It didn't come from the Government down. There was no dictum, no declaration, no censorship, to start with, no! Technology, mass exploitation, and minority pressure carried the trick, thank God.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes that technological advancements and societal pressures, rather than government mandates, drove significant changes in society.
Ray Bradbury highlights how the evolution of technology and the influence of social dynamics can lead to transformative changes without the need for government intervention. He appreciates the natural progression of societal shifts driven by innovation and collective action, suggesting a sense of optimism and gratitude for such organic developments.
In practice
In a discussion about how technology has shaped modern life, you could reference this quote to illustrate that change often comes from grassroots movements rather than top-down mandates.
I've written about 2,000 short stories; I've only published 300 and I feel I'm still learning. Any man who keeps working is not a failure. He may not be a great writer, but if he applies the old fashioned virtues of hard, constant labor, he'll eventually make some kind of career for himself as a writer. Ray Bradbury, 1967 interview (Doing the Math - that means for every story he sold, he wrote six "un-publishable" ones. Keep typing!)
I never went to college, so I went to the library.
There must be something in books, something we canβt imagine, to make a woman stay in a burning house; there must be something there. You donβt stay for nothing.
I think the sun is a flower, That blooms for just one hour.
The first thing a writer should be is - excited. He should be a thing of fevers and enthusiasms. Without such vigor, he might as well be out picking peaches or digging ditches; God knows it'd be better for his health.
You can't try to do things; you simply must do them.
AI is going to be extremely beneficial, and already is, to the field of cybersecurity. It's also going to be beneficial to criminals.
I can't blame modern technology for my predilection for distraction, not after all the hours I've spent watching lost balloons disappear into the clouds. I did it before the Internet, and I'll do it after the apocalypse, assuming we still have helium and weak-gripped children.
By understanding a machine-oriented language, the programmer will tend to use a much more efficient method; it is much closer to reality.
Social media's greatest assets - anonymity, 'virality,' interconnectedness - are also its main weaknesses.
I do not fear computers. I fear the lack of them.
I think when you get older, things come along that you know are a test in some way of your ability to stay with it. And when e-mail came along, I was just going to fall in love with it. And I did. I can't believe it now - it's like one of those ex-husbands that you think, 'What was I thinking?'
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