Inventors

"Throughout his decades-long career, Son has made headlines for spectacular victories as well as disastrous failures. For a time, at the beginning of 2000, he claimed to be the world’s richest man, with a fortune worth an estimated $78 billion amassed by buying up internet startups. However, the collapse of the dotcom bubble just months later wiped out more than 90% of his wealth."

"For years, Son acted as a bridge between the U.S., Asia and China. He was a prime beneficiary of “hyperglobalization,” the age of borderless finance and friction-free trade."

"There will always be new jobs, new stimulation. You know, humans will have art, music, entertainment, all the creative jobs, and communication between people. We will help each other. We will discuss with each other."

"Well, we can still create things. We can still enjoy. We can still try to sell something, try to design something, try to communicate with others. This may be just a job, and it may be a job you don't like very much. But we have to do it just to live, just to earn an income, to have food to eat, a roof over our heads, and clothes to wear. We must have some income, even if it is just to live. For this purpose, many people are working, but they don't necessarily like it. They have to work to make a living. And those who have to work to live, many of them will be replaced by a more efficient solution, that is, smart robots, robots with intelligence. Well, that way we can move on to more exciting things."

"Few characters are more enigmatic or misunderstood than Masayoshi Son, the billionaire founder and CEO of SoftBank, the Japanese media technology conglomerate. In Japan and in western media, he is cast as a dreamer, financial engineer, and speculator — an object of suspicion who has risked financial ruin more than once in a five-decade career."

"You know, in the past 30 years, there are three things that are important in our industry. CPU computing power, memory size, and communication speed. These three things have improved by a million times, each of them has improved by a million times. So this is a huge impact - a huge impact on technology, lifestyle, and society. But I would say, what if it gets a million times better from now? A million times more computing power? A million times more memory and communication speed? So it's not slowing down at all. I think the computing power is going to make artificial intelligence really a reality, and you know, intelligent robots, analytical prediction, all these things are happening now."

"Yes, lots of challenge, but the uniqueness is actually good. If the pack of other people are this way, I am unique. I have more opportunity. The difficulty flipped becomes the advantage."

"But humans have always been the best, the smartest and the most powerful, influencing everything on Earth, but the premise is that humans have the smartest intelligence. But in the end, humans themselves invented something that is probably smarter than ourselves in many ways. So, you know, humans invented tools. These tools are used for farming and so on. But the premise is that the human brain is always smarter than the tools we control. That's why we can control them. Eventually, this tool may become smarter than we are. This means that, regardless of the tools we have been using to build industrial society, a huge paradigm shift is taking place. Everything should be redefined. The way we use tools, the way we live, the way we produce, all of these will be transformed. Every industry will be redefined."

"Today already, computer is smarter than mankind for chess or go, or weather forecast. For some expert systems, computer is already smarter. But in 30 years, [in] most of the subjects that we are thinking, they will be smarter than us. That's my belief."

"What is my belief and vision for this investment? I have only one belief — Singularity."

"Despite people’s view that SoftBank might be struggling, we continue to grow. Don’t think about the past."

"But if you look at mankind's history, people were killing each other with many battles among different tribes, races, and so on. But today's world, we don't have that kind of thing as part of everyday life. We are more civilised. So when the robot super intelligence goes beyond mankind's intelligence and they say well, fighting is not an efficient way of living, harmony is better, it's more social, so we going to live in harmony. They will think about us, they help us and they try to amuse us and have a good love with each other."

"There are many diseases, such as cancer, that affect the lives of millions of people. In the future, cancer will no longer be a disease we should be afraid of, because artificial intelligence will solve problems that we cannot solve."

"I think I became an entrepreneur because I have my way of doing business. Especially for high-tech ventures, there are no footprints left by anyone else. You have to think and act as you think. To do that, you have to have your own company. But if you have your own company, you’re an outsider in the Japanese business world. It’s difficult. But that’s life."

"People usually compare the computer to the head of the human being. I would say that hardware is the bone of the head, the skull. The semiconductor is the brain within the head. The software is the wisdom. And data is the knowledge."

"Here we have white collar and blue collar. I said a new collar will start: that is metal collar. That metal collar will not only replace most of the blue collar jobs, but many of the white collar jobs. So when they become so smart and the muscles to move, what is the definition of what mankind’s job should be? What should we do if they replace many of our jobs? What is the value of our lives? We have to think once more, deeply."

"But the most important thing is that to have a more wonderful and richer life, we must also compete. Competition can get more stimulation, which will be the driving force for innovation and development."

"I predict 30 years from now, the number of smart robots, the smart robot population on this earth will be 10 billion. By that time, human population will be around 10 billion. So here on this earth we will have 10 billion population of mankind and 10 billion population of smart robots. This is the first time on this earth that we live together with 10 billion robots."

"ASI is completely different. ASI will be the culmination of a network of AGI models stimulating each other to rapidly accelerate their evolution. While expert opinions may vary, my view is that ASI will be ten thousand times more intelligent than humans and realized in about ten years. The realization of ASI, which will far surpass human wisdom, will mark a turning point in human history. All conventional wisdom will be overturned. In the 200,000-year history of our species, the next ten years will be a critical juncture."

"Even today, we don’t need to remember so many things because you can search for relevant information on Google. It's like a part of your brain - it becomes an extension of your brain. So we don't have to do some primitive things. We can use our brains to think more. You know, think more creatively. The brain is no longer used to remember how many days there are in a year, or what happened, nor is it used to remember what the name of this plant is or what shape its rhizome is. Because we can Google it really quickly, right. However, our brains still function in many ways. Our brains are still very active and actively thinking. The extension of the brain enables a seamless connection between virtual and reality. It is also an extension of our lives."

"I am an optimist, okay. There will always be various problems in the future. But we humans are smart enough. We always try to adapt to new situations."

"Every industry that mankind created will be redefined. The medical industry, automobile industry, the information industry of course. Every industry that mankind ever defined and created, even agriculture, will be redefined. Because the tools that we created were inferior to mankind’s brain in the past. Now the tools become smarter than mankind ourselves. The definition of whatever the industry, will be redefined."

"While evolution and multiplication are vital for business growth, it is the concept of evolution that holds particular importance for the future of humanity. Back in the autumn of 2022, I experienced a crisis of confidence, and I was filled with self-doubt. However, today, I am more energized than ever because I realized our ultimate mission: the evolution of humanity. What greater cause could there be? This mission will be accomplished through the realization of artificial super intelligence (ASI)—AI that is ten thousand times more intelligent than human wisdom. Ever since, I have been grappling daily with the challenge of realizing ASI. It feels like solving an intricate set of simultaneous equations."

"I review our most important performance indicator, Net Asset Value (NAV), every day without fail. NAV represents shareholder value, calculated as the equity value of holdings minus net interest-bearing debt. Our primary objective at SBG is to maximize NAV. How do we achieve this? We focus on two key strategies: evolution and multiplication. Evolution involves continuously refining our business model to offer something unique. Multiplication refers to leveraging our sales capability to effectively market and distribute this unique value."

"It has been 200,000 years since the birth of humans. Unlike other species, we invented tools and technologies that drove progress. Until now, the evolution of humanity has been driven by our own hands. Every now and then, geniuses such as Leonardo da Vinci and Albert Einstein emerged, sparking new ways of thinking and driving the evolution of humanity."

"When I first started the company, I only had two part-time workers and a small office. I got two apple boxes, and I stood up on them in the morning as if I was giving a speech. In a loud voice, I said to my two workers, “You guys have to listen to me because I am the president of this company.” I said, “In five years, I’m going to have $75 million in sales. In five years, I will be supplying 1,000 dealer outlets, and we’ll be number one in PC software distribution.” And I said it very loudly."

"The brain is more valuable than the skull. But everybody has a brain. Inside the brain are wisdom and knowledge. Wisdom and knowledge are the most valuable things in the body. I want to be number one in the business of supplying wisdom and knowledge all over Japan. But the knowledge industry is too big, too wide."

"I came up with 40 new business ideas—everything from creating software to setting up hospital chains, since my wife’s father is a doctor and has a hospital. Then I had about 25 success measures that I used to decide which idea to pursue. One success measure was that I should fall in love with a particular business for the next 50 years at least. Very often, people get excited for the first few years, and then, after they see the reality, they get tired of the business. I wanted to choose one that I would feel more and more excited about as the years passed. Another factor was that the business should be unique. That was very important to me. I didn’t want anyone else doing exactly the same thing. A third was that within 10 years I wanted to be number one in that particular business, at least in Japan. And I wanted to pick a business where the business category itself would be growing for the next 30 to 50 years. I didn’t want to choose a sinking ship."

"But I still want to support entrepreneurs -- entrepreneurs with dreams and passion. Technology is moving very fast. So if I can be a good promoter or supporter, then I would be very happy to do so."

"It is wrong to say that AI cannot be smarter than humans as it is created by humans. AI is now self-learning, self-training, and self-inferencing, just like human beings."

"Twenty years ago, people were saying, Amazon, why is it an internet company? It’s just a retail company, right? Today, people say, oh, it’s just transportation. It’s just real estate. It’s other obvious things, with AI used only a little bit. But you have to understand this is just the beginning."

"Look at a shadow. Even within 24 hours, the length of your shadow differs dramatically, even though your height in 24 hours is unchanged. People get scared or overconfident looking at the length of the shadow."

"We go and change the world together and create a better world. Better world for human living. So that excites me. What is the future, how can we change people's lives for the better? For better humanity. So people don't need to die for unnecessary reasons like having an accident, or having a disease, or having a disaster. To protect humans from all those sadness, is a good thing. Imagining those things and investing and creating a group, having great product, great solution is exciting."

"Yeah, in my age of 19 I created a 50 year life plan. And in my age of 60s, between 60 and 69, I would decide my successor and have my successor keep on running it. So in my next ten years I have to do that. But even after I find a successor and give him a baton to run as a captain of the ship. I would probably stay working with him, coaching him and as long as I live probably. I cannot forget about this excitement."

"I may but this is the life I'm enjoying so much, that I would love to do it again. I was so lucky, I was so close to falling off the cliff. So I don't know if I can do it twice. But this is definitely an exciting life, I'm having fun."

"Back in 1973, a large lump of the school in which I taught detached itself and landed on my head. This put me into early retirement - and nearly killed me. Then, suddenly, on April I , 1982, apropos of nothing in particular, Continuo flashed into my mind. Such a simple concept. All players, regardless of age, could play together - or even play solo. My husband Alan and I formed a company, and five months later Continuo went on sale in the U.K., soon becoming Britain's top-selling game. Now, Continuo and its siblings have sold over six million sets around the world. A string of other successful games followed. Whilst I invented the games, Alan playtested them. The partnership worked very well as I proofread his bridge writing"

"If you can’t put an idea over in twenty seconds, then you’re dead"

"Go away and find yourself a games agent; they know which companies want what, and they’ll present them for you"

"you’re “…able to reason with the intuitive mind of a child, yet retain acquired knowledge and high I.Q"

"I invented the thing in about two seconds. It just came to me. I spent the next two hours cutting up cornflake packets and making the squares, filling them in with colours. My husband and I formed a company the next day. Continuo went into shops on September 1st; six weeks later it was the UK's bestselling game. By Christmas, we'd sold 205,000 sets in the UK — today, it's in over fifty countries; it's now sold six million sets, which ain't bad. That includes its offspring. It's not quite so popular at the moment; it just seems to have slid downstairs at the moment. Don't worry, it'll come back; in fact so much so that I've just licensed two games to South Korea — and those two are Continuo and Duo"

"Is it a surprise that into the vessel, in which the mercury has no inclination and no repugnance, not even the slightest, to being there, it should enter and should rise in a column high enough to make equilibrium with the weight of the external air which forces it up?"

"Sola enim Geometria inter liberales disciplinar acriter exacuit ingenium, idoncumque reddit ad civitates exornandas in pace et in bello defendendas: caeteris enim paribus, ingenium quod exercitatum sit in Geometrica palestra, peculiare quoddam, et virile robur habere solet: praestabitque semper, et antecellet, circa studia architecturae, rei bellicae, nauticaeque, etc."

"Many have argued that a vacuum does not exist, others claim it exists only with difficulty in spite of the repugnance of nature; I know of no one who claims it easily exists without any resistance from nature."

"If this same balance, even though corporeal, were considered to be not on the earth's surface but in the highest regions beyond the sun's sphere, then the threads, while still drawn to the centre of the earth, would be very much less convergent to each other, would be quasi-parallel. Let us imagine a mechanical balance transported beyond the starry balance [i.e., the constellation of that name] in the firmament, to an infinite distance. It will be understood by everybody that the suspension threads would no longer be convergent, but would be exactly parallel. ... The Geometer has the special privilege to carry out, by abstraction, all constructions [operationes] by means of the intellect. Who, then, would wish to prevent me from freely considering figures hanging on a balance imagined to be at an infinite distance beyond the confines of the world?"

"Modern civilization depends on science...James Smithson was well aware that knowledge should not be viewed as existing in isolated parts, but as a whole, each portion of which throws light on all the other, and that the tendency of all is to improve the human mind, and give it new sources of power and enjoyment...narrow minds think nothing of importance but their own favorite pursuit, but liberal views exclude no branch of science or literature, for they all contribute to sweeten, to adorn, and to embellish life...science is the pursuit above all which impresses us with the capacity of man for intellectual and moral progress and awakens the human intellect to aspiration for a higher condition of humanity."

"I vow to strive to apply my professional skills only to projects which, after conscientious examination, I believe to contribute to the goal of coexistence of all human beings in peace, human dignity and self-fulfillment. I believe that this goal requires the provision of an adequate supply of the necessities of life (good food, air, water, clothing and housing, access to natural and man-made beauty), education, and opportunities to enable each person to work out for himself his life objectives and to develop creativeness and skill in the use of hands as well as head. I vow to struggle through my work to minimise danger; noise; strain or invasion of privacy of the individual; pollution of earth, air or water; destruction of natural beauty, mineral resources and wildlife."

"Most physicists will remember Jim Faller for his contributions to ."

"... during the past 20–30 years, the subject of has—as a result of advances in measurement technologies—been transformed from a chiefly theoretical endeavor that explored beautiful theorems, involving the and equations, to an experimental science—a science that has come of age as one can now make real-time measurements at the levels at which geophysical happenings are taking place. And absolute gravimetry (along with very long baseline interferometry, global positioning satellites, satellite ranging, etc.) was and is contributing to this revolution."

"Determinations of the fit into the oftentimes-unappreciated area of physics called precision measurement—an area which includes precision measurements, and . The determination of big G—a measurement which on the surface appears deceptively simple—continues to be one of 's greatest challenges to the skills and cunning of s. In spite of the fact that, on the scale of the Universe, big G's effects are so large as to single-handedly hold everything together, on the scale of an individual research laboratory, big G's effects are so small that they go unnoticed…hidden in a background of much larger forces and noise sources. It is this ‘smallness’ that makes determining the precise value of this (seemingly unrelated to the rest of physics) fundamental constant so difficult."

"He was passionate about JILA and the future of JILA. He was a strong advocate for hiring [a leading researcher in ]. He had a great sense of the qualitative understanding of a lot of physics, especially . I remember talking to him about the design of an experiment and him having good suggestions. He was a big advocate for the instrument shop. I think part of it is because he admired those guys for building and designing things."