# The Sorcerers Apprentice Is a Machine Warning by Norbert Wiener > "The 'Sorcerer's Apprentice' is only one of many tales based on the assumption that the agencies of magic are literal-minded." > **— 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 a familiar tale of literal-minded execution to illuminate the problem of specifying what we actually want. ## 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/Alignment Problem|Alignment Problem]] ## Related Topics - [[wiki/Some Moral and Technical Consequences of Automation|Some Moral and Technical Consequences of Automation]] - [[wiki/Alignment Problem|Alignment Problem]] ## Share on Social Media ``` "The 'Sorcerer's Apprentice' is only one of many tales based on the assumption that the agencies of magic are literal-minded." — Norbert Wiener, 1960, “Some Moral and Technical Consequences of Automation,” Science 131(3410) https://bryantmcgill.com/simple-reminders-wiener-sorcerers-apprentice ```