“New information technologies-including email, the web, and computerized blast-faxes and phone calls-have fundamentally changed the landscape of political competition in modern democracies. They've done so in three ways: by dramatically boosting the access of individuals and special interests to politically potent information, by making it easier for such people to coordinate their activities and exert political power, and by greatly increasing the pace of events within our political systems.” PeopleWayDonePoliticalThreePoliticsIndividualInterestTechnologyDemocracyModernSpecialEventsInformationChangedInternetEasierActivityCompetitionIncludingPhonesAccessLandscapePaceEmailBlastPolitical SystemsPhone CallsInformation TechnologyPolitical PowerSpecial InterestsCoordinatesNew InformationThree WaysFax Author:Thomas Homer-Dixon
“E-mail is a modern Penny Post: the world is a single city with a single postal rate.” WorldCitiesModernInternetLettersRatePostsMailPennies Author:Anne Fadiman
“The Internet is the great highway of the modern communication, free and independent.” ModernCommunicationInternetIndependentHighwaysModern Communication Author:Katya Chamma
“Today, any action anywhere on earth has an immediate repercussion on all five continents. News of a victory of the Eastern armies in Morocco or Shanghai travels instantly, thanks to modern means of communication, to all Eastern peoples and fills them with enthusiasm and faith. This phenomenon is, of course, unprecedented in the history of man.” MenMeanTodayActionEarthCoursesFiveModernCommunicationInternetVictoryNewsArmyEnthusiasmThanksPhenomenonContinentsFree SpeechEasternUnprecedentedRepercussionsMoroccoShanghaiMeans Of Communication Author:Nikos Kazantzakis
“I always thought that in modern history Chinese people are like a dish of sand, never really close together. But I think a dish of sand is a good metaphor because we have the Internet. We don't have to be physically united. You can be an individual and have your own set of values but join others in certain struggles. There is nothing more powerful than that.” PeopleThinkingTogetherCertainValuesIndividualUnitedPowerfulStruggleModernInternetMetaphorChineseSandDishesModern History Author:Ai Weiwei
“I live in the 17th century. I don't have a computer. I don't look at the internet. I use a cellphone, and that's about my only connection to the modern world.” WorldLooksUseModernCenturyInternetComputerConnectionsModern WorldCellphone17th Century Author:Iris Apfel
“The Internet is a modern infrastructure that plays a key role in the future of the state.” StatesPlayRolesModernKeysInternetInfrastructure Author:Thomas de Maiziere
“I spend so much time on the Internet...I feel like I'm a million pages into the worst book ever, and I'm never going to stop reading.” FeelsBookProblemTimeReadingMillionsModernWorstInternetComputerPagesSpendingReading BooksActualityModernisation Author:Aziz Ansari
“The Internet bubble circa 2000 is the most extreme in modern capitalism. In the 1930s, we had the worst depression in 600 years. Today is almost as extreme in the opposite way.” WayYearsTodayModernWorstInternetCapitalismOppositesExtremesBubbles1930s Author:Charlie Munger
“I think we all try to figure out ways to ignore the fact that life is about suffering. In the modern world, that's what we're surrounded with. We have all these little tools, such as phones and the Internet, to help us forget about suffering. Whenever you are tired, you don't have to really sit in the abyss of what it means to be alive. We always find ways to avoid it. When a ship sinks, you are sitting in it. There is no way to avoid.” ThinkingWorldWayTryingMeanLittlesFactsHelpingLife IsSufferingForgetAliveModernFiguresInternetSittingToolsTiredPhonesShipsAbyssModern World Author:Matt de la Pena
“The modern wars are also omnipresent in our electronic media - to be cynical about it, we now have 24 hours of non-stop bloodshed available to us. The internet and real-time media reporting were integrated into daily life in Iraq.” WarRealHoursModernMediaInternetIraqAvailableDaily LifeCynicalIntegratedBloodshedNon StopModern WarElectronic Media Author:Dave Abrams
“Our tenants now are companies like Uber, the taxi service, Meituan.com, China's version of Groupon - and a large number of startups. These companies operate in a modern way, just like their customers: They go on the Internet, look for an offer and take it.” WayLooksNumbersCompanyModernGoes OnInternetOffersChinaCustomersVersionsLarge NumbersTaxiTenantsUber Author:Zhang Xin