The tools that a society uses to create and maintain itself are as central to human life as a hive is to bee life. Though the hive is not part of any individual bee, it is part of the colony,… — 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
