Quotessence
Home / Quotes / Quote by Paul Saffo

Quote by Paul Saffo

“Sometimes I think we're on this world for three reasons: to be useful, to tell each other stories and to collect stuff. It's the only explanation for eBay. We love to collect stuff, and at least if we're collecting stuff in cyberspace we're not deforesting the Sierra Nevada.”

Quote by Paul Saffo

Create image

Author

Paul Saffo
Paul Saffo

Paul Saffo is a renowned futurist and professor, born in 1954. He holds a professorship at Stanford University, focusing on technology trends and future research. Saffo is known for his profound insights into technological change and his predictions of future trends. more

You May Also Like

“As Stewart Brand (co-founder of Emeryville's Global Business Network) likes to say, "Information lasts forever. Digital information lasts forever or for five years, whichever comes first." There are examples everywhere. The tapes from the original Viking landers that went to Mars are at (NASA's) Jet Propulsion Laboratory, but there is no machine that can read the tapes.”

YearsFirstsLastsForeverFiveInformationExampleMachinesOriginalsLikesBrandsFive YearsDigitalTapeFoundersMarsLaboratoryJetNasaVikingsGlobal BusinessPropulsion
Author:Paul Saffo
Create image

“The difference between our collective generation and your generation (differentiating the reporters from the students) is that we poured our souls out on paper that got easily yellowed and lost. The danger is that many of your friends (nodding at the students) are putting intimate ideas in cyberspace journals. So when today's 15-year-old is 40, some friend is going to drag out all of that idiotic stuff at their class reunion.”

YearsIdeasSoulTodayLostStuffDifferencesClassGenerationsDangerStudentsPaperIntimateCollectivesDragReportersJournalReunionIdioticCyberspaceNoddingClass Reunion
Author:Paul Saffo
Create image

“I would say digital technology probably doesn't have much impact on us so far. We've seen photographs of people from when they are alive. We see home movies. We have videotapes now and e-mails. When it's going to get interesting is in massively multiplayer online games where you have avatars (online personas). You could actually create an avatar that's semi-autonomous. It could do things for you while you get off the game to run the rest of your life.”

PeopleHomeRunningGamesInterestingTechnologyAliveImpactPhotographDigitalOnlineMailRest Of Your LifePersonaAutonomousDigital Technology
Author:Paul Saffo
Create image