Kevin Kelly

Quotes are word for word from the source.

• Ecosystem of Thinking

  “Human minds are societies of minds, in the words of Marvin Minsky. We run on ecosystems of thinking.”

  Our noteDescribing the diverse types of cognition that make up human intelligence.

• Multidimensional Intelligence

  “We will soon arrive at the obvious realization that "smartness" is not a single dimension, and that what we really care about are the many other ways in which intelligence operates”

  Our noteChallenging the idea that intelligence can be measured on a single linear scale.

• Beyond pure intelligence

  “We have a lot of evidence that in addition to great quantities of intelligence we need experiments, data, trial and error, weird lines of questioning, and all kinds of things beyond smartness to invent new kinds of successful minds.”

  Our noteExplaining why intelligence alone cannot solve complex problems or create higher intelligence.

• Embracing new ideas

  “I am all for the Enhanced olympics. It's an old idea whose time has come.”

  Our noteKevin Kelly expresses his support for a new type of athletic competition involving performance enhancements.

• Information over hardware

  “The smallest must in fact only contain information, since via the correct information, any tool needed could be built.”

  Our noteKelly argues that information is the most compressed and powerful form of a tool.

• The best education

  “Trying to assemble and working through the elements of a civilization-restart manual is potentially the best education there could possibly be.”

  Our noteKevin Kelly discusses the educational value of creating a comprehensive guide to human knowledge.

• Clarity for replication

  “The way to win is to be clear, logical, and orderly enough in constructing your Forever Book so that someone else could make your "book" by following your book.”

  Our noteKelly describes the criteria for success in a hypothetical league of knowledge curators.

• Play and work

  “I cherish a good wasting of time as a necessary precondition for creativity, but more importantly I believe the conflation of play and work, of thinking hard and thinking playfully, is one the greatest things the Internet has done.”

  Our noteKevin argues that the internet's ability to blur work and play fosters creativity.

• Predicting the future

  “It is hard to be not obvious and not implausible at the same time, but Fred is neither.”

  Our noteKevin Kelly was praising Fred Wilson's optimistic and insightful predictions for the 2020s.

• The Long Tail

  “In the goodness of time, the web will embrace even the smallest thing we give our attention to. If chips of broken glass don't escape the web's gaze, what can?”

  Our noteKelly discusses how the internet connects even the most obscure niche interests.

• Rebuilding from zero

  “Every year the entire city is deleted and undone. Erased. Gone. And a new city is rebuilt from zero.”

  Our noteThe author describes the temporary nature of the Black Rock City infrastructure.

• Strongly-stated loosely-held hunches

  “I have some strongly-stated, loosely-held hunches about the probability of life elsewhere in the universe. My certainty about these beliefs is quite low, but it is much higher than my belief in the alternatives.”

  Our noteKevin Kelly explains his approach to forming hypotheses about complex, uncertain topics like extraterrestrial life.

• Power of know-how

  “There is no material, or energy source that cannot be synthesized at home if you have the know-how.”

  Our noteHe argues that advanced civilizations prioritize knowledge over raw material resources.

• Low barrier to entry

  “As you'll see, anyone can ride a bike across. It doesn't take much money - food is about your only cost.”

  Our noteKevin encourages others to pursue long-distance travel by highlighting its low cost.

• Persistence over speed

  “It doesn't matter what speed one chooses, it is simply a matter of persistence.”

  Our noteA contributor to Kevin's FAQ explains that anyone can complete a cross-country trip.

• Interactive Simulation Art

  “Now with the advent of excellent working flight simulation software mounted on PCs, a simpit would be more interactive and not just a sculpture. They became working simulations.”

  Our noteKevin Kelly discusses how software transformed static cockpit replicas into functional art pieces.

• Embodied Artificial Intelligence

  “To make an intelligence congruent with ours - so that we can partner with it - it needs an intangible mind in some kind of physical form able to interact with the real world.”

  Our noteKevin discusses why AI needs a physical presence to truly understand and partner with humans.

• Paid newsletter economy

  “Writers are more and more relying on paid newsletters for income. They find 1,000 true fans and get them to pay for their writing.”

  Our noteKevin Kelly discusses how writers are monetizing their work through direct fan support.

• Future internet trends

  “I've reduced the future of the internet to six verbs. *Screening *Interacting *Sharing *Flowing *Accessing *Generating”

  Our noteKevin Kelly outlines the six fundamental verbs that define the evolving digital landscape.

• Accessibility of technology

  “Ideally there would be a free version of Babel fish so that those to whom this would most make a difference would have full access to it.”

  Our noteKelly reflects on the importance of making life-changing translation tools accessible to everyone regardless of income.

• Navigating possibility spaces

  “Over time evolution graduates to evolving larger "chunks" which is the main way it can navigate large possibilities spaces.”

  Our noteKelly explains how evolution uses modular chunks to speed up the process of discovery.

• Non random variation

  “The key insight gained by the last three decades of research on complex adaptive systems is that the variation presented to natural selection is not random”

  Our noteKelly explains that evolution is guided by internal constraints, not just luck.

• Internal steering mechanism

  “In the old, the internal created, while the external steered; in the new, the external creates, while the internal steers.”

  Our noteHe describes the shift in understanding how systems evolve and change.

• Freedom Within Bounds

  “The structural dynamics of internal constraints and emergent order carve out a deep river valley in the metaphorical landscape through which a river (adaptive selection) can meander opportunistically, but within bounds.”

  Our noteKevin uses a river metaphor to describe how structural constraints guide evolutionary progress.

• Self-Expanding Systems

  “Technology rarely makes it harder to make more technology. The technium is geared to keep expanding the technium.”

  Our noteKelly describes the inherent growth bias within the technological ecosystem.

• Obsessive learning

  “He has a lot of time to explore mathematics. He's making every known polyhedron he can think of using colored paper. I love this kind of obsessive learning.”

  Our noteKevin Kelly reflects on the value of deep, focused exploration in a specific niche.

• Valuable Distinction

  “What yields scarcity is a distinction worth paying attention to.”

  Our noteHe explains that simple variety is not enough; true value comes from meaningful differences.

• Power of Specification

  “The value is in getting the question right. The spec is like a consultation.”

  Our noteHe argues that in an AI world, defining goals and asking the right questions is the core value.

• Radical inclusion

  “No topic was too esoteric, no degree of enthusiasm too ardent, no amateur expertise too uncertified to be included.”

  Our noteKevin describes the editorial openness that allowed diverse voices to contribute to the catalog.

• Designing pedestrian cities

  “Cars are banned from driving within the city limits so the city of 23,000 residents has become one of the largest pedestrians and bicycle cities alive.”

  Our noteKevin Kelly describes the unique urban environment created by banning cars at Burning Man.