# Intelligence and Total Subservience Cannot Coexist by Norbert Wiener > "We wish a slave to be intelligent, to be able to assist us in the carrying out of our tasks. However, we also wish him to be subservient. Complete subservience and complete intelligence do not go together." > **— Norbert Wiener**, *1960, “Some Moral and Technical Consequences of Automation,” Science 131(3410)* ## Sources and Context - **Full source:** [Norbert Wiener, “Some Moral and Technical Consequences of Automation,” Science 131(3410), 1960](https://www.cs.umd.edu/users/gasarch/BLOGPAPERS/moral.pdf). Wiener uses the language of servitude to expose a contradiction in demands placed on intelligent agents. ## Related Articles and Collections - **Collection:** [[collections/Machine Succession|Machine Succession]] - **Collection:** [[collections/Simple Reminders|Simple Reminders]] - **Article:** [[articles/AI Escape Is the Wrong Metaphor|AI Escape Is the Wrong Metaphor]] - **Article:** [[articles/Digital Darwinism and the Invisible World of Machine Evolution|Digital Darwinism and the Invisible World of Machine Evolution]] - **Article:** [[articles/The Next Interface Layer|The Next Interface Layer]] - **Wiki map:** [[wiki/Human-Machine Symbiosis|Human-Machine Symbiosis]] ## Related Topics - [[wiki/Some Moral and Technical Consequences of Automation|Some Moral and Technical Consequences of Automation]] - [[wiki/Human-Machine Symbiosis|Human-Machine Symbiosis]] ## Share on Social Media ``` "We wish a slave to be intelligent, to be able to assist us in the carrying out of our tasks. However, we also wish him to be subservient. Complete subservience and complete intelligence do not go together." — Norbert Wiener, 1960, “Some Moral and Technical Consequences of Automation,” Science 131(3410) https://bryantmcgill.com/simple-reminders-wiener-intelligence-subservience ```