Geek Heresy: Rescuing Social Change from the Cult of Technology

by Kentaro Toyama

“Talent is universal; opportunity is not,”

Both excessive faith in and frantic fear of technology are regressions to childhood, denials of human responsibility.

Americans consume as much as thirty-five times the natural resources of their developing-country peers.

The “evil” of tyrants and criminals often lies in their tiny circles of concern – they may have positive intentions for their present selves, and possibly for their future selves, but the concern doesn’t extend to others.

At the other extreme, saints have consistent positive intention for a large radius of sentient beings.

The spoiled children of inherited wealth are not particularly wise.

the world needs more people to become better versions of themselves.

To believe in progress doesn’t mean that any country has arrived at the final destination, or even that there is agreement about a single destination.

In 1977, two-thirds of Americans believed that women should not work outside of the home; by 2012, less than one-third of Americans thought so.12

those in the creative class who are born into money “no longer find true status in their wealth and thus try to downplay it.” Instead they seek “the chance to win the esteem and recognition of others in the know.”

their primary worry is not that they’ll lose income, but that they’ll have to settle for “just a job.”

Acknowledging the disparity in status is the basis for vigilance against abuse and exploitation.