Steven Levy Quotes

Powerful Steven Levy for Daily Growth

About Steven Levy

Steven Levy is an acclaimed American author, journalist, and technology historian, renowned for his insightful analysis and engaging narrative style in covering the rapidly evolving world of computers and the internet. Born on July 13, 1954, in New York City, Levy developed a passion for technology at a young age. He graduated from Yale University with a Bachelor's degree in English, where he honed his writing skills that would later become instrumental in his work as an author and journalist. Levy's career began in the early 1980s when he joined the staff of Rolling Stone magazine, covering both music and technology. His first major book, "Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution" (1984), introduced the world to the counterculture movement that birthed modern computing. The book remains a classic in the field. In 1987, Levy joined Newsweek as their technology correspondent and continued to produce significant works such as "Artificial Life: A Guide to the Living on the Edge of Art, Science, and Commerce" (1992) and "The Unicode Standard: The Universal Character Set for the Information Age" (1997), co-authored with Ken Lunde. One of Levy's most notable works is "In the Plex: How Google Thinks, Works, and Shapes Our Lives" (2011), an in-depth look at the inner workings of Google. His latest book, "Face Value: The Hidden Ways America's Most Iconic Company Understands You" (2020), delves into Facebook's influence on society and individual privacy. Throughout his career, Levy has been recognized for his ability to bridge the gap between technology and the general public, making complex topics accessible and engaging for readers. His work continues to inspire and educate, offering valuable insights into the world of technology and its impact on our lives.

Interpretations of Popular Quotes

"Cyberspace is not a place you go, but something you do."

This quote by Steven Levy suggests that cyberspace isn't a physical location to be visited like a city or a country, but rather it represents an activity or behavior that involves interacting with digital information and networks. It underscores the idea that our engagement in the online world is not limited to specific geographical boundaries, but transcends them, making cyberspace a universal and dynamic space for human interaction and experience.

"The computer for individuals at home is the television set for the '80s."

This quote signifies that just as the television became a common household item in the 1980s, revolutionizing entertainment and information consumption, computers were expected to become an essential household appliance during the same era, transforming the way individuals interact with information and technology. It suggests that personal computing was expected to have the same profound impact on society as television did.

"Every new technology turns the old world into a wasteland of obsolete earlier technologies."

This quote by Steven Levy suggests that with each new advancement in technology, existing technologies become outdated and less useful or relevant. The progression of technology, while creating exciting opportunities for innovation, can leave older systems behind, making them seemingly redundant or obsolete. This is a natural consequence of technological evolution, as we continually strive to improve efficiency, functionality, and connectivity in our world. However, it's important to remember that understanding this cycle helps us navigate the changes brought by new technologies more effectively.

"A great deal of the intelligence of computers consists in just ignoring things."

This quote highlights the selective nature of computer's "intelligence", emphasizing that computers, to function efficiently, often disregard irrelevant or unnecessary information, focusing solely on the data essential for the task at hand. Essentially, Steven Levy is illustrating how computers have a unique ability to filter out distractions and concentrate on specific tasks, making them highly effective problem solvers in our digital world.

"In the computer industry, there's always a market for products that are not quite as good as they ought to be."

This quote suggests that in the tech industry, there is often an audience willing to purchase products that do not meet their full potential or ideal standards. This could be due to various factors such as lack of competition, novelty effect, affordability, or the users' perceived need to keep up with technological advancements. However, it also highlights a potential issue where companies may prioritize profit over delivering truly high-quality, fully-featured products, leading to a market filled with slightly subpar offerings.

Two thoughts occur to just about any parent whose child is about to enter college. The first is, 'I can't believe how quickly the years have gone by.' The second: 'I can't believe how much it costs.' As one of those parents, I did my best to get past the disturbing first thought and tried to calm my churning stomach while dealing with the second.

- Steven Levy

College, Parent, Thought, Churning

Just as we have what used to be supercomputers in our pockets, our homes now require the telecommunications infrastructure of a small city.

- Steven Levy

City, Small, Infrastructure, Pockets

Right after the keynote in which Steve Jobs introduced the iPod Shuffle, I went backstage with one question in mind: What makes an iPod an iPod? By then - January 11, 2005 - I had staked my own claim to iPod expertise, having written a 'Newsweek' cover story about Apple's transformational music player, and I was writing a book on it.

- Steven Levy

Book, Own, About, Newsweek

Just as the cable revolution overturned broadcast, the net is destined to become the dominant mode of video, both in terms of transit and programming.

- Steven Levy

Dominant, Video, Broadcast, Transit

Inevitably, we will spend a multiple of the amount we used to drop on a new router once the old one petered out. The New Wifi is the $5 latte to the standard cup of coffee.

- Steven Levy

New, Drop, Standard, Old One

For many years, when people described how the Internet worked - whether they were talking about shopping, communicating, or starting a business there - they inevitably invoked a single metaphor. The Internet, said just about everybody, was a contemporary incarnation of the wild, wild West.

- Steven Levy

Talking, Everybody, About, Wild West

No company has embraced the liberating aspects of the Internet as a 'new marketplace of ideas' more than the search giant Google.

- Steven Levy

New, More, Marketplace, Liberating

Fast, cheap, abundant broadband is a fantastic economic accelerator, enabling breakout businesses and kick-starting new industries.

- Steven Levy

New, Enabling, Accelerator, Fantastic

No one in Silicon Valley loves virtual reality or believes in its future as much as Clay Bavor.

- Steven Levy

Clay, Loves, Virtual, Silicon

Every great device, gadget, electric car, and robot would be even greater if batteries didn't suck so badly.

- Steven Levy

Batteries, Badly, Gadget, Robot

Amazon is definitely serious about delivering its goods by an autonomous air force.

- Steven Levy

Amazon, Delivering, About, Air Force

After a few days with the iPhone X, I can begin to make out its themes. It's a step towards fading the actual physical manifestation of technology into a mist where it's just there - a phone that's 'all screen,' one that turns on simply by seeing you, one that removes the mechanics of buttons and charging cables.

- Steven Levy

I Can, Out, Screen, Mist

I think that the most beautiful thing lately hasn't been in hardware or software per se but collaboration - the idea behind Napster, which uses the distributed power of the Internet as its engine.

- Steven Levy

Behind, Been, I Think, Distributed

When superpower countries like the United States and the former Soviet Union contemplated moving their conflicts to outer space, there was justifiable fear and dread.

- Steven Levy

Like, United States, Contemplated

How do you show off the most anticipated product in years? That was my dilemma with the iPhone X. Since my unit was one of the first few released into the wild, it naturally drew a lot of curiosity when I pulled it out of my pocket and gave it a dewy-eyed glance to wake it from slumber.

- Steven Levy

Out, Years, Show, Glance

Because Facebook can't exist without AI, it needs all its engineers to build with it.

- Steven Levy

Build, Needs, Exist, AI

Even though chess isn't the toughest thing that computers will tackle for centuries, it stood as a handy symbol for human intelligence. No matter what human-like feat computers perform in the future, the Deep Blue match demands an indelible dot on all timelines of AI progress.

- Steven Levy

Deep, Symbol, Dot, AI

As technology tries to maintain its dizzying ascent, one dead weight has kept its altitude in check: the battery.

- Steven Levy

Maintain, Altitude, Tries, Ascent

With the iPod - Apple's first successful stab at market dominance - Apple had begun with a high price but quickly dropped it.

- Steven Levy

Begun, Quickly, Dropped, High Price

The fact that biological, or 'natural' rules might help in the creation of a computer generated work of art is interesting, but even a wonderful work of art made in this fashion isn't the same as a person, with all his or her experiences and emotions involved, making art.

- Steven Levy

Rules, Fact, Computer, Biological

The myth of the peachfuzz billionaire has emerged. This new Horatio Alger typically launches his first start-up in middle school, and somewhere between the campus computer-science lab and a move to Palo Alto hacks up a Web site where users provide fun or useful content.

- Steven Levy

Somewhere, Emerged, Lab, Alto

The world is poised on the cusp of an economic and cultural shift as dramatic as that of the Industrial Revolution.

- Steven Levy

Cultural, Industrial, Cusp, Economic

Implanting a microchip inside the brain to augment its mental powers has long been a science fiction trope.

- Steven Levy

Mental, Fiction, Been, Science Fiction

The rush into scripted video by tech giants is going to accelerate an evolution of entertainment that's already underway. We're already moving away from the idea that drama is a 60-minute exercise with four bathroom breaks.

- Steven Levy

Entertainment, Away, Idea, Giants

This paradox of vision - the genius of youthful ignorance - is nothing new. Had Bill Gates not been in diapers in the early days of computer software, he might have understood that there could never be a market for consumer software - but the 19-year-old Gates went ahead and cofounded Microsoft.

- Steven Levy

Software, Been, Early Days, Consumer

The vast majority of Americans perform sophisticated digital tasks on a daily basis. Grandmas and grandpas e-mail digital photos of their cruise trip and IM their kids in school. So a politician admitting that he or she can't bother to learn those things indicates a horse-and-buggy mentality.

- Steven Levy

Trip, Sophisticated, Photos, Tasks

Normally, my digital peregrinations take me to destinations like Facebook, YouTube, and boingboing.net.

- Steven Levy

Digital, YouTube, Take, Normally

Through a mix of market forces and regulation, we've brought civilization to the electronic provinces.

- Steven Levy

Through, Market, Provinces, Mix

What made the days leading up to the iPhone launch even crazier was that Apple had pulled off the greatest disappearing act in tech promotion history. In January 2007, Jobs announced the long-awaited iPhone. But somewhere that winter, the iPhone vanished.

- Steven Levy

Winter, Leading, Had, January

Steve Ballmer never used to be someone who let facts speak for themselves. In the 1990s, he was the hyper-energetic Microsoft exec yelling 'Developers! Developers! Developers!' at an all-hands meeting in Safeco field.

- Steven Levy

Developers, Used, Yelling, 1990s

We were promised a society of philosophers. But the Blogosphere is looking more and more like a nation of ankle-biters.

- Steven Levy

Society, Nation, Like, Philosophers

All through the 1980s, Apple kept its prices high. There were many reasons Microsoft's much bigger user base managed to resist moving to the GUI - but price was high among them.

- Steven Levy

Bigger, Through, Reasons, Base

Twitter provides a platform that allows anyone on the planet - from a political activist in the Middle East to an intemperate golfer in the White House - to broadcast his or her thoughts.

- Steven Levy

Middle, Activist, Broadcast, Golfer

Technology writers are seldom subject to frenzied, Beatlemania-esque paroxysms of public attention. June 29, 2007, was the exception. I was in the wrong place - Apple's Fifth Avenue store in Manhattan - with the right device. The iPhone.

- Steven Levy

Apple, Exception, Subject, Device

Is it possible for Apple or anyone else to rule in the mobile realm the way Microsoft did on the desktop? The way to do this is to go mass-market with a device that can do anything the others can do.

- Steven Levy

Go, Mobile, Rule, Device

The iPod Shuffle was something unique for Apple: a device stripped down to a single function.

- Steven Levy

Unique, Single, Apple, Device

Apple's iPod success led them to believe an even bigger breakthrough was possible with the iPhone. In some respects, the iPhone hype overwhelmed even Apple.

- Steven Levy

Bigger, Some, Breakthrough, Respects

Our chips keep getting faster, and our data rates keep climbing, but at the end of the day - or worse, by mid-afternoon - those power meters on our screens inevitably turn to red.

- Steven Levy

Data, Chips, Rates, Climbing

Since the iPhone, the most transformative products have not been gadgets but services. Facebook, Twitter, and Snapchat have changed lives, but they didn't launch to massive fanfare.

- Steven Levy

Facebook, Been, Lives, Changed

Barack Obama was a president who understood not only how technology could transform the way government services worked but also technology itself. He got it.

- Steven Levy

Could, Obama, Also, Understood

Though the first iPhone was expensive, it was such a refreshing new product that early users flocked to it.

- Steven Levy

New, Product, Though, Refreshing

Computer technology is so built into our lives that it's part of the surround of every artist.

- Steven Levy

Artist, Lives, Built, Surround

To political technocrats, 2008 marks the maturation of 'microtargeting' - a technique that, if things are as close in November as expected, may well affect who takes the White House.

- Steven Levy

May, Affect, November, Marks

We might enjoy essays, TED talks, and even Facebook posts bemoaning our dependency on tech, but judging by our enthusiastic adoption of these services, we're all in.

- Steven Levy

Might, Dependency, Tech, Essays

The iPhone was such a phenomenon that even the humble journalists chosen for an early look were thrust into a spotlight.

- Steven Levy

Humble, iPhone, Phenomenon, Thrust

Microtargeting, as its name implies, is a way to identify small but crucial groups of voters who might be won over to a given side, and which messages would do the trick.

- Steven Levy

Small, Over, Which, Implies

I am old enough to have grown up glued to a screen offering only three alternatives, each of which was an all-powerful national network that seemed permanently ensconced in the entertainment stratosphere.

- Steven Levy

Entertainment, Which, Seemed, Permanently

In the history of U.S. elections, the fall of 2000 is notorious for the debacle that occurred in the country's attempt to elect a president that year.

- Steven Levy

Country, Notorious, Occurred, Elect

Every year, I come to TED prepared to roll my eyes a lot at the beginning, but knowing that at some point in the intellectual marathon, my brain will buckle to the cascade of ideas and bend to the painstakingly rehearsed presentations.

- Steven Levy

Beginning, Year, Some, Cascade

Internet-centric companies have already begun changing the rules with binge-watching, flexible running times, fewer commercials, and crowd-sourced content. The brainpower - and just plain power - of the most valued tech firms will change things even more.

- Steven Levy

Rules, Begun, Fewer, Flexible

Wifi was never supposed to be a big thing and certainly not a thing that would become as vital to a home as indoor plumbing.

- Steven Levy

Big, Plumbing, Certainly, Indoor

Facebook takes it as a core truth that sharing and connecting is a force that will improve the world.

- Steven Levy

Truth, World, Core, Connecting

There's plenty to admire in the iPhone X straight from the unboxing. The biggest change stares you in the face: that screen, that screen.

- Steven Levy

Change, Admire, Screen, iPhone

Everyone in the tech business, from Kleiner Perkins venture capitalist John Doerr on down, says that the ruination of the industry, if not the entire country, will come from the inability to hire more brainiacs from countries like China and India.

- Steven Levy

Country, China And India, Perkins

Generally, TED speakers are believers in the scientific method.

- Steven Levy

Scientific, Ted, Method, Speakers

Who wants to broadcast the news that he's bought a can of Sprite? And who wants to see that on a News Feed?

- Steven Levy

News, See, Broadcast, Feed

My favorite thing to do with my iPod was to shuffle my entire music collection and marvel at what songs came next. Sometimes the segues would be so perfect that it seemed a genius deejay was behind the wheel.

- Steven Levy

Behind, Perfect, Next, Favorite Thing

Google serves all of humanity with information within milliseconds.

- Steven Levy

Information, Google, Within, Humanity

It's almost impossible to totally eliminate terrible content in a huge open network.

- Steven Levy

Impossible, Almost, Huge, Network

Facebook has never been shy about its ambitions.

- Steven Levy

Shy, Never, Been, Ambition

As an open system, Android is not under the tight control of its creator, Google.

- Steven Levy

Android, System, Creator, Tight

There has never been an unexpectedly short debugging period in the history of computers.

- Steven Levy

Never, Been, Period, Unexpectedly

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