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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.

Esther Dyson

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Esther Dyson
Age: 73
Born: 1951
Born: July 14
Business Executive
Journalist
City of Zurich
True
Washington
Place
Lots
Wells
Meaning
Well
Told
Things
System
People
Nice
Sleazy
Politics
Disgusting
Father
Favors

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Change means that what was before wasn't perfect. People want things to be better.
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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.
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I would much rather see responsibilities exercised by individuals than have them imposed by the government.
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Having seen a non-market economy, I suddenly understood much better what I liked about a market economy.
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New landscape of personal media has given us a vaster wasteland of cyberspace. But, luckily for us, there's some really wonderful stuff in it. And if history is any guide, as the media matures, the quality will continue to go up.
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The best investor is your customer.
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In the space of three weeks, I met a fair bunch of the guys who were just starting those little programmers' co-ops, and everybody was talking about starting businesses.
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But there is a corollary to freedom and that's personal responsibility, and the real challenge is how you generate that personal responsibility without imposing it.
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No system in the world is so well-designed that it can't grow stale, rigid, or corrupted by those who benefit most from it.
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The nature of business and government has been to build a surplus and self-perpetuate, but the Internet fosters and rewards smaller, more fluid organizations.
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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.
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People need to understand that the technology is for them. It's not to them. It's not over them. People still sometimes want to be led a little too much.
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I've seen disgusting excess in business, and I've seen disgusting excess in Washington. But at the same time, I've certainly learned that Washington matters and that you can't ignore it, especially when you get into telecom.
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As an investor in small companies, I don't care how rich Microsoft is. I care about what my opportunities are.
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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.
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As long as a government can come and shoot you, you can't jump on the Internet to freedom.
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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.
Esther Dyson
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I became a real free market fanatic. I'm probably less so now than even two or three years ago.
Esther Dyson
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From the business point of view—not to overstate it—intellectual property is dead long live intellectual process. Long live service long live performance.
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Since I became chairman, I've tried to turn EFF into civil liberties and responsibilities.
Esther Dyson