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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.

Esther Dyson

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Esther Dyson
Age: 73
Born: 1951
Born: July 14
Business Executive
Journalist
City of Zurich
World
Benefit
Benefits
Internet
Grow
System
Corrupted
Grows
Stale
Wells
Rigid
Well
Designed

More quotes by Esther Dyson

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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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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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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.
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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.
Esther Dyson
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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 would much rather see responsibilities exercised by individuals than have them imposed by the government.
Esther Dyson
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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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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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From the business point of view—not to overstate it—intellectual property is dead long live intellectual process. Long live service long live performance.
Esther Dyson
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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.
Esther Dyson
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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.
Esther Dyson
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Part of the problem is when we bring in a new technology we expect it to be perfect in a way that we don't expect the world that we're familiar with to be perfect.
Esther Dyson
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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.
Esther Dyson
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As long as a government can come and shoot you, you can't jump on the Internet to freedom.
Esther Dyson
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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.
Esther Dyson
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The best investor is your customer.
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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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.
Esther Dyson
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I think we really made a mistake in separating the Internet from capitalism in a certain way that is bad for our country.
Esther Dyson
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Change means that what was before wasn't perfect. People want things to be better.
Esther Dyson