Computer Viruses Quotes

• I think computer viruses should count as life ... I think it says something about human nature that the only form of life we have created so far is purely destructive. We've created life in our own image.

  Stephen Hawking

  Science, Technology, Thinking

  Speech at Macworld Expo in Boston, as quoted in "The Daily News", August 4, 1994.

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• The only truly secure system is one that is powered off, cast in a block of concrete and sealed in a lead-lined room with armed guards.

  Gene Spafford

  Block, Security Systems, Rooms

  "Computer Recreations: Of Worms, Viruses and Core War" by A. K. Dewdney, Scientific American, www.koth.org. March 1989.

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• Our examination of computer viruses leads us to the conclusion that they are very close to what we might define as "artificial life." Rather than representing a scientific achievement, this probably represents a flaw in our definition.

  Gene Spafford

  Achievement, Viruses, Examination

  "Computer Viruses: A Form of Artificial Life?". Artificial Life II, Studies in the Sciences of Complexity, Volume XII, edited by D. Farmer, C. Langton, S. Rasmussen, and C. Taylor, 1991.

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• [Computer viruses] switch from one country to another, from one jurisdiction to another - moving around the world, using the fact that we don't have the capability to globally police operations like this. So the Internet is as if someone [had] given free plane tickets to all the online criminals of the world.

  Mikko Hypponen

  Country, Motivation, Moving

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• Computer viruses are alive.

  Stephen Hawking

  Viruses, Alive, Computer

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• Like computer viruses, successful mind viruses will tend to be hard for their victims to detect. If you are the victim of one, the chances are that you won't know it, and may even vigorously deny it.

  Richard Dawkins

  Successful, Mind, Atheism

  Richard Dawkins (2004). “A Devil's Chaplain”, p.137, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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• The problem of viruses is temporary and will be solved in two years.

  John McAfee

  Years, Two, Viruses

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• It is not clear that intelligence has any long-term survival value.

  Stephen Hawking

  Intelligent, Long, Intelligence

  "Life in the Universe" by Stephen Hawking, www.hawking.org.uk. 1996.

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  A computer once beat me at chess, but it was no match for me at kick boxing.

  Emo Philips

  Funny, Motivational Sports, Humorous

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• I think computer viruses should count as life.

  Stephen Hawking

  Thinking, Viruses, Aliens

  Speech at Macworld Expo in Boston, August 4, 1994.

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  I have noticed even people who claim everything is predestined, and that we can do nothing to change it, look before they cross the road.

  Stephen Hawking

  Life, Change, Philosophy

  Stephen W. Hawking (1993). “Black Holes and Baby Universes and Other Essays”, Bantam

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• We've created life in our own image.

  Stephen Hawking

  Viruses, Computer, Funny Computer

  "The Daily News" Newspaper, August 4, 1994.

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• I was addicted to hacking, more for the intellectual challenge, the curiosity, the seduction of adventure; not for stealing, or causing damage or writing computer viruses.

  Kevin Mitnick

  Writing, Adventure, Challenges

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• In our interconnected world, novel technology could empower just one fanatic, or some weirdo with a mindset of those who now design computer viruses, to trigger some kind of disaster. Indeed, catastrophe could arise simply from technical misadventure - error rather than terror.

  Martin Rees

  Technology, Errors, Design

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• We are just an advanced breed of monkeys on a minor planet of a very average star. But we can understand the Universe. That makes us something very special.

  Stephen Hawking

  Stars, Cheer Up, Humility

  "Der Spiegel", October 17, 1988.

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• Writing a computer virus program is child's play. Any fool can do it, which is why the silly little twerps who do have nothing to be proud of.

  Richard Dawkins

  Children, Silly, Writing

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• In view of all the deadly computer viruses that have been spreading lately, Weekend Update would like to remind you: when you link up to another computer, you're linking up to every computer that that computer has ever linked up to.

  Dennis Miller

  Weekend, Technology, Views

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• There is nothing - no program, no hobby, no vice, no crime - that does not 'create jobs'. Tsunamis, computer viruses and shooting convenience store clerks all 'create jobs'. So that claim misses the plot; it applies to all so is an argument in favor of none. Instead of an argument on the merits, it is an admission that one has no such arguments.

  Chris Horner

  Jobs, Missing, Clerks

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