“The inner sort of consumer identity got the best of people. And everybody just wants things for free. And that's created this strange kind of cheapness to everything, where everything becomes throwaway. And people, I think, have started to undervalue things, maybe because there's too much, maybe because it's too easy to make, but I think mostly just because, somehow, that's the pattern that got set. And I think that's regrettable.” PeopleThinkingWantKindEasyToo MuchIdentityStrangePatternsConsumersCheapness Author:Esther Dyson
“What's really going on here is, this is a media shift. It's comparable to what happened in the 1950s and the birth of electronic mass media back then.This is the birth of a new kind of personal media, where, instead of we're all watching one program, we're all watching each other. And the history of media makes it really clear. Whenever we have a big innovation, the first wave of stuff we do is pretty crummy. The printing press gave us pornography, cheap thrillers, and how-to books. Television gave us Newt Minow's vast wasteland.” FirstsKindBookBigsStuffClearHappenedMediaTelevisionBirthMassProgramInnovationPressesWavePornographyPrintingThrillersMass MediaPrinting PressNewtsWasteland Author:Esther Dyson
“I think I have the right to know what Steve Forbes paid in taxes - I don't think there should be a law. I think there should be a presumption. I wouldn't vote for a guy who wouldn't reveal what he paid in taxes. That kind of thing.” ThinkingKnowsShouldKindLawGuyTaxesVotePaidPresumptionForbes Author:Esther Dyson
“I think copyright is moral, proper. I think a creator has the right to control the disposition of his or her works - I actually believe that the financial issue is less important than the integrity of the work, the attribution, that kind of stuff.” ThinkingBelieveKindImportantStuffMoralIssuesIntegrityFinancialCreatorDispositionCopyrightAttribution Author:Esther Dyson
