The basic problem is that web 2.0 tools are not supportive of democracy by design. They are tools designed to gather spy-agency-like data in a seductive way, first and foremost, but as a side effect they tend to provide software support for mob-like phenomena. – Jaron Lanier
Musicians and journalists are the canaries in the coalmine, but, eventually, as computers get more and more powerful, it will kill off all middle-class professions. – Jaron Lanier
The wisdom of crowds works when the crowd is choosing the price of an ox, when theres a single numeric average. But if its a design or something that matters, the decision is made by committee, and thats crap. You want people and groups who are able to think thoughts before they share. – Jaron Lanier
People try to treat technology as an object, and it cant be. It can only be a channel. – Jaron Lanier
I have lived with my husband more than I have with my parents… I live beside him, and know his worries, his hopes, and his dreams for his nation. We believe that things happen by design, not in an arbitrary way. And we believe it is our duty to make things happen. – Mozah bint Nasser Al Missned
Do not shun this maxim because it is common-place. On the contrary, take the closest heed of what observant men, who would probably like to show originality, are yet constrained to repeat. Therein lies the marrow of the wisdom of the world. – Arthur Helps, “Chapter IV,” Companions of My Solitude, 1851