“I think that internet technologies are making everything so transparent. The arms race of deception and spin against the public trying to keep up with it - I think the forces of spin have to lose. In the corporate world people are finding this. Corporate social responsibility has been on the agenda for a very long time - and a lot of people say it's a kind of green-wash or white-wash - but because there's nowhere to hide anymore, people are coming around to the realization that the only way to be seen to be good is to be good. You can't fake it.” PeopleThinkingWorldTryingKindLongResponsibilityTechnologyInternetBe GoodRealizationDeceptionFakeSocial Responsibility Author:Julian Baggini
“Pussy Riot is against the cult of consumerism and the commercialization of art. Our performances were always open for everyone and anyone can see our video clips for free on the Internet.” ArtInternetConsumerismCultRiot Author:Yekaterina Samutsevich
“I think that we're now deep into a struggle for control over the Internet and there are various actors - state, corporate, civic, criminal and military. The great genius of the Internet is its interconnectedness, but this is also what makes it an incredibly difficult problem when things start to go wrong with it and when people exploit for their own purposes.” PeopleThinkingProblemPurposeDifficultStruggleMilitaryGeniusInternetVariousInterconnectedness Author:Misha Glenny
“There are governments who are regulating things in different ways and those forms of regulation often don't square up. So you have a real legislative mess, in the meanwhile various bad people are developing all sorts of tools to exploit the Internet for their own gain and the militaries are beginning to develop some extremely frightening offensive capabilities in cyber. Yet all of this is taking place outside of any international agreement or even framework.” PeopleDifferentRealInternetVariousMessCapabilityFrighteningOffensiveBad People Author:Misha Glenny
“In 2010, you have roughly 38 billion dollars spent by government on cyber and telecoms security and another 60 billion or so by private corporations. So approximately 100 billion dollars spent on security, mostly on technological solutions, which the corporates are offering governments in particular; it's a very high growth area. So everyone is climbing over each other to get the contracts for government procurement on this. There is undoubtedly an element of this and that's what encourages, in part, the whole idea of locking down the Internet.” GrowthSecurityInternetSolutionsTechnological Author:Misha Glenny
“The anonymity issue is a big question. As long as people can disguise cyber attacks and as long as there is a sort of question mark over who is responsible, then the problem will continue to exist. And of course what happens in response to that is that there is a move to try and refashion the Internet so that anonymity is impossible, which of course leads to fears among all sorts of groups - civil rights groups, NGOs, and political parties - that the Internet is going to be used simply as a method of control. So these are very sensitive issues.” PeopleTryingLongProblemMovingPoliticalPartyImpossibleInternetResponsibleResponseCivil RightsSensitiveDisguisePolitical PartiesAnonymityQuestion Mark Author:Misha Glenny
“It's great that the Internet can enhance and speed up our communications and that computers can do all the things they do. It's fabulous. At the same time, it changes our priorities. For example, before I would always remember people's telephone numbers and now I don't know anyone's number. So what happens if computer systems go down but you still have landlines? Well, I couldn't call anyone because I don't know anyone's number.” RememberCommunicationInternetComputerSpeedPrioritiesFabulous Author:Misha Glenny
“If there is an event for whatever reason, which interferes with the Internet or network communications, are people able to deal with it? It seems like our dependency on these systems is so great that the room for maneuver as it were is very small. So that is problematic.” PeopleReasonCommunicationInternetInterfere Author:Misha Glenny
“The Internet obviously changes things; we've seen that in the music industry above all else. As an author, I'm now having to deal with the fact that it's happening in the publishing industry as well. And publishing is going through a very difficult time. Some view it as positive, some negative, but nobody really knows how to deal with it. If you're an author it looks very challenging because your work can be pirated so easily and there's very little you can do about it.” DifficultChallengesInternetNegativePublishingDifficult TimesMusic Industry Author:Misha Glenny
“Historians will look back on this era and how the Internet changed what we value, what we consider art, the way we think, the way we define what it means to be human. In Sincerity and Authenticity, Lionel Trilling describes the changes that occurred between about 1850 and 1920, due to the Industrial Revolution and the resulting migration of people from small communities to relative anonymity in cities. Because of that paradigm shift, ideas about what it means to be an individual underwent a transformation that leeched into all areas. Art, psychology, history, marriage, gender.” PeopleThinkingMeanArtValuesIndividualCommunityPsychologyChangedRevolutionInternetTransformationGenderAuthenticityHistorianSincerityRelativeParadigmAnonymityIndustrial RevolutionParadigm Shift Author:Debra Monroe
“The internet is a great thing but the worst thing that it brought to the music business was piracy and it's made making stuff available really difficult.” DifficultWorstInternetGreat ThingsMusic BusinessPiracy Author:Scott Ian
“I've been around a long time and I've found that these forms, whether it's the cartoon, or whether it's a play, or all these dying forms refuse to die. Something happens to rejuvenate them and it will certainly happen to the political cartoon. It will come back. But whether it's on the internet, or whether it's in some other form, however that works, whether it looks the way it looks now, or entirely different, I have no idea. And thank God I don't have to worry about it.” LongDifferentPoliticalWorryDyingInternetThings HappenThank GodCartoon Author:Jules Feiffer
“The Internet, which seems now so embedded and personal and crucial to our lives, isn't at all - we really shouldn't think of it that way.” ThinkingInternetEmbedded Author:Louise Erdrich
“If you go to go to countries in Europe or Asia or even Canada, even with all the Internet and cable TV and satellite, public systems tend to be the most popular stations in the countries. In some countries like Norway and Germany, public stations are, if anything, more popular than ever as people see what Rupert Murdoch's got in store for them in the commercial stations.” PeopleCountryInternet Author:Robert Waterman McChesney
“The Internet is the best thing that ever happened to China. It turns us into individuals and also enables us to share our perceptions and feelings. It creates a culture of individualism and exchange even though the real society doesn't promote it. There isn't a single Chinese university that can invite me to give a talk. Even though I know there are many students who would like to hear what I have to say.” GivingRealFeelingsCultureIndividualShareStudentsInternetPerceptionChineseIndividualism Author:Ai Weiwei
“There's been a lot companies that have shown "zero to one" kind of growth in the computer, internet software age. Facebook and Google are zero to one companies. Apple's iPhone was the first smartphone that really works, and of course, then you scale it horizontally, but the vertical component was really critical. Space X would also be one.” KindAgeGrowthInternetComputerSoftwareGoogle Author:Peter Thiel
“I think China thinks information technology is less important than we think it is in the US, economically, and more important politically. And so Chinese internet companies are extremely political, they're protected behind the great firewall of China, and investment in Alibaba is good as long as Jack Ma stays in the good graces of the Chinese communist party. Alibaba is largely copying various business models from the US; they have combined some things in interesting new ways, but I think it's fundamentally a business that works because of the political protection you get in China.” ThinkingLongImportantPoliticalInterestingPartyTechnologyGraceInternetInvestmentVariousProtectionChineseCommunistInformation Technology Author:Peter Thiel
“Whether railroads or electricity or the Internet, there is always some sense that this is the new, redemptive platform - that finally, finally, we've found the platform that will allow us all to lead a democratic, global existence, where all problems will be solved. And the idea that the old platform becomes obsolete, "this kills that," and so on, also often accompanies the advent of a new technology. The digital platform is no exception.” ProblemExistenceTechnologyInternetDemocraticExceptionElectricityNew TechnologyAdvent Author:Keller Easterling
“The person on the shrine is myself. I listen to my own music constantly. I made a whole other record already. I look at myself on the internet constantly, so much so that I actually physically hate my face. It's like I've become apart from myself. I can't even live up to myself.” HateInternet Author:Willis Earl Beal
“I don't like the sound of my own voice. And, for people I don't know, their impression of me is what they read on the internet, and they're so far off a lot of the time. I think people are intimidated by me, and I don't know why. Sometimes even my own bandmates can be intimidated, or irritated, by me. I come across as arrogant somehow. In reality, I've probably got the lowest self-esteem of anybody I know, which has really been rubbed in my face lately in personal situations.” PeopleThinkingSometimesRealitySituationInternetImpressionArrogantLowestIntimidatedIrritated Author:Bradford Cox
“We on the internet. That's such a small community. We think we're so huge. If you went up to people on the street and asked them about it, they'd probably be like, "You had a album coming out?" Let alone it leaked.” PeopleThinkingCommunityLike YouInternet Author:Lupe Fiasco
“We have really, really good-looking men who work for our network, and that's never brought into question. Our men dress very well, and look fantastic in a suit, and not once is that ever talked about. I can be called out on the Internet or in newspapers for asking a question, but if a male asked the same question, it would never be a topic.” MenInternetFantastic Author:Erin Andrews
“I think my generation was one of the last to remember the first days of the internet.” ThinkingRememberInternet Author:Visionist
“I spent half my life without the internet, it was pretty much the same thing just a whole lot slower and a whole lot more intense!” InternetIntense Author:Visionist
“I can spend a lot of time on the internet as a substitute for TV. This is part of the reason why I'm not a good girlfriend - you can't sit down with me and watch a movie. I hate being strapped down to stay with something.” ReasonHateInternetI HateGirlfriendGood Girl Author:Fiona Apple
“When I watch TV, and TCM isn't on, I just switch channels and look at all the information about everything. The internet is perfect for that, which is why I didn't really want to get a computer in the first place. I thought, "If I have a computer and know about this whole Google thing, I am not going to be able to sit still for a second; I'm going to think about something and then have to look it up." I have never bought myself a computer or a phone, but guys in my life have bought them for me, for whatever reason. So now I have them.” ThinkingReasonGuyPerfectInternetComputerGoogle Author:Fiona Apple
“It's a despicable world we're living in now. It's the most disgusting time for music in terms of big wigs, guys who like playing the game. It's hard to get your stuff heard. I find it really annoying actually. I think my music would appeal to a lot of people but being on Warp in the States it's really hard to get radio play and exposure. We need to push this internet revolution forward quickly.” PeopleThinkingWorldGuyTermRevolutionInternetAnnoyingDisgusting Author:Jamie Lidell
“I don't use "feelings" as a diminutive word. I'm trying to take feelings back. I think of everyone on the internet whose response to everything is: "#Feelings! This is important, this is real, this is significant!" That connects to power, too. Wanting to feel like you have power and control over your life.” ThinkingTryingImportantRealFeelingsLike YouInternetResponseSignificantOver You Author:Melissa Gira Grant
“I draw a distinction between freedom of the internet and freedom via the internet. In the first case, it's making sure cyberspace is not over regulated and people can say what they want without fear of repercussions. But that's different from this freedom via the internet notion, which is often touted by all sorts of conservatives and neoconservatives who want young people in the Middle East and elsewhere in the world to use Facebook and Twitter and then go oppose their governments.” PeopleWorldDifferentInternetElsewhere Author:Evgeny Morozov
“It is true that authoritarian governments increasingly see the internet as a threat in part because they see the US government behind the internet. It would not be accurate to say they are reacting to the threat posed by the internet, they are reacting to the threat poised by United States via the internet. They are not reacting against blogs, or Facebook or Twitter per se, they are reacting against organizations like the National Endowment for Democracy funding bloggers and activists.” DemocracyInternetThreatActivistEndowment Author:Evgeny Morozov
“Many of us were a little to early to assume that the most logical uses of the internet in authoritarian states would be to empower people. And to force them towards participation in politics. If you look at most authoritarian states, they are very grim places to live in. The only good thing about it is fast internet. That's the only way you can find some meaning in an otherwise very dark and gloomy life.” PeopleDarkInternetAssumingGood ThingsEmpoweringLogicalParticipationGrimGloomy Author:Evgeny Morozov
“With the internet we are facing more or less a very similar story. It does offer virtually limitless access to entertainment and for many people living in extremely depressing conditions in authoritarian states, it does provide a vehicle for getting by. For many oppositional movements, the internet, while providing the opportunity to distribute information more quickly and cheaper, may have actually made their struggle more difficult in the long run.” PeopleLongRunningOpportunityDifficultStruggleInternetVehicleDepressingLimitless Author:Evgeny Morozov
“The internet takes a lot of the anxiety of life away. It's a kind of deity. You're never lonely. You're always distracted. If you spend enough time on it, there's not really that nagging sensation of existential despair; it erases it very effectively. And it's monolithic. And thanks to it, we've got the ways to linger there after death - your blog exists afterwards, your e-mail exists afterwards.” KindEnoughInternetDespairAnxietyLonelyThanksExistentialDistractedAfter DeathErase Author:Joshua Ferris
“Between the time I first started working in advertising in 1998 and now, the word brand has replaced identity. We are no longer individuals so much as we are brands. We're individual brands. Individuals are basically left to define their individuality by staying off the internet, which in and of itself can be a brand, the opting-out brand.” IndividualIdentityInternetIndividualityAdvertisingReplaced Author:Joshua Ferris
“I don't actually think of the internet as the bad guy. I think of the internet as doing a hell of a lot of wonderful, fascinating, interesting things. A lot of information that's exchanged on the internet is extremely useful, and every once in a while it percolates up to knowledge. Wisdom is far harder to come by.” ThinkingGuyInterestingHellWonderfulInternetKnowledge Wisdom Author:Joshua Ferris
“I'm a staunch believer in the effect of pop culture - including advertising and the internet - on the young. Pop culture in its narrowest sense - mass-produced film, TV, and music - either truly reflects what's up in youth culture, or it reflects what youth-filled focus groups have told marketing companies that they want to consume.” FilmCultureFocusYouthInternetMarketingBelieverAdvertisingPop Culture Author:Vanessa Grigoriadis
“I've always believed that the great strength of the Internet is that it allows us to communicate with each other, it allows debate. And I think that gay marriage is a huge step forward. But debate is throwing ideas about, and when it becomes sort of a weapon of character assassination, I think that's crazy. I think the situation in America is different from in England, where we have civil partnership, and now the vote on gay marriage has been carried, and whether it will go through Parliament I don't know.” ThinkingDifferentCharacterSituationCrazyInternetGayVoteCommunicateDebatePartnershipAlways BelieveGay Marriage Author:Jeremy Irons
“Now that the most interesting matter of identity is not what place someone was born in, but what point in time they are from - where they sit in relation to time. Age has become much more divisive than place. With the Internet and globalization, a twenty-year-old in New York has far more cultural references in common with a twenty-year-old in Nebraska than they do with a thirty-year-old who lives next door. National identity is what they trick you with when they want your feet in their army boots or your taxes in their bailouts.” AgeInterestingCommonIdentityInternetTaxesArmyRelationGlobalizationMost Interesting Author:Nick Laird
“New York allows you to go deeper into the person you want to be. You're able to explore whatever your specific interests might be. You can eat good Japanese food if you want to eat good Japanese food. You can go and see your favorite author reading, and you can still listen to Radio Ulster on the internet as you have your breakfast. I love that.” ReadingInterestInternetYour Favorite Author:Nick Laird
“Our industry is so technologically driven that often I Skype with directors or send tapes in to people. It's so common now that sometimes even when I'm here I'll be send tapes for things that are based in the U.K. There's never really a right place, right time anymore. Even something that's L.A. based, the director might be in New York or they might be on location in Budapest. I think everyone's really accepting of the fact that people are all over the world all the time. In a funny way, you can be an actor now and live anywhere, so long as you have internet.” PeopleThinkingWorldLongSometimesCommonAcceptingInternetDrivenRight Time Author:Elizabeth Debicki
“Having access to mobile phones and being able to document your own life brings people together. Technology has a lot to do with how the world is developing at the moment because there are very raw and pure and primal emotions that people are communicating to each other over the Internet. It's like our new feathers, our new face paint. We're still trying to find love and friendship and cool music, but now it's over the Internet.” PeopleWorldTryingMomentsTogetherEmotionTechnologyInternetPaintCommunicateFeathersFinding LoveLove And Friendship Author:Robyn
“I think, over the last couple of years, the written word has made a comeback on the Internet. For example, I'm seeing more long-form narrative experiments there. The overall noise level, however, continues to increase. Do we really need TV screens to watch when we pump gas? Really?” ThinkingCoupleInternetGasComebackWritten Word Author:Charlie Pierce
“Today we understand that reality corresponds to a model - or, even better, the sum of various models - which in science are termed "complex systems" - not complicated or difficult, that's a different thing! This complexity is what creates that which we all know - the World - is connected in a system of networks - and I'm not referring only to the internet but also to thousands of analog networks in which we are all immersed at every instant.” WorldDifferentRealityTodayDifficultInternetVariousComplicatedInstantComplexity Author:Agustin Fernandez Mallo
“My life is split in three parts; I don't know the percentage. One could be called "chess" - the Kasparov Chess Foundation, promoting the game, training young players, playing on the internet, sometimes exhibitions. The second area would be "writing" - books, articles, Twitter, Facebook. And then "political activity" - fighting for human rights and democracy, so TV, interviews, speeches.” WritingBookSometimesPoliticalFightingDemocracyPlayerInternetTrainingHuman RightsChess Author:Garry Kasparov
“I'm not a big technology guy. I like my privacy and being as normal as I can. I'm not an internet guy. I just don't care for it. I made a Facebook in high school and I couldn't even tell you the password to it. I couldn't even guess the password or email. I haven't been on it in four or five years. I don't like being attached to my phone. That's how I am. I'm an old-school guy.” CareSchoolGuyTechnologyInternetHigh SchoolPrivacy Author:George Springer
“I'm constantly at war with myself to quit goofing around, and the internet hasn't helped that any. I've learned that I have to be sort of exploitive about seizing moments to write. Luckily, I still write most of my first drafts by hand, so I often work in bed when I can't sleep.” WritingWarMomentsSleepInternetQuitting Author:Diana Abu-Jaber
“Right now we're in the midst of a grand experiment on how best to harness the incredible power of the Internet while we struggle to maintain useful boundaries among the different parts of our lives.” DifferentStruggleInternetIncrediblesBoundaries Author:Stewart D. Friedman
“Sometimes people are so unbelievably vitriolic on the Internet because I think that everybody wants to be heard, and the easiest way to be the loudest is to be the hater. But you don't know who's behind the keyboard, and you don't really know if their complaint is about the topic at hand or if they're just bitter about something else.” PeopleThinkingSometimesInternetBitter Author:Tavi Gevinson
“I love knowing and learning about people around the world displaying my art online. Also, it's how I learn about new artists that are in various parts of the world. The positive thing about Tumblr and Instagram is that they're a fantastic platform for art lovers. I also like, when I search for my art and it says, "see also or related artists," and I see those other artists that relate to me, at least according to the internet. I think it's fascinating - it's interesting to see hashtags people are using in relation to my work. It's another tool of communication.” PeopleThinkingWorldArtArtistInterestingCommunicationInternetLoversRelationVariousFantasticOnline Author:Mickalene Thomas
“With the recession, people are having to choose between their cable and their internet connection. And think about it.” PeopleThinkingInternet Author:Rosario Dawson