133 Quotes by Esther Dyson

People have to understand that they can reject technology. They can turn off their cell phone. They can stop looking at their e-mail. It’s there if they want it. It’s not being forced on them.

People still have a choice, but, if they find it all too confusing, or they just want someone else to make a choice for them, there’s a default that works pretty well. That’s this concept of libertarian paternalism. And it’s handy.

From the business point of view – not to overstate it – intellectual property is dead; long live intellectual process. Long live service; long live performance.

Owning the intellectual property is like owning land: You need to keep investing in it again and again to get a payoff; you can’t simply sit back and collect rent.

We invented our computers in the ’80s. We networked them together in the ’90s. Now we’re giving them eyes, ears and sensory organs. And we’re asking them to observe and manipulate the world on our behalf.

Oh, that all the things my father had told me about how disgusting Washington is are true. And again it’s the system – there are lots of nice, well-meaning people there. But it’s a sleazy place. And politics is all about doing favors.

I think copyright is moral, proper. I think a creator has the right to control the disposition of his or her works – I actually believe that the financial issue is less important than the integrity of the work, the attribution, that kind of stuff.

In the sense that people who produce things and work get rewarded, statistically. You don’t get rewarded precisely for your effort, but in Russia you got rewarded for being alive, but not very well rewarded.

Dyson’s Law: Do ask; don’t lie.