We're dumber and less cognitively nimble if we're not around other people - and, now, other machines. — Clive Thompson Copy Share Image
Memory has always been social. Now we're using search engines and computers to augment our memories, too. — Clive Thompson Copy Share Image
More than any other modern tool, computers are a total mystery to their users. Most people never open them up to fix… — Clive Thompson Copy Share Image
If you, or any public-spirited programmer, wanted to figure out what the software on your machine is really doing, tough luck. It's… — Clive Thompson Copy Share Image
The computer industry began with home-brew boxes that everyone had to program for themselves, but that was a huge hassle. The computer… — Clive Thompson Copy Share Image
No consumer product improves more drastically, year after year, than the computer. — Clive Thompson Copy Share Image
Software is now so complex - requiring so many gazillions of tiny files all over your computer - that most consumers don't… — Clive Thompson Copy Share Image
Tip-of-the-tongue syndrome is when people almost remember something but need a computer, or someone else, to help them find it. The problem… — Clive Thompson Copy Share Image
The humanitarian developers behind World of Warcraft have also discovered a way to bribe gamers into turning off their computers and going… — Clive Thompson Copy Share Image
The Internet lets thousands of total strangers collaborate to produce a truly hivelike result. — Clive Thompson Copy Share Image
Novelists in particular love to rhapsodize about the glory of the solitary mind; this is natural, because their job requires them to sit in… — Clive Thompson Copy Share Image
When you're an expert in a subject, you can retain new factoids on your favorite topic easily. This only works for the subjects you're… — Clive Thompson Copy Share Image
Why are online games so addictive? It's mostly the narcotic appeal of 'leveling.' — Clive Thompson Copy Share Image
More than any other modern tool, computers are a total mystery to their users. Most people never open them up to fix them or… — Clive Thompson Copy Share Image
When you broadcast your book reading voluntarily, it creates moments of fascinating serendipity. — Clive Thompson Copy Share Image
The only reason we don't notice how absolutely interwoven our thinking processes have become with older technologies - pencils, paper, electric light, penicillin, fire… — Clive Thompson Copy Share Image
“While reading Kasparov’s book How Life Imitates Chess on my Kindle, I idly clicked on “popular highlights” to see what passages other readers had… — Clive Thompson Copy Share Image
The main message of 'Smarter Than You Think' is an attempt to look at the productively new and interesting ways that we have begun… — Clive Thompson Copy Share Image
There is something about the ability to externalize our thoughts and compare them with other people in a public way that is really transformative… — Clive Thompson Copy Share Image
I don't think the Internet has replaced cities in any significant way, nor really could it. Cities are dynamic - and deeply seductive for… — Clive Thompson Copy Share Image
