allowed for economic reasons, and someone is bound to try it on humans.

When we invented fire, we messed up repeatedly, then invented the fire extinguisher. With more powerful technologies such as nuclear weapons, synthetic biology and strong artificial intelligence, we should instead plan ahead and aim to get things right the first time, because it may be the only chance we will get. Our future is a race between the growing power of our technology and the wisdom with which we use it. Let's make sure that wisdom wins.

a study of patients undergoing awake brain surgery found that by electrically stimulating the appropriate regions of the brain, one could create in the patient the desire to move the hand, arm, or foot, or to move the lips and talk. It is hard to imagine how free will can operate if our behavior is determined by physical law, so it seems that we are no more than biological machines and that free will is just an illusion.

AFEW YEARS AGO the city council of Monza, Italy, barred pet owners from keeping goldfish in curved goldfish bowls. The measure's sponsor explained the measure in part by saying that it is cruel to keep a fish in a bowl with curved sides because, gazing out, the fish would have a distorted view of reality.

Somewhat surprisingly, this includes a form of electronic personhood, to ensure the rights and responsibilities for the most capable and advanced AI.

I think those who have a terminal illness and are in great pain should have the right to choose to end their own life, and those that help them should be free from prosecution.

I think computer viruses should count as life.

People asked a computer, "Is there a God?" And the computer said, "There is now," and fused the plug.

Our future is a race between the growing power of our technology and the wisdom with which we use it. Let's make sure that wisdom wins.

Why are we so worried about artificial intelligence? Surely humans are always able to pull the plug? People asked a computer, "Is there a God?" And the computer said, "There is now," and fused the plug.