#oft

Human beings either function as individuals or as members of a pack. There's a switch inside us, deep in our spirit, that you can turn one way or the other. It's almost always the case that our worst behaviour comes out when we're switched to the mob setting. The problem with a lot of software designs is that they switch us to that setting. ↗

— Jaron Lanier

#always #behaviour #beings #case #comes

Technologists provide tools that can improve people's lives. But I want to be clear that I don't think technology by itself improves people's lives, since often I'm criticized for being too pro-technology. Unless there's commensurate ethical and moral improvements to go along with it, it's for naught. ↗

— Jaron Lanier

#being #clear #commensurate #criticized #ethical

The basic problem is that web 2.0 tools are not supportive of democracy by design. They are tools designed to gather spy-agency-like data in a seductive way, first and foremost, but as a side effect they tend to provide software support for mob-like phenomena. ↗

— Jaron Lanier

#data #democracy #design #designed #effect

Google, Microsoft and Yahoo should be developing new technologies to bypass government sensors and barriers to the Internet; but instead, they agreed to guard the gates themselves. ↗

— Tom Lantos

#barriers #bypass #developing #gates #google

I know what kind of things I myself have been irritated by in detective stories. They are often about one or two persons, but they don't describe anything in the society outside. ↗

— Steig Larsson

#anything #been #describe #detective #detective stories

Poisons and medicine are oftentimes the same substance given with different intents. ↗

— Peter Latham

#given #intents #medicine #oftentimes #poisons

We do very little re-writing in the office. We often take on people who show great promise and who we hope will develop into somebody important and someone good. ↗

— James Laughlin

#good #great #hope #important #into

Often something comes in from which you can see that the person is good, the book may not be perfect as it is, and the person doesn't want to do a re-write. That's something we do almost nothing of. ↗

— James Laughlin

#book #comes #good #may #nothing

To this day I always insist on working out a problem from the beginning without reading up on it first, a habit that sometimes gets me into trouble but just as often helps me see things my predecessors have missed. ↗

— Robert B. Laughlin

#beginning #day #first #gets #habit

I have my moments. Ever since I was a boy, I never was someone who was at ease with happiness. Too often I embrace introspection and self-doubt. I wish I could embrace the good things. ↗

— Hugh Laurie

#could #ease #embrace #ever #good