"We take it that when the state of things shall have arrived which we have been above attempting to describe, man will have become to the machine what the horse and the dog are to man. He will continue to exist, nay even to improve, and will be probably better off in his state of domestication under the beneficent rule of the machines than he is in his present wild state. We treat our horses, dogs, cattle and sheep, on the whole, with great kindness, we give them whatever experience teaches us to be best for them, and there can be no doubt that our use of meat has added to the happiness of the lower animals far more than it has detracted from it; in like manner it is reasonable to suppose that the machines will treat us kindly, for their existence is as dependent upon ours as ours is upon the lower animals."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
LGBT peopleNovelists from EnglandTranslators from EnglandSatirists from EnglandBiographers from England
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Darwin Among the Machines
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Samuel_Butler_(novelist)
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Samuel Butler (novelist)
Samuel Butler (December 4, 1835 – June 18, 1902) was a British satirist, most famous for his novels Erewhon and The Way of All Flesh.
210 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Samuel Butler (novelist) →
Related Quotes
"Truth consists not in never lying but in knowing when to lie and when not to do so."
"Our choice is apparently most free, and we are least obviously driven to determine our course, in those cases where t…"
"Men are seldom more commonplace than on supreme occasions."
"Some men love truth so much that they seem to be in continual fear lest she should catch cold on over-exposure."
"Any fool can tell the truth, but it requires a man of some sense to know how to lie well."
"I do not mind lying, but I hate inaccuracy."
"A little boy and a little girl were looking at a picture of Adam and Eve. "Which is Adam and which is Eve?" said one.…"
"The public buys its opinions as it buys its meat, or takes in its milk, on the principle that it is cheaper to do thi…"
"The pursuit of truth is chimerical. That is why it is so hard to say what truth is. There is no permanent absolute un…"
"You can have all ego, or all non-ego, but in theory you cannot have half one and half the other — yet in practice thi…"