Archive for the ‘quotes + found writing’ Category

What real revolutions are like

Friday, March 20th, 2009

Clay Shirky has an incredible article about the Newspaper industry failing to come to terms with its own demise. Gems of wisdom abound throughout, but I found this particularly striking:

That is what real revolutions are like. The old stuff gets broken faster than the new stuff is put in its place. The importance of any given experiment isn’t apparent at the moment it appears; big changes stall, small changes spread. Even the revolutionaries can’t predict what will happen.

The old stuff gets broken faster than the new stuff is put in its place; what a fantastic way of thinking about it!

Boogaloo

Tuesday, January 20th, 2004

The dance basically means to do simple weird movements with your feet, hips and body (kinda like speaking in tongues, in dancing). It makes sense only to the dancer who is doing it at the moment. A good example is James Brown.

Sonny Watson’s Dance History

Revelation of Possibility

Tuesday, January 6th, 2004

ah. well, it reminds me of when i get that rush in my chest, as if a giant wave of water and oxygen and possibility were moving through me, connecting me to the past, the future, and other beings.

Sasha

What some of us tech steeped peoples go through from time to time when we think about the possibilities of social technology. A great revelation of the possibility of things. Naively, i feel it is akin to something like satori.

I want to believe this feeling is related to the process of cellularization and interconnection we see in the natural world. That there is a similarity between why we find the view from a mountain top so beautiful and the idea of beings becoming increasingly interconnected so exhilirating. I like to believe it is a deep recognition of an underlying, universal structure.

Germane to recent life philosophies.

Tuesday, December 30th, 2003

Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.

– Robert F. Kennedy

It’s more rewarding biking through a crowded street rather sitting in a padded cyclo. Though both are surely interesting.

Putting People in Possession of Knowledge

Friday, December 26th, 2003

It is one thing to show a man that he is in error, and another to put him in possession of truth.

– John Locke

This quote reminds me how knowledge is passed around in geek communities. It is not enough to explain that someone is wrong, we tend to require backup (references) of our claims and sometimes will forgo even the mention of why someone is wrong and just yellout “RTFM!”.

It appears this line of reasoning is also becoming a staple in grassroot organizations. It is the mantra of truthout (where the quote was found), can be seen as the footnotes in the Daily Misleader, and was one of the operating principles in the Matt Gonzalez mayorial campaign’s attempt to educate the voters (instead of muckrake the opponent).

Perhaps a product of an online world where providing reference links is part of our writing system and a response to the FUD we find ourselves constantly bombarded by.