159 Quotes by Steven Johnson

For decades, we've worked under the assumption that mass culture follows a steadily declining path toward lowest-common-denominator standards, presumably because the 'masses' want dumb, simple pleasures and big media companies want to give the masses what they want.

I have problems with the violence and the torture on '24.' What I'm trying to say is that that's not the only story, and I think that the cognitive complexity is as important.

The problem is, there are definitely some genuinely lame things on television, and there's more at the bottom of the barrel, because the barrel in a sense has gotten bigger.

As much as we sometimes roll our eyes at the ivory-tower isolation of universities, they continue to serve as remarkable engines of innovation.

I love those stretches where I've just been a writer - when I haven't been doing Internet start-ups - where I pretty much eliminate meetings from my life.

Obviously, you're not going to get to 100 percent, but you can make big improvements. The African-American home ownership rate here is 40 percent. Nationally, it's 48 percent. If we can make up that 8 percent, well, that's a good start right there.

Today I dropped a plank of wood on my hand and cut my finger. I had no idea that the correct course of action in such circumstances is to sit on the floor and wait for the world to stop turning so someone could take care of it for you.

I think you need to lower your industrial tax rates.

Some of these folks were in terrible straits. People were put in severe financial jeopardy as a result of incurring incredibly high health care expenses.