Our social tools are not an improvement to modern society, they are a challenge to it. — Clay Shirky Copy Share Image
Society is not just the product of its individual members; it is also the product of its constituent groups. — Clay Shirky Copy Share Image
“Tragedy of the Commons: while each person can agree that all would benefit from common restraint, the incentives of the individuals are… — Clay Shirky Copy Share Image
It is possible to think that the Internet will be a net positive for society while admitting that there are significant downsides… — Clay Shirky Copy Share Image
“[F]rom now on, the act of creating and circulating evidence of wrongdoing to more than a few people, even if they all… — Clay Shirky Copy Share Image
“The centrality of group effort to human life means that anything that changes the way groups function will have profound ramifications for… — Clay Shirky Copy Share Image
“[B]ecause the minimum costs of being an organization in the first place are relatively high, certain activities may have some value but… — Clay Shirky Copy Share Image
The tools that a society uses to create and maintain itself are as central to human life as a hive is to… — Clay Shirky Copy Share Image
To have a discussion about the plusses and minuses of various forms of group action, though, is going to require discussing the current tools… — Clay Shirky Copy Share
“Mass amateurization of publishing makes mass amateurization of filtering a forced move.” — Clay Shirky Copy Share
“Information sharing produces shared awareness among the participants, and collaborative production relies on shared creation, but collective action creates shared responsibility, by tying the… — Clay Shirky Copy Share
More interesting than thinking about what's possible in 10 years is thinking what's possible now but that no one has built. — Clay Shirky Copy Share
“Digital networks are increasing the fluidity of all media. The old choice between one-way public media (like books and movies) and two-way private media… — Clay Shirky Copy Share
Even with the sacred printing press, we got erotic novels 150 years before we got scientific journals. — Clay Shirky Copy Share
Tools get socially interesting after they're no longer technologically interesting. — Clay Shirky Copy Share
Carpooling is important for urban density, air pollution and other reasons, but carpooling is not the kind of thing that actually changes the energy… — Clay Shirky Copy Share
If what you're doing is valuable for people, they will find a way to pay you to keep doing it. — Clay Shirky Copy Share
Multi-taskers often think they are like gym rats, bulking up their ability to juggle tasks, when in fact they are like alcoholics, degrading their… — Clay Shirky Copy Share
Civic participants don't aim to make life better merely for members of the group. They want to improve even the lives of people who… — Clay Shirky Copy Share
I would not hesitate to say I was addicted to the Internet in the first two years. It can be addictive, and things not… — Clay Shirky Copy Share
Bureaucracies temporarily suspend the Second Law of Thermodynamics. In a bureaucracy, it's easier to make a process more complex than to make it simpler,… — Clay Shirky Copy Share
The more ideas there are in circulation, the more ideas there are for any individual to disagree with. More media always means more arguing. — Clay Shirky Copy Share
![“[N]ew technology enables new kinds of group-forming.” quote by Clay Shirky](https://sms4smile.com/q/img-quotes/988/clay-shirky-3364_forming_n-ew-technology-enables-new-kinds-of-gro_57243.png)
![“[F]rom now on, the act of creating and circulating evidence of wrongdoing to more than a few people, even if they all work together, will be seen as a delayed but public act.” quote by Clay Shirky](https://sms4smile.com/q/img-quotes/b8f/clay-shirky-3364_internet_f-rom-now-on-the-act-of-creating-and-cir_2973391.png)
![“[B]ecause the minimum costs of being an organization in the first place are relatively high, certain activities may have some value but not enough to make them worth pursuing in any organized way. New social tools are altering this equation by lowering the costs of coordinating group action.” quote by Clay Shirky](https://sms4smile.com/q/img-quotes/a6d/clay-shirky-3364_first-place_b-ecause-the-minimum-costs-of-being-an-o_874307.png)
