slightly uncomfortable, humdrum mintiness
— Highlighted by erin kissane in The Blind Giant: Being Human in a Digital World by Nick Harkaway
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It seems to me that the inherently connected nature of the digital realm that Birkerts talks about is not so much a difference of type as a difference of speed. The pace of analogue discussion is slow, and the number of people involved in the conversation tends to be limited by physical space. Digital, by contrast, allows the same comment to be seen, considered and discussed by an unlimited number of participants at one time.
— Highlighted by erin kissane in The Blind Giant: Being Human in a Digital World by Nick Harkaway
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Books exist to be experienced and that experience is not complete until it is shared; we’re a more profoundly collaborative species (though perhaps not culture) than we generally imagine.
— Highlighted by erin kissane in The Blind Giant: Being Human in a Digital World by Nick Harkaway
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We are not evolved to be readers.
— Highlighted by erin kissane in The Blind Giant: Being Human in a Digital World by Nick Harkaway
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And that false separation of us from our technologies – whether those technologies are physical ones like the iPhone or satellite television, or mental and societal ones like investment banks and governments – lies at the heart of a lot of what makes us unhappy and afraid in our world. One of the great benefits of digital culture is the growing awareness that we are not separate from one another or from the institutions we have made to do things for us.
— Highlighted by erin kissane in The Blind Giant: Being Human in a Digital World by Nick Harkaway
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To explain what I mean by that, I’m going to have to make a brief detour into the relationship between science, technology, society and the individual.
— Highlighted by erin kissane in The Blind Giant: Being Human in a Digital World by Nick Harkaway
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We are also, as a culture – the Western world, from Berlin and Paris to Los Angeles and on to Sydney – somewhat addicted to notions of apocalypse. Perhaps it’s because we’re also prone to lock-in; a crisis brings the opportunity to change the rules, to impose resolution on issues that otherwise simply fester.
— Highlighted by erin kissane in The Blind Giant: Being Human in a Digital World by Nick Harkaway
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It seems facile, in the face of the falling towers, to wonder whether a small white box full of music became a part of the climb back out of the pit. And yet, if not music, what else do you fight horror with?
— Highlighted by erin kissane in The Blind Giant: Being Human in a Digital World by Nick Harkaway
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Red eschewed technological communications and used motorcycle couriers, sacrificing speed of communications for security.
— Highlighted by erin kissane in The Blind Giant: Being Human in a Digital World by Nick Harkaway
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The right answer, obviously, is not to ignore the information, but to solve the problem – and the only way to do that is to begin to take ownership of the consequences of our trade.
— Highlighted by erin kissane in The Blind Giant: Being Human in a Digital World by Nick Harkaway
