--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The technology we need most badly is the…" description: "\"The technology we need most badly is the technology of community, the knowledge about how to cooperate to get things done.\" — Bill McKibben" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/741/bill-mckibben-1057_community_the-technology-we-need-most-badly-is-the_1854032.jpg" --- # The technology we need most badly is the technology of… ![“The technology we need most badly is the technology of community, the knowledge about how to cooperate to get things done.” quote by Bill McKibben](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/741/bill-mckibben-1057_community_the-technology-we-need-most-badly-is-the_1854032.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/741/bill-mckibben-1057_community_the-technology-we-need-most-badly-is-the_1854032.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/741/bill-mckibben-1057_community_the-technology-we-need-most-badly-is-the_1854032.jpg) > “The technology we need most badly is the technology of community, the knowledge about how to cooperate to get things done.” [Bill McKibben](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-mckibben/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Community technology refers to tools and practices that enable collective problem‑solving and shared purpose. **In simple terms:** Tools for cooperation. Key Takeaway Invest in collaborative platforms. Themes community cooperation technology collective action Mood hopeful inspirational Type motivational philosophical When to use this quote - neighborhood projects - open‑source development - disaster response - public policy - team sports Key Concepts social capital network theory collective intelligence Questions to Reflect On - How can you foster cooperation in your group? - What barriers prevent effective community building? A Different Perspective Technology alone cannot replace trust and shared values. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Community](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/community/) [Peace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/peace/) [Technology](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/technology/) ## Related quotes > [“Tolerence ought to be humanities community and knowledge should be an individuals goal.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clarrissa-lee-moon/tolerence-ought-to-be-humanities-community-and-knowledge-should-be-an/) Clarrissa Lee Moon > [People are looking to have more meaning in their lives. It is a sign the technology community is coming of age.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-doerr/people-are-looking-to-have-more-meaning-in-their-lives-it-is-a-sign/) [John Doerr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-doerr/) > [We're not all on the same page here. So most of us in the technology community are opposed to what we call backdoors that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rod-beckstrom/we-re-not-all-on-the-same-page-here-so-most-of-us-in-the-technology/) [Rod Beckstrom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rod-beckstrom/) > [Technology will need to make many more huge leaps before one can ever view films with the level of picture and sound quality many…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ridley-scott/technology-will-need-to-make-many-more-huge-leaps-before-one-can-ever/) [Ridley Scott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ridley-scott/) > [We don't need to reject or disparage technology. We need to put it in its place,](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sherry-turkle/we-don-t-need-to-reject-or-disparage-technology-we-need-to-put-it-in/) [Sherry Turkle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sherry-turkle/) > [The spending in science and technology need to be to increased.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/atal-bihari-vajpayee/the-spending-in-science-and-technology-need-to-be-to-increased/) [Atal Bihari Vajpayee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/atal-bihari-vajpayee/) > [Especially in technology, we need revolutionary change, not incremental change.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/larry-page/especially-in-technology-we-need-revolutionary-change-not-incremental/) [Larry Page](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/larry-page/) > [The issue of carbon is one area where we really need to work together and if people don't have the technology they need, that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wangari-maathai/the-issue-of-carbon-is-one-area-where-we-really-need-to-work-together/) [Wangari Maathai](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wangari-maathai/) > [I'm not big on technology; I only get what I need.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rachel-shelley/i-m-not-big-on-technology-i-only-get-what-i-need/) [Rachel Shelley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rachel-shelley/) > [My theme for philanthropy is the same approach I used with technology: to find a need and fill it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/my-theme-for-philanthropy-is-the-same-approach-i-used-with-technology/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [To understand the future of technology, we need to begin with one fundamental truth: Technology is natural.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gray-scott/to-understand-the-future-of-technology-we-need-to-begin-with-one/) [Gray Scott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gray-scott/) > [The car is not a rabbit or a deer that jumps around in sweeping lines, but it is a man-made work of technology in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fritz-todt/the-car-is-not-a-rabbit-or-a-deer-that-jumps-around-in-sweeping-lines/) [Fritz Todt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fritz-todt/) > [With earth's burgeoning human population to feed we must turn to the sea with understanding and new technology. We need to farm it as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacques-yves-cousteau/with-earth-s-burgeoning-human-population-to-feed-we-must-turn-to-the/) [Jacques Yves Cousteau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacques-yves-cousteau/) > [We have the capital, the resources, and the technology that we need to build a mobile advertising platform across the planet.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/naveen-tewari/we-have-the-capital-the-resources-and-the-technology-that-we-need-to/) [Naveen Tewari](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/naveen-tewari/) > [I am somewhat influenced by the years that I've spent trying to actually get things done, whether it was reforming education in Arkansas or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hillary-clinton/i-am-somewhat-influenced-by-the-years-that-i-ve-spent-trying-to/) [Hillary Clinton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hillary-clinton/) ## More by Bill McKibben > [I try not to be either optimistic or pessimistic. I try not to think about outcomes on that scale. My job, it seems to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-mckibben/i-try-not-to-be-either-optimistic-or-pessimistic-i-try-not-to-think/) [Bill McKibben](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-mckibben/) > [Oil companies are radical because they're willing to alter the chemical composition of the atmosphere.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-mckibben/oil-companies-are-radical-because-they-re-willing-to-alter-the/) [Bill McKibben](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-mckibben/) > [Whenever anyone challenges anything, the powers that be try to paint them as extremists or radicals or whatever. And I think that's actually nonsense.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-mckibben/whenever-anyone-challenges-anything-the-powers-that-be-try-to-paint/) [Bill McKibben](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-mckibben/) > [My guess is that liberating the fossil fuel industry to frack anywhere they want will drive down the rate at which we're converting to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-mckibben/my-guess-is-that-liberating-the-fossil-fuel-industry-to-frack/) [Bill McKibben](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-mckibben/) > [What makes us different? We're the creature that can decide not to do something that we are capable of doing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-mckibben/what-makes-us-different-we-re-the-creature-that-can-decide-not-to-do/) [Bill McKibben](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-mckibben/) > [“The snow was coming down so hard. It looked like the flakes were hurrying to get out of the sky so the next ones…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-mckibben/the-snow-was-coming-down-so-hard-it-looked-like-the-flakes-were/) [Bill McKibben](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-mckibben/) > [Most of the men and women who vote in Congress each year to continue subsidies have taken campaign donations from big energy companies.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-mckibben/most-of-the-men-and-women-who-vote-in-congress-each-year-to-continue/) [Bill McKibben](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-mckibben/) > [“I’ve sat behind a microphone and listened for decades as Americans learned to stop talking with each other and start shouting instead. No discussions,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-mckibben/i-ve-sat-behind-a-microphone-and-listened-for-decades-as-americans/) [Bill McKibben](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-mckibben/) > [People in low-lying countries like Bangladesh with almost 140 million people who are managing to feed themselves, whose carbon emissions can't really be calculated…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-mckibben/people-in-low-lying-countries-like-bangladesh-with-almost-140-million/) [Bill McKibben](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-mckibben/) > [We're putting more carbon into the atmosphere than the atmosphere can absorb. And everybody told us when we started, coz we knew nothing when…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-mckibben/we-re-putting-more-carbon-into-the-atmosphere-than-the-atmosphere-can/) [Bill McKibben](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-mckibben/) > [Everything that the administration has done has been counterproductive.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-mckibben/everything-that-the-administration-has-done-has-been-counterproductive/) [Bill McKibben](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-mckibben/) > [We use the web to help people organize in the flesh, and then we take the images of those events and put them back…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-mckibben/we-use-the-web-to-help-people-organize-in-the-flesh-and-then-we-take/) [Bill McKibben](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-mckibben/) > [everyone knows, at some level, that the sharp line between "good weather" and "bad weather" is a fiction, that we need rain as surely…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-mckibben/everyone-knows-at-some-level-that-the-sharp-line-between-good-weather/) [Bill McKibben](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-mckibben/) > [The thing about global warming is that you can address it on a great number of levels - in fact you have to.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-mckibben/the-thing-about-global-warming-is-that-you-can-address-it-on-a-great/) [Bill McKibben](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-mckibben/) > [Where people aren't as deeply reliant on fossil fuel as in the United States, it's far easier for them to imagine change on this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-mckibben/where-people-aren-t-as-deeply-reliant-on-fossil-fuel-as-in-the-united/) [Bill McKibben](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-mckibben/) [Explore all 299 Bill McKibben quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-mckibben/) ## More Community quotes > [Race is the idea that a human being is more superior than another human being, race in society grants illusional rights to mistreat each…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeremy-limn/race-is-the-idea-that-a-human-being-is-more-superior-than-another/) [Jeremy Limn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeremy-limn/) > [But we are convinced that if we are to play a meaningful role nationally, and in the community of nations, we must be second…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vikram-sarabhai/but-we-are-convinced-that-if-we-are-to-play-a-meaningful-role/) [Vikram Sarabhai](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vikram-sarabhai/) > [In the hearing world, I'm constantly having to lip-read and trying to understand what's going on. Sign language is so beautiful. It gives you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rose-ayling-ellis/in-the-hearing-world-i-m-constantly-having-to-lip-read-and-trying-to/) [Rose Ayling-Ellis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rose-ayling-ellis/) > [The strains and stresses suffered by the individual in society are grounded in the normal functioning of that society (and of the individual!) rather…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herbert-marcuse/the-strains-and-stresses-suffered-by-the-individual-in-society-are/) [Herbert Marcuse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herbert-marcuse/) > [Hackney gets a bit of a bad rap, but it's the only place I've ever lived that felt like a community. I know my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sharon-horgan/hackney-gets-a-bit-of-a-bad-rap-but-it-s-the-only-place-i-ve-ever/) [Sharon Horgan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sharon-horgan/) > [ The social \[media channel\] isn't about beauty contests and popularity contests. They're a distortion, a caricature of the real thing. It's about trust, connection,… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/umair-haque/the-social-media-channel-isn-t-about-beauty-contests-and-popularity/) [Umair Haque](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/umair-haque/) > [We're at a point in history were we have to become a part of the neighborhood of inhabited planets, like a neighborhood of a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edgar-mitchell/we-re-at-a-point-in-history-were-we-have-to-become-a-part-of-the/) [Edgar Mitchell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edgar-mitchell/) > [I have to feel the audience. I enjoy that feeling of community.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dave-gahan/i-have-to-feel-the-audience-i-enjoy-that-feeling-of-community/) [Dave Gahan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dave-gahan/) > [It rolls off my back. Ridicule doesn't mean anything - even from people you're supposed to wear knee pads around, like the scientific community.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dwight-schultz/it-rolls-off-my-back-ridicule-doesn-t-mean-anything-even-from-people/) [Dwight Schultz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dwight-schultz/) > [Jeff Chu's pilgrimage across America to discover his own place as a gay man in the Christian church as well as attitudes about being…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donna-freitas/jeff-chu-s-pilgrimage-across-america-to-discover-his-own-place-as-a/) [Donna Freitas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donna-freitas/) > [I think that most of us, anyway, read these stories that we know are not "true" because we're hungry for another kind of truth:…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/orson-scott-card/i-think-that-most-of-us-anyway-read-these-stories-that-we-know-are/) [Orson Scott Card](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/orson-scott-card/) > [Human life consists of doing certain things ... to take part in the life of the community; to be able to talk about subjects…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amartya-sen/human-life-consists-of-doing-certain-things-to-take-part-in-the-life/) [Amartya Sen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amartya-sen/) > [Parents who are stressed or disturbed will have more difficulty in meeting their children's needs. Parents who have little support--from friends, relatives, neighbors, or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sheila-kamerman/parents-who-are-stressed-or-disturbed-will-have-more-difficulty-in/) Sheila Kamerman > [I think what was special about 'Music by Prudence' was the classic story of the title subject's life path - from being an outcast…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roger-ross-williams/i-think-what-was-special-about-music-by-prudence-was-the-classic/) [Roger Ross Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roger-ross-williams/) > [Perhaps the greatest and least visible form of impoverishment caused by the Corporate State is the destruction of community.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-a-reich/perhaps-the-greatest-and-least-visible-form-of-impoverishment-caused/) [Charles A. Reich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-a-reich/) [Browse all 13,840 Community quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/community/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The technology we need most badly is the technology of community, the knowledge about how to cooperate to get things done.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Bill McKibben" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-mckibben/the-technology-we-need-most-badly-is-the-technology-of-community-the/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Community" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-mckibben/the-technology-we-need-most-badly-is-the-technology-of-community-the/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/741/bill-mckibben-1057_community_the-technology-we-need-most-badly-is-the_1854032.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/741/bill-mckibben-1057_community_the-technology-we-need-most-badly-is-the_1854032.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/741/bill-mckibben-1057_community_the-technology-we-need-most-badly-is-the_1854032.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The technology we need most badly is the technology of community, the knowledge about how to cooperate to…” — Bill McKibben", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Bill McKibben", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-mckibben/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "The technology we need most badly...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-mckibben/the-technology-we-need-most-badly-is-the-technology-of-community-the/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-mckibben/the-technology-we-need-most-badly-is-the-technology-of-community-the/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```