Believing we know what makes prosperity work, ignoring the nature of the actual prosperity all around, we change the rules within which the Internet revolution lives. These changes will end the revolution.
Interpretation
The quote warns against altering the foundational rules of the Internet, as it could lead to the downfall of the digital revolution.
Lawrence Lessig's quote highlights the danger of assuming we fully understand the dynamics that drive prosperity in the digital age, particularly within the context of the Internet. When we attempt to change the established rules without appreciating the existing prosperity and innovation that the Internet has fostered, we risk undermining the very revolution that has transformed society. This cautionary statement serves as a reminder that the complexities of the Internet and its impact require respect and careful consideration rather than reckless modification.
In practice
In a tech conference discussing the future of online commerce, this quote could be used to emphasize the importance of maintaining a stable regulatory environment.
And with a practice of writing comes a certain important integrity. A culture filled with bloggers thinks differently about politics or public affairs, if only because more have been forced through the discipline of showing in writing why A leads to B.
In these times, the hardest task for social or political activists is to find a way to get people to wonder again about what we all believe is true. The challenge is to sow doubt.
Overregulation stifles creativity. It smothers innovation. It gives dinosaurs a veto over the future. It wastes the extraordinary opportunity for a democratic creativity that digital technology enables.
So uncritically do we accept the idea of property in culture that we don't even question when the control of that property removes our ability, as a people, to develop our culture democratically.
The war against illegal file-sharing is like the church's age-old war against masturbation. It's a war you just can't win.
Of all the creative work produced by humans anywhere, a tiny fraction has continuing commercial value. For that tiny fraction, the copyright is a crucially important legal device.
The average TV commercial of sixty seconds has one hundred and twenty half-second clips in it, or one-third of a second. We bombard people with sensation. That substitutes for thinking.
There are lots of Linux users who don't care how the kernel works, but only want to use it. That is a tribute to how good Linux is.
There is no such thing as information overload, just bad design. If something is cluttered and/or confusing, fix your design.
Hard numbers tell an important story; user stats and sales numbers will always be key metrics. But every day, your users are sharing a huge amount of qualitative data, too - and a lot of companies either don't know how or forget to act on it.
More than anything else, technology will pave the way for innovative change at Starbucks. The bulk of Starbucks' innovation over the next several years will be technology-focused.
There is a massive apparatus within the United States government that with complete secrecy has been building this enormous structure that has only one goal, and that is to destroy privacy and anonymity, not just in the United States but around the world.
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