Stewart Brand

library window

“A library doesn't need windows. A library is a window.”

― Stewart Brand

science news magazine politics economics newness

“Science is the only news. When you scan a news portal or magazine, all the human interest stuff is the same old he-said-she-said, the politics and economics the same cyclical dramas, the fashions a pathetic illusion of newness; even the technology is predictable if you know the science behind it. Human nature doesn't change much; science does, and the change accrues, altering the world irreversibly”

― Stewart Brand

information free

“Information wants to be free.”

― Stewart Brand

bacteria planet

“If you don't like bacteria, you're on the wrong planet.”

― Stewart Brand

function reform form

“Function reforms form, perpetually.”

― Stewart Brand

liberty vigilance

“Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty”

― Stewart Brand

technology roll steamroller road

“Once a new technology rolls over you, if you're not part of the steamroller, you're part of the road.”

― Stewart Brand

climate change urbanizartion biotechnology century

“Climate change. Urbanization. Biotechnology. Those three narratives, still taking shape, are developing a long arc likely to dominate this century.”

― Stewart Brand

Net crucial down defend civilization survival

“if the Net is so crucial, what happens if the Net goes down? It may have to go down a few times before we learn how to defend it properly, before we catch on that civilization depends on it for survival.”

― Stewart Brand

urgent important fast slow superficial deep

"The urgent finds you; you have to find the important. Importance is not fast. It is slow. It is not superficial. It is deep. And as a result, it's extremely powerful. When important matters go wrong, they undermine everything. When they go right, they sustain everything."

― Stewart Brand

human computer ignore convenient

"Do what's good for humans, modeled on how humans already do things; ignore what's convenient for computers."

― Stewart Brand

building finish start

"A building is not something you finish. A building is something you start."

― Stewart Brand

building prediction wrong

"All buildings are predictions. All predictions are wrong."

― Stewart Brand

interview public figure question wrong change honesty

"Every interview with a public figure should include the question 'What have you been wrong about, and how did that change your views?'

The answer will tell us if the person is intellectually honest or a tale spinner with delusions of infallibility."

― Stewart Brand

civilization attention mismatch environment

"Civilization’s shortening attention span is mismatched with the pace of environmental problems."

― Stewart Brand

generation talk itself folly

"When a generation talks just to itself, it becomes more filled with folly than it might have otherwise."

― Stewart Brand