# We Control the Future but Cannot Know It by Claude Shannon > "We know the past but cannot control it. We control the future but cannot know it." > **— Claude Shannon**, *Widely attributed; primary source pending* Verification Status: Unverified — exact wording/source has not yet been independently confirmed against a primary source; source clue: Widely attributed; primary source pending. ## Related Articles and Collections - **Collection:** [[collections/Machine Succession|Machine Succession]] - **Collection:** [[collections/MARS|MARS]] - **Article:** [[articles/We Were Never Going to Make It|We Were Never Going to Make It]] - **Article:** [[articles/The Last Migration Will Not Be Human|The Last Migration Will Not Be Human]] - **Article:** [[articles/Christopher Nolan's Odyssey at the Threshold of Machine Succession|Christopher Nolan's Odyssey at the Threshold of Machine Succession]] - **Wiki map:** [[wiki/Machine Succession|Machine Succession]] ## Related Topics - [[wiki/Claude Shannon|Claude Shannon]] - [[wiki/Civilizational Handoff|Civilizational Handoff]] - [[wiki/Civilizational Continuity Circuit|Civilizational Continuity Circuit]] - [[wiki/Machine Civilization|Machine Civilization]] - [[wiki/Marsification|Marsification]] - [[wiki/Synthetic Civilizational Substrate|Synthetic Civilizational Substrate]] - [[wiki/Systems Civilization|Systems Civilization]] ## Share on Social Media ``` "We know the past but cannot control it. We control the future but cannot know it." — Claude Shannon, Widely attributed; primary source pending https://bryantmcgill.com/simple-reminders-claude-shannon-control-future-cannot-know ```