Creativity is enhanced by less-than-perfect control over what content is on the network.

When government disappears, its not as if paradise will take its place. When governments are gone, other interests will take their place.

We are on the cusp of this time where I can say, "I speak as a citizen of the world" without others saying, "God, what a nut."

A free culture is not a culture without property; it is not a culture in which artists don't get paid. A culture without property, or in which creators can't get paid, is anarchy, not freedom. Anarchy is not what I advance here. Instead, the free culture that I defend in this book is a balance between anarchy and control.

I don't support direct democracy because I want a life, and that means I want to select people who work for me who do that sort of work for me.

As more and more citizens express what they think, and defend it in writing, that will change the way people understand public issues. It is easy to be wrong and misguided in your head. It is harder when the product of your mind can be criticized by others. Of course, it is a rare human who admits that he has been persuaded that he is wrong. But it is even rarer for a human to ignore when he has been proven wrong. The writing of ideas, arguments, and criticism improves democracy.

One great feature of modern society is the institutionalized respect we give to processes designed to destroy the past.