The real question is not whether machines think but whether men do. The mystery which surrounds a thinking machine already surrounds a thinking man.
B. F. SKINNERWe shouldn’t teach great books; we should teach a love of reading. Knowing the contents of a few works of literature is a trivial achievement. Being inclined to go on reading is a great achievement.
More B. F. Skinner Quotes
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The consequences of an act affect the probability of its occurring again.
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The simulated approval and affection with which parents and teachers are often urged to solve behavior problems are counterfeit. So are flattery, backslap-ping, and many other ways of “winning friends.
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An important fact about verbal behavior is that speaker and listener may reside within the same skin.
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The real problem is not whether machines think but whether men do.
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We are only just beginning to understand the power of love because we are just beginning to understand the weakness of force and aggression.
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Society attacks early, when the individual is helpless.
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At this very moment enormous numbers of intelligent men and women of goodwill are trying to build a better world. But problems are born faster than they can be solved.
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Chaos breeds geniuses. It offers a man something to be a genius about.
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It is not a question of starting. The start has been made. It’s a question of what’s to be done from now on.
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I’ve often said that my rats have taught me much more than I’ve taught them.
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A person who has been punished is not thereby simply less inclined to behave in a given way; at best, he learns how to avoid punishment.
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A first principle not formally recognized by scientific methodologists: when you run into something interesting, drop everything else and study it.
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The major difference between rats and people is that rats learn from experience.
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Society already possesses the psychological techniques needed to obtain universal observance of a code – a code which would guarantee the success of a community or state. The difficulty is that these techniques are in the hands of the wrong people-or, rather, there aren’t any right people.
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A person’s genetic endowment, a product of the evolution of the species, is said to explain part of the workings of his mind and his personal history the rest.
B. F. SKINNER