--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: If we don't understand our tools, then…" description: "\"If we don't understand our tools, then there is a danger we will become the tool of our tools. We think of ourselves as Google's customers, but really ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b17/rebecca-goldstein-4026_customers_if-we-don-t-understand-our-tools-then-th_1731758.jpg" --- # If we don't understand our tools, then there is a danger… ![“If we don't understand our tools, then there is a danger we will become the tool of our tools. We think of ourselves as Google's customers, but really we're its products.” quote by Rebecca Goldstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b17/rebecca-goldstein-4026_customers_if-we-don-t-understand-our-tools-then-th_1731758.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b17/rebecca-goldstein-4026_customers_if-we-don-t-understand-our-tools-then-th_1731758.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b17/rebecca-goldstein-4026_customers_if-we-don-t-understand-our-tools-then-th_1731758.jpg) > “If we don't understand our tools, then there is a danger we will become the tool of our tools. We think of ourselves as Google's customers, but really we're its products.” [Rebecca Goldstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-goldstein/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Misunderstanding our tools can make us subservient to them, turning users into products. **In simple terms:** Not knowing tools makes us their tools. Key Takeaway Learn how tools work. Themes technology power agency Mood cautionary thought‑provoking Type opinion philosophical When to use this quote - workplace - digital life - privacy Key Concepts philosophy ethics AI Questions to Reflect On - How can we retain agency? - What are the risks of tool dependency? A Different Perspective Complex tools are hard to master. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Danger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/danger/) [Thinking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thinking/) [Tools](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tools/) ## Related quotes > [At the end of the day, customer choice is essential. And we don't make products that compete with Apple, nor make products that compete…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tony-fadell/at-the-end-of-the-day-customer-choice-is-essential-and-we-don-t-make/) [Tony Fadell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tony-fadell/) > [Google Apps for Education is a suite of applications intended to be helpful to higher level educational institutions, but in the long run, I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vint-cerf/google-apps-for-education-is-a-suite-of-applications-intended-to-be/) [Vint Cerf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vint-cerf/) > [I think of Google as a set of overlapping things. It's a consumer platform, consumer phenomenon of which search is its fundamental activity, but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-schmidt/i-think-of-google-as-a-set-of-overlapping-things-it-s-a-consumer/) [Eric Schmidt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-schmidt/) > [It's being reported that Google spent over $5 million on lobbying just during the first quarter of this year. You'd think Google wouldn't really…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jimmy-fallon/it-s-being-reported-that-google-spent-over-5-million-on-lobbying-just/) [Jimmy Fallon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jimmy-fallon/) > [I don't think anyone at Google feels happy about it, but they've been in some sense, you know, enslaved to their business model, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-wu/i-don-t-think-anyone-at-google-feels-happy-about-it-but-they-ve-been/) [Tim Wu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-wu/) > [I think that Google has definitely influenced my moral values and the ethics. I think when Larry Page started the company, they weren't in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-wojcicki/i-think-that-google-has-definitely-influenced-my-moral-values-and-the/) [Anne Wojcicki](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-wojcicki/) > [Obviously, stats are important tools, but I think there's something behind those things; somewhere along the way, you've got to try to look inside…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jerry-west/obviously-stats-are-important-tools-but-i-think-there-s-something/) [Jerry West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jerry-west/) > [Stay open to as many new tools and think of as many ways you can to utilize them to your advantage. 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Yes, you can work from anywhere, but many just commute to offices...…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patrick-pichette/people-think-well-because-you-re-at-google-you-can-work-from-anywhere/) [Patrick Pichette](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patrick-pichette/) > [I think Google is a great company, and they're doing really cool things. But they're not doing things that are going to put us,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sandra-lerner/i-think-google-is-a-great-company-and-they-re-doing-really-cool/) [Sandra Lerner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sandra-lerner/) ## More by Rebecca Goldstein > [Youth is not an essential, but rather an accidental property. Nobody is in essence young. One either ceases to be or ceases to be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-goldstein/youth-is-not-an-essential-but-rather-an-accidental-property-nobody-is/) [Rebecca Goldstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-goldstein/) > [Plato dramatically puts the detachment of the philosopher from his time this way: to philosophize is to prepare to die.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-goldstein/plato-dramatically-puts-the-detachment-of-the-philosopher-from-his/) [Rebecca Goldstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-goldstein/) > [When you ask why did some particular question occur to a scientist or philosopher for the first time, or why did this particular approach…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-goldstein/when-you-ask-why-did-some-particular-question-occur-to-a-scientist-or/) [Rebecca Goldstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-goldstein/) > [“Freedom for me is a pain in the Buridan's ass.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-goldstein/freedom-for-me-is-a-pain-in-the-buridan-s-ass/) [Rebecca Goldstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-goldstein/) > [Those who share my heroes are, in the deepest sense, of my own kind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-goldstein/those-who-share-my-heroes-are-in-the-deepest-sense-of-my-own-kind/) [Rebecca Goldstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-goldstein/) > [“one evangelical scientist who had felt his doubts falling away from him when he was hiking in the mountains and came upon a frozen…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-goldstein/one-evangelical-scientist-who-had-felt-his-doubts-falling-away-from/) [Rebecca Goldstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-goldstein/) > [Because of the failure of religion to offer satisfying answers to an increasing number of people, it's time for philosophy to address forcefully these…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-goldstein/because-of-the-failure-of-religion-to-offer-satisfying-answers-to-an/) [Rebecca Goldstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-goldstein/) > [If we look at our attitudes consistently and work out the logical implications we're on the road to moral progress, moral understanding.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-goldstein/if-we-look-at-our-attitudes-consistently-and-work-out-the-logical/) [Rebecca Goldstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-goldstein/) > [We may not need God to tell us where the world came from, but we need God to be able to live moral lives…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-goldstein/we-may-not-need-god-to-tell-us-where-the-world-came-from-but-we-need/) [Rebecca Goldstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-goldstein/) > [In order to refute a conclusion, you have to put forth the best possible argument for it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-goldstein/in-order-to-refute-a-conclusion-you-have-to-put-forth-the-best/) [Rebecca Goldstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-goldstein/) > [Philosophical progress changes what we take to be "intuitively" obvious, and this change covers up the tracks of the laborious arguments that preceded the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-goldstein/philosophical-progress-changes-what-we-take-to-be-intuitively-obvious/) [Rebecca Goldstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-goldstein/) > [What one tries to force into a child against its own nature will never come to good.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-goldstein/what-one-tries-to-force-into-a-child-against-its-own-nature-will/) [Rebecca Goldstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-goldstein/) > [Thinking is the soul speaking to itself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-goldstein/thinking-is-the-soul-speaking-to-itself/) [Rebecca Goldstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-goldstein/) > [What is remarkable about the Greeks - even pre-philosophically - is that despite the salience of religious rituals in their lives, when it came…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-goldstein/what-is-remarkable-about-the-greeks-even-pre-philosophically-is-that/) [Rebecca Goldstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-goldstein/) > [In fact, it’s the very impersonality of impersonal knowledge that renders such knowledge the most ethically potent of all.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-goldstein/in-fact-it-s-the-very-impersonality-of-impersonal-knowledge-that/) [Rebecca Goldstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-goldstein/) [Explore all 116 Rebecca Goldstein quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-goldstein/) ## More Customers quotes > [The best way to hold customers is to constantly figure out how to give them more for less.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-kotler/the-best-way-to-hold-customers-is-to-constantly-figure-out-how-to/) [Philip Kotler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-kotler/) > [Corporations invest in sophisticated CRM, or Customer Relationship Management, programs to effectively oversee their relationship with their customers at every point during the buying…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marc-ostrofsky/corporations-invest-in-sophisticated-crm-or-customer-relationship/) [Marc Ostrofsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marc-ostrofsky/) > [One of the Internet's highest-profile companies, Priceline once dreamed of transforming the way consumer goods are bought and sold by offering customers the chance…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alex-berenson/one-of-the-internet-s-highest-profile-companies-priceline-once/) [Alex Berenson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alex-berenson/) > [If we get better our customers will demand we get bigger.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/s-truett-cathy/if-we-get-better-our-customers-will-demand-we-get-bigger/) [S. 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When you treat them right they will treat your outside customers right.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herb-kelleher/you-have-to-treat-your-employees-like-your-customers-when-you-treat/) [Herb Kelleher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herb-kelleher/) Browse all 2,036 Customers quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "If we don't understand our tools, then there is a danger we will become the tool of our tools. 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