"Memory has always been social. Now we're using search engines and computers to augment our memories, too."
About Clive Thompson
Clive Thompson — Life and Legacy
Clive Thompson is a prominent journalist and author whose work explores the intersection of technology and society. His book 'Smarter Than You Think' delves into how digital tools enhance our cognitive abilities and creativity. Thompson's core idea is that technology, rather than diminishing our intellect, can actually augment it. He famously stated, 'We are all cyborgs now,' emphasizing our deep reliance on technology in everyday life. This perspective challenges the notion that technology isolates us, instead suggesting it fosters new forms of connection and collaboration. Thompson's insights reveal a nuanced understanding of the digital age, where he argues that play and exploration are crucial for learning and innovation. His assertion that 'the best way to predict the future is to invent it' encourages a proactive approach to technological change, urging individuals to engage with and shape their environments. This mindset is particularly relevant today as society navigates the complexities of digital communication and social media. Ultimately, Thompson's quotes and ideas resonate with those grappling with the implications of technology in their lives, offering a hopeful perspective on how we can harness these tools for personal and collective growth.
Quote collection
Clive Thompson quotes
10 quotes — follow a thought to its full quote page.
"Ambient awareness is the experience of knowing what's going on in the lives of other people - what they're thinking about, what they're doing, what they're looking at - by paying attention to the small stray status messages that people are putting online. We're now able to stitch together these fantastic details and mental maps of what is going on in other people's lives."
"A huge amount of our everyday thinking - powerful, creative, and resonant stuff - is done socially: talking to other people, arguing with them, relying on them to recall information for us."
"The humanitarian developers behind World of Warcraft have also discovered a way to bribe gamers into turning off their computers and going outside. If you log off for a few days, your character will be more rested when you resume playing, a mode that temporarily speeds up your leveling."
"PowerPoint presentations, the cesspool of data visualization that Microsoft has visited upon the earth. PowerPoint, indeed, is a cautionary tale in our emerging data literacy. It shows that tools matter: Good ones help us think well and bad ones do the opposite. Ever since it was first released in 1990, PowerPoint has become an omnipresent tool for showing charts and info during corporate presentations."
"As Lee Rainie and Barry Wellman document in their book Networked, people who are heavily socially active online tend to be also heavily socially active offline; they’re just, well, social people."
"Type as quickly as you can and always carry a pencil."
"That's the old ecological tale that explains humans' inability to fully appreciate global warming. To wit: if you drop a frog in a pan of hot water, it jumps out. If you drop it in a pan of cold water, then turn the heat up slowly, you can roast it to death."
"When you broadcast your book reading voluntarily, it creates moments of fascinating serendipity."
"More than any other modern tool, computers are a total mystery to their users. Most people never open them up to fix them or to see how they work."