Clifford Stoll Quotes

Merely that I have a World Wide Web page does not give me any power, any abilities, nor any status in the real world.

Here are my strong reservations about the wave of computer networks. They isolate us from one another and cheapen the meaning of actual experience. They work against literacy and creativity. They undercut our schools and libraries.

I spend almost as much time figuring out what’s wrong with my computer as I do actually using it.

The information highway is being sold to us as delivering information, but what it’s really delivering is data… Unlike data, information has utility, timeliness, accuracy, a pedigree… Editors serve as barometers of quality, and most of an editor’s time is spent saying no.

It’s a great medium for trivia and hobbies, but not the place for reasoned, reflective judgment. Suprisingly often, discussions degenerate into acrimony, insults and flames.

Data isn’t information. … Information, unlike data, is useful. While there’s a gulf between data and information, there’s a wide ocean between information and knowledge. What turns the gears in our brains isn’t information, but ideas, inventions, and inspiration. Knowledge-not information-implies understanding. And beyond knowledge lies what we should be seeking: wisdom.

Computers force us into creating with our minds and prevent us from making things with our hands. They dull the skills we use in everyday life.

When I’m online, I’m alone in a room, tapping on a keyboard, staring at a cathode-ray tube.

The truth is no online database will replace your daily newspaper, no CD-ROM can take the place of a competent teacher and no computer network will change the way government works.

No computer network with pretty graphics can ever replace the salespeople that make our society work.

Electronic communication is an instantaneous and illusory contact that creates a sense of intimacy without the emotional investment that leads to close friendships.

It’s easier to apologize afterwards than getting something allowed in the first place.