Jeremy Rifkin Quotes

People take issue with individual aspects of Wikipedia all the time. But it's kind of hard to hate the general idea of a free encyclopedia. It's like hating kittens.

If you think of the ideas of open source applied to information in an encyclopedia, you get to Wikipedia - lots and lots of small contributions that bubble up to something that's meaningful.

Wikipedia is a non-profit. It was either the dumbest thing I ever did or the smartest thing I ever did.

It turns out a lot of people don't get it. Wikipedia is like rock'n'roll; it's a cultural shift.

Wikipedia is the best thing ever. Anyone in the world can write anything they want about any subject. So you know you are getting the best possible information.

Linux is a complex example of the wisdom of crowds. It's a good example in the sense that it shows you can set people to work in a decentralized way - that is, without anyone really directing their efforts in a particular direction - and still trust that they're going to come up with good answers.

I have always viewed the mission of Wikipedia to be much bigger than just creating a killer website. We're doing that of course, and having a lot of fun doing it, but a big part of what motivates us is our larger mission to affect the world in a positive way.

I don't think Silicon Valley understands the power of Wikipedia, how it works, or the opportunities it represents.

The core of Wikipedia is something people really believe in. That is too valuable for the world to screw it up.

In open-source in general, the power lies in connecting the author of the software directly to users, eliminating the middleman.

A website can be very time-intensive, but I'd love to have one where people can contribute to it - like invent islands and make their own flags, and their own laws. I think that'd be kind of fun.

To continue down the path of comprehensiveness, Wikipedia will need to sustain the astonishing mass fervor of its birth years. Will that be possible? No one knows.

My original concept was to provide a free encyclopedia for every single person in the world.

Wikipedia is a victory of process over substance.

I first met Jimbo Wales, the face of Wikipedia, when he came to speak at Stanford.

We make it easy for anyone to get free resources. Anyone can launch an idea for five minutes. Anyone can comment on, add, and enhance the idea. Need a designer? We provide an entrepreneurial matching system without the bosses getting involved. And in terms of unstructured time, we have a permission for that.

Wikipedia's funny. Some of the stuff on there - I go there occasionally - it's unbelievable the amount of stuff that people will write on there.

Consider this: alms aside, Wikipedia is fueled by competitive pedantry and emo-ness. How great is that?

I have really become a huge believer in the power of open source.

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

Wikipedia celebrates its 12th birthday today. Of course, I have no idea if it's true. I read it on Wikipedia.

Oh, Wikipedia, with your tension between those who would share knowledge and those who would destroy it.

Think of how Wikipedia works, how Amazon harnesses user annotation on its site, the way photo-sharing sites like Flickr are bleeding out into other applications. We're entering an era in which software learns from its users and all of the users are connected.

The revolution here is from hierarchical to lateral power. That's the power shift. So increasingly a younger generation that's grown up on the internet and now increasingly distributing renewable energies, they're measuring politics in terms of a struggle between centralized, hierarchical, top-down and closed and proprietary, versus distributed, open, collaborative, transparent. This shift, from hierarchical to lateral power, is going to change the way we live, the way we educate our children, and the way we govern the world.

I try to always be open to what the actors want to try. I don't storyboard and try to be intuitive and open on the day of filming.