To have a discussion about the plusses and minuses of various forms of group action, though, is going to require discussing the current tools and services as they exist, rather than discussing their caricatures or simply wishing that they would disappear.

Human beings are social creatures - not occasionally or by accident but always. Sociability is one of our lives as both cause and effect.

Egalitarianism is possible only in small social systems. Once a medium gets past a certain size fame is a forced move.

What you need for a participatory system to work: "a plausible promise, an effective tool, and an acceptable bargain."

Anybody who predicts the death of cities has already met his spouse.

Fame is simply an imbalance between inbound and outbound attention.

The whole, 'Is the internet a good thing or a bad thing'? We're done with that. It's just a thing. How to maximise its civic value, its public good - that's the really big challenge.