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
Web 2.0 ideas have a chirpy, cheerful rhetoric to them, but I think they consistently express a profound pessimism about humans, human nature and the human future. – Jaron Lanier
Technologists provide tools that can improve peoples lives. But I want to be clear that I dont think technology by itself improves peoples lives, since often Im criticized for being too pro-technology. Unless theres commensurate ethical and moral improvements to go along with it, its for naught. – Jaron Lanier
Were losing track of the vastness of the potential for computer science. We really have to revive the beautiful intellectual joy of it, as opposed to the business potential. – Jaron Lanier