# The Computer or the Bomb Could Change Human Life Most by Dan Sperber > “I am afraid the answer I find compelling is a rather trivial one. The two most important inventions in the past two thousand years are the computer and the atomic bomb. The computer will bring about the greatest change to human life since the neolithic revolution, unless the bomb destroys human life altogether.” > **— Dan Sperber**, *1999 Edge Annual Question, response passage* ## Sources and Context - **Original Edge response:** [Researcher at the CREA in Paris — Dan Sperber](https://www.edge.org/response-detail/11446) — a verbatim passage from Dan Sperber's 1999 Annual Question response, expressing the author's position at the time. The linked response supplies its surrounding context. - **Local archival entry:** [[research/Edge 1999 Full Quotation Curation|Edge 1999 Full Quotation Curation]] (EDGE1999-051). ## Related Articles and Collections - **Collection:** [[collections/Edge|Edge]] - **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/The End of the Anthropocentric Era|The End of the Anthropocentric Era]] ## Related Topics - [[wiki/Species-Level Maturation|Species-Level Maturation]] ## Share on Social Media ``` “I am afraid the answer I find compelling is a rather trivial one. The two most important inventions in the past two thousand years are the computer and the atomic bomb. The computer will bring about the greatest change to human life since the neolithic revolution, unless the bomb destroys human life altogether.” — Dan Sperber, 1999 Edge Annual Question https://bryantmcgill.com/simple-reminders-dan-sperber-computer-or-bomb-change-human ```