As information technology becomes millions of times more powerful, any particular use of it becomes correspondingly cheaper. Thus, it has become commonplace to expect online services (not just news, but 21st century treats like search or social networking) to be given for free, or rather, in exchange for acquiescence to being spied on.

A remarkable thing about the Silicon Valley culture is that its status structure is so based on technical accomplishment and prowess.

Mobs and dictators were made for each other, and when mobs appear, dictators will soon flourish.

When you have a global mush, people lose their identity, they become pseudonyms, they have no investment and no consequence in what they do.

If we allow our self-congratulatory adoration of technology to distract us from our own contact with each other, then somehow the original agenda has been lost.

I'd much rather see a world where, when you make some quirky comment on a blog or news story or you upload a video clip, instead of just a moment of fame for your pseudonym, you'll get 50 bucks. The first time that happens, you'll realise that you're a full-class citizen. You have the potential to make money from the system.

If you're old enough to have a job and to have a life, you use Facebook exactly as advertised, you look up old friends.