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Clay Shirky Quotes

Writer

Clay Shirky is a writer known for his insightful analysis of how technology shapes social structures and human behavior. His work delves into topics such as collaborative networks, information overload, and social media.

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Famous Clay Shirky Quotes

“The tools that a society uses to create and maintain itself are as central to human life as a hive is to bee life. Though the hive is not part of any individual bee, it is part of the colony, both shaped by and shaping the lives of its inhabitants.”

Humans Use Individual Tools Human Life Bees Colony Hives

Author:Clay Shirky

“What you need for a participatory system to work: "a plausible promise, an effective tool, and an acceptable bargain."”

Needs Promise Tools Acceptable Bargains Plausible

Author:Clay Shirky

“Tools get socially interesting after they're no longer technologically interesting.”

Interesting Tools

Author:Clay Shirky

“To have a discussion about the plusses and minuses of various forms of group action, though, is going to require discussing the current tools and services as they exist, rather than discussing their caricatures or simply wishing that they would disappear.”

Action Form Wish Groups Tools Currents Various Disappear Discussion Discussing Caricatures

Author:Clay Shirky

“Communications tools don't get socially interesting until they get technologically boring.”

Interesting Technology Communication Tools Boring

Book:Here Comes Everybody: How Change Happens when People Come Together

Source: Here Comes Everybody: How Change Happens when People Come Together

“Our social tools are not an improvement to modern society, they are a challenge to it.”

Social Challenges Modern Tools Improvement Modern Society

Book:Here Comes Everybody: How Change Happens when People Come Together

Source: Here Comes Everybody: How Change Happens when People Come Together

“Communications tools don't get socially interesting until they get technologically boring... It's when a technology becomes normal, then ubiquitous, and finally so pervasive as to be invisible, that the really profound changes happen.”

Happens Culture Interesting Technology Communication Normal Tools Profound Marketing Boring Invisible

Author:Clay Shirky

“A revolution doesn’t happen when society adopts new tools. It happens when society adopts new behaviors”

Happens Revolution Behavior Tools

Author:Clay Shirky

“Indeed, the best practical reason to think that social media can help bring political change is that both dissidents and governments think they can. All over the world, activists believe in the utility of these tools and take steps to use them accordingly. And the governments they contend with think social media tools are powerful, too, and are willing to harass, arrest, exile, or kill users in response.”

“When you adopt a tool you adopt the management philosophy embedded in that tool.”

Philosophy Tools Management Embedded

Author:Clay Shirky

About the Author

Born: 1964
Known for: Writer
Quotes: 105

Books & Sources

Here Comes Everybody: How Change Happens when People Come TogetherRelated source material

Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without OrganizationsRelated source material

Cognitive Surplus: Creativity and Generosity in a Connected AgeRelated source material

Cognitive Surplus: How Technology Makes Consumers into CollaboratorsRelated source material

Little Rice: Smartphones, Xiaomi, and The Chinese DreamRelated source material

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