DBMS: Databases (Unconventional Quotes)

"It is almost everywhere the case that soon after it is begotten the greater part of human wisdom is laid to rest in repositories." (Georg C Lichtenberg, Notebook K, 1789-1793) 

"An observatory, like any other laboratory of research, may concentrate its attention upon either one of two widely different objects: the accumulation of great stores of data in existing departments of knowledge, or the opening up and exploration of new fields of investigation." (George E Hale, "Ten Years' Work of a Mountain Observatory", 1915)

"As information itself becomes the largest business in the world, data banks know more about individual people than the people do themselves. The more the data banks record about each one of us, the less we exist." (Marshall McLuhan & Wilfred Watson, "From Cliché To Archetype" , 1970) 

"Cyberspace. A consensual hallucination experienced daily by billions of legitimate operators, in every nation, by children being taught mathematical concepts. [...] A graphic representation of data abstracted from banks of every computer in the human system. Unthinkable complexity. Lines of light ranged in the nonspace of the mind, clusters and constellations of data." (William Gibson, "Neuromancer", 1984)

"Information is data that has been given meaning by way of relational connection. This 'meaning' can be useful, but does not have to be. In computer parlance, a relational database makes information from the data stored within it. (Russell L Ackoff, "Towards a Systems Theory of Organization", 1985)

"I found myself answering the same questions asked frequently of me by different people. It would be so much easier if everyone could just read my database." (Tim Berners-Lee, "Weaving the Web: The Original Design and Ultimate Destiny of the World Wide Web", 1999)

"Perhaps there is supranatural: reason beyond the normal definitions of fact or data-based logic; something that only makes sense if you can see a bigger picture of reality. Maybe that is where faith fits in." (William P Young, "The Shack", 2007)

"Like the French, database programmers speak a slightly different language, and since we’re working with a database we need to learn some vocabulary." (Allen B Downey, "Think Stats: Probability and Statistics for Programmers", 2011)

"We’ve got one huge advantage - people believe what they see in databases. They’ve never learned the most important rule of cyberspace - computers don’t lie but liars can compute." (Terry Hayes, "I Am Pilgrim", 2013)

"Things get even messier when linked into networks, which can literally scatter one’s mind even at today’s rudimentary levels of connectivity. The 'transactive memory system' called Google is already rewiring the parts of our brains that used to remember facts locally; now those circuits store search protocols for remote access of a distributed database. And Google doesn’t come anywhere close to the connectivity of a real hive mind." (Peter Watts, "Echopraxia", 2014)

"Finally, most identity thefts occur when databases are not securely managed. So, my advice? Don’t ever end up in a database." (Joseph Fink & Jeffrey Cranor, "Welcome to Night Vale", 2015)

"Everything is 'smart' now. The library cataloging system is smart, classification and indexing information entered into a uniform online database. People wept and lamented the loss of the old cards, then forgot them. They pretty much forget everything they weep over and lament." (Christopher Sorrentino, "The Fugitives", 2017)

"I'm an oracle of the past. I can accurately predict up to 1 minute in the future, by thoroughly investigating the last 2 years of your life. Also, I look like an old database – flat and full of useless info." (Will Advise & Jarod Kintz, "Nothing is here…") 

"Practically all large corporations insure their data bases against loss or damage or against their inability to gain access to them. Some day, on the corporate balance sheet, there will be an entry which reads, 'Information', for in most cases, the information is more valuable than the hardware which processes it." (Grace M Hopper)

"The body of truth has a much larger data base than the conscience of lies." (Anthony T Hincks)