The tools that a society uses to create and maintain itself are as central to human life as a hive is to bee life. Though the hive is not part of any individual bee, it is part of the colony, both shaped by and shaping the lives of its inhabitants.

Any system described by a power law [...] has several curious effects. The first is that, by definition, most participants are below average.

[T]he ways in which the information we give off about our selves, in photos and e-mails and MySpace pages and all the rest of it, has dramatically increased our social visibility and made it easier for us to find each other but also to be scrutinized in public.

The more ideas there are in circulation, the more ideas there are for any individual to disagree with. More media always means more arguing.

How we put our collective talents to work is a social issue, not solely a personal one.

Society doesn't need newspapers. What we need is journalism... When we shift our attention from ‘save newspapers’ to ‘save society’, the imperative changes from ‘preserve the current institutions’ to ‘do whatever works.’ And what works today isn’t the same as what used to work.

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