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Until we in the community have made up our minds that what we really want is expiation, or removal, or reform, or or the discouragement of potential criminals, we shall get none of these, but only a confusion in which crime breeds more crime.

— Norbert Wiener The Human Use of Human Beings (1950)

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More quotes by Norbert Wiener

We know that for a long time everything we do will be nothing more than the jumping off point for those who have the advantage of already being aware of our ultimate results.

I am a mathematician, the later life of a prodigy (1953)

Any labor which competes with slave labor must accept the economic conditions of slave labor.

The Human Use of Human Beings (1950)

To live effectively is to live with adequate information.

The Human Use of Human Beings (1950)

There are no answers, only cross-references.

A significant idea of organization cannot be obtained in a world in which everything is necessary and nothing is contingent'

I am a mathematician, the later life of a prodigy (1953)

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Norbert Wiener (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.