# What Is a Computer but a Copying Machine by John Naughton > “We now live in a digital world in which copying is not only effortless, non-degenerative and effectively free but is actually intrinsic to digital technology. What is a computer, after all, but a copying machine?” > **— John Naughton**, *2013, Edge Annual Question: “WHAT *SHOULD* WE BE WORRIED ABOUT?”* ## Sources and Context - **Direct Edge response and surrounding essay:** [Incompetent Systems](https://www.edge.org/response-detail/23789) — the official response page preserves this exact, continuous passage and its surrounding argument. - **Complete local collection index:** [[research/Edge 2013 Full Quotation Curation|Edge 2013 Full Quotation Curation]] — retained source-first record for the response object and all canonical reminder links derived from it. ## Related Articles and Collections - **Collection:** [[collections/Edge|Edge]] - **Collection:** [[collections/Machine Succession|Machine Succession]] - **Article:** [[articles/Modern Artificial Intelligence in the 1970s|AI in the 1970s]] - **Article:** [[articles/Digital Darwinism and the Invisible World of Machine Evolution|Digital Darwinism]] - **Article:** [[articles/Machine Intelligence from Cortical Networks and the Allen Institute|Cortical Networks]] - **Wiki map:** [[wiki/Information Theory|Information Theory]] ## Related Topics - [[wiki/Information Theory|Information Theory]] - [[wiki/Digital Evolution|Digital Evolution]] - [[wiki/Data Serialization|Data Serialization]] - [[wiki/Machine Succession|Machine Succession]] ## Share on Social Media ``` “We now live in a digital world in which copying is not only effortless, non-degenerative and effectively free but is actually intrinsic to digital technology. What is a computer, after all, but a copying machine?” — John Naughton, 2013, Edge Annual Question: “WHAT *SHOULD* WE BE WORRIED ABOUT?” https://bryantmcgill.com/simple-reminders-john-naughton-computer-is-a-copying-machine ```