The Boy Who Could Change the World Quotes

“a piece of knowledge, unlike a piece of physical property, can be shared by large groups of people without making anybody poorer.”
― Aaron Swartz, The Boy Who Could Change the World: The Writings of Aaron Swartz

“The scary thing is that the more open our markets get, the faster people can move their money around and the more trading is based on this kind of speculation instead of serious analysis. And that’s scary because—recall—the whole point of the stock market is to decide the crucial question of what we, as a society, should build for the future. As Keynes says, “When the capital development of a country becomes a by-product of the activities of a casino, the job is likely to be ill-done.”
― Aaron Swartz, The Boy Who Could Change the World: The Writings of Aaron Swartz

“There is no justice in following unjust laws.”
― Aaron Swartz, The Boy Who Could Change the World: The Writings of Aaron Swartz

“Transparency can be a powerful thing, but not in isolation. So, let’s stop passing the buck by saying our job is just to get the data out there and it’s other people’s job to figure out how to use it. Let’s decide that our job is to fight for good in the world. I’d love to see all these amazing resources go to work on that.”
― Aaron Swartz, The Boy Who Could Change the World: The Writings of Aaron Swartz

“Indeed, school was so important that the mill owners quickly decided to make it mandatory. “No language of ours can convey too strongly our sense of the dangers which wait us from [those who] are not and have never been members of our public schools,” warned the Lowell School Committee. Universal schooling is “our surest safety against internal commotions.”‡”
― Aaron Swartz, The Boy Who Could Change the World: The Writings of Aaron Swartz

“In other words, instead of providing a place for a group of like-minded people to come together, magazines provide a sampling of what a group of like-minded people might say in such an instance so that you can pretend you’re part of them.”
― Aaron Swartz, The Boy Who Could Change the World: The Writings of Aaron Swartz

“The indoctrination centers (notably schools) weren’t doing their job properly and so a back-to-basics approach with more rote memorization of meaningless facts and less critical thinking and intellectual development was needed. This was mainly done under the guise of “accountability,” for both students and teachers.”
― Aaron Swartz, The Boy Who Could Change the World: The Writings of Aaron Swartz

“The director J. D. Walsh says good stories should be like the poster for Transformers. There’s a huge evil robot on the left side of the poster and a huge, big army on the right side of the poster. And in the middle, at the bottom, there’s just a small family trapped in the middle. Big stories need human stakes.”
― Aaron Swartz, The Boy Who Could Change the World: The Writings of Aaron Swartz

“Think deeply about things.
Don't just go along because that's the way things are or that's what your friends say.
Consider the effects, consider the alternatives, but most importantly, just think.”
― Aaron Swartz, The Boy Who Could Change the World: The Writings of Aaron Swartz