265 Quotes by Douglas Rushkoff

If we could stop thinking of 'meaning' and 'purpose' as artifacts of some divine creative act and see them instead as the yield of our own creative future, they become goals, intentions and processes very much in reach rather than the shadows of childlike, superstitious mythology.

Corporations [gained] direct access to what we may think of as our humanity, emotions, and agency but, in this context, are really just buttons.

The company's stellar growth revived more than a few economic sectors, as well as a few neighborhoods.

Growth is good, at least for those doing the growing.

Chinese laborers "finish" smartphones by wiping off any fingerprints with a highly toxic solvent proven to shorten the workers lives. That's how valuable it is for consumers to believe their devices have been assembled by magic rather than by the fingers of underpaid and poisoned children.

When human beings acquired language, we learned not just how to listen but how to speak. When we gained literacy, we learned not just how to read but how to write. And as we move into an increasingly digital reality, we must learn not just how to use programs but how to make them. In the emerging highly programmed landscape ahead, you will either create the software or you will be the software. It’s really that simple: Program, or be programmed.

If we don't truly know what something is programmed to do, chances are it is programming us. Once that happens, we may as well be machines ourselves.

Cynical views of humans as a mindless mob, incapable of behaving intelligently and peacefully, are used to justify keeping us apart and denying us roles as autonomous actors.

It's not that Twitter isn't successful, it just isn't successful enough to justify all the money investors have pumped into it.