Robots are interesting because they exist as a real technology that you can really study - you can get a degree in robotics - and they also have all this pop-culture real estate that they take up in people's minds.

How much change can a person absorb before everything loses meaning Living for its own sake isn't life. People need meaning as much as they need air.

You don't want to stand too close to a robot arm; it can turn your head to mush.

Change creates fear, and technology creates change. Sadly, most people don't behave very well when they are afraid.

Each new generation builds on the work of the previous one, gaining new perspective. New verbs are introduced. We Google strange and dangerous places. We tweet mindlessly to the cosmos. We Facebook our own grandmothers. I, for one, don't want to be left behind.

A soul isn't given for free. The races of men fight each other to the death for the honor of being recognized as human beings, with souls.

Luckily, unreasonable expectations go hand in hand with naive young scientists. The more naive the better - otherwise we would never have the audacity to try and build a 22,000-mile-high space elevator or some sprawling underwater hotel.