Civilization’s shortening attention span is mismatched with the pace of environmental problems. Stewart Brand More Quotes by Stewart Brand More Quotes From Stewart Brand A library doesn't need windows. A library is a window. Stewart Brand librarywindowneeds 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 stresspowerfultime Once a new technology rolls over you, if you're not part of the steamroller, you're part of the road. Stewart Brand service-culturetechnologyover-you Humans have made a huge hole in nature in the last 10,000 years. [With de-extinction,] we have the ability now, and maybe the moral obligation, to repair some of the damage. Stewart Brand extinctionlastsyears The great problem with the future is that we die there. This is why it is so hard to take the future personally, especially the longer future, because that world is suffused with our absence. Stewart Brand problemabsenceworld On the one hand information wants to be expensive, because it's so valuable. The right information in the right place just changes your life. On the other hand, information wants to be free, because the cost of getting it out is getting lower and lower all the time. So you have these two fighting against each other. Stewart Brand fightingtwohands A building is not something you finish. A building is something you start. Stewart Brand building All buildings are predictions. All predictions are wrong. Stewart Brand predictionsbuilding If all of your electricity in your lifetime came from nuclear [energy], the waste from that lifetime of electricity would go in a Coke can. Stewart Brand motivationenergyinspiration Whenever I hear the word "share" I would reach for a gun if I had one. "Share" is frequently followed by the word "feelings", and I have enough of my own thank you; please do us both a favor and repress yours. Stewart Brand smartcleverfunny Do what's good for humans, modeled on how humans already do things; ignore what's convenient for computers. Stewart Brand convenientcomputerhumans 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 honestviewsanswers Information wants to be free, because the cost of getting it out is getting lower and lower all the time. Stewart Brand informationcostwant For artists diving into a new technology, it is a triple short-cut to mastery: you get a free ride on the novelty of the medium; there are no previous masters to surpass; and after a few weeks, you are the master. Try that with the violin. Stewart Brand cuttingtechnologyartist Information wants to be free. Information also wants to be expensive. Stewart Brand informationexpensivewant We can influence the future but not see it. Stewart Brand influence The point is to explore whatever may be helpful for thinking, understanding, and acting responsibly over long periods of time. Stewart Brand understandinglongthinking Tool - something with a use on one end and a grasp on the other end. Stewart Brand toolsendsuse When a fantasy turns you on, you're obligated to God and nature to start doing it right away. Stewart Brand god-and-naturefantasyinspirational You own your own words, unless they contain information. In which case they belong to no one. Stewart Brand informationcases
