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 More Quotes by Stewart Brand More Quotes From Stewart Brand A library doesn't need windows. A library is a window. Stewart Brand library window needs 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 stress powerful time Once a new technology rolls over you, if you're not part of the steamroller, you're part of the road. Stewart Brand service-culture technology over-you 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 problem absence world 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 fighting two hands 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 predictions building 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 motivation energy inspiration 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 smart clever funny Do what's good for humans, modeled on how humans already do things; ignore what's convenient for computers. Stewart Brand convenient computer humans 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 honest views answers Information wants to be free, because the cost of getting it out is getting lower and lower all the time. Stewart Brand information cost want 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 cutting technology artist Information wants to be free. Information also wants to be expensive. Stewart Brand information expensive want 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 understanding long thinking Tool - something with a use on one end and a grasp on the other end. Stewart Brand tools ends use When a fantasy turns you on, you're obligated to God and nature to start doing it right away. Stewart Brand god-and-nature fantasy inspirational You own your own words, unless they contain information. In which case they belong to no one. Stewart Brand information cases In our researches on the likely economic apocalypse it's become clear what is the prime survival tool for hard times: friends. Good friends. Lots of them. Stewart Brand good-friend hard-times survival