It's even hard for people to imagine today that telephones were wired, and they certainly were and you went to the end of a wire to make a phone call.

I've spent my whole life worrying about the human-computer interface, so I don't want to suggest that what we have today is even close to acceptable.

Where do new ideas come from? The answer is simple: differences. While there are many theories of creativity, the only tenet they all share is that creativity comes from unlikely juxtapositions. The best way to maximize differences is to mix ages, cultures, and disciplines.

If you were to hire household staff to cook, clean, drive, stoke the fire, and answer the door, can you imagine suggesting that they not talk to each other, not see what each other is doing, not coordinate their functions?

The notion of collective contribution, like the Wikipedia, is a very powerful one.

Linux is its own worst enemy: it's splintered, it has different distributions, it's too complex to run for most people.

The ability to make big leaps of thought is a common denominator among the originators of breakthrough ideas.