I’d seen how Imagineering worked when they were on their…

I’d seen how Imagineering worked when they were on their own, building prototypes and conceptual mockups—I knew that the real bottleneck was the constant review and revisions, the ever-fluctuating groupmind consensus of the ad-hoc that commissioned their work.
Suneep looked sheepish. “Well, if all I have to do is satisfy myself that my plans are good and my buildings won’t fall down, I can make it happen very fast. Of course, my plans aren’t perfect. Sometimes, I’ll be halfway through a project when someone suggests a new flourish or approach that makes the whole thing immeasurably better.

Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom

Other Cory Doctorow Quotes

Engineers are all basically high-functioning autistics who have no idea how normal people do stuff. - View Quote Details on Engineers are all basically high-functioning autistics who have no idea…
I lived long enough to see the cure for death; to see the rise of the Bitchun Society, to learn ten languages; to compose three symphonies; to realize my boyhood dream of taking up residence in Disney World; to see the death of the workplace and of work. - View Quote Details on I lived long enough to see the cure for death;…
The Bitchun Society has had much experience with restores from backup—in the era of the cure for death, people live pretty recklessly. Some people get refreshed a couple dozen times a year. - View Quote Details on The Bitchun Society has had much experience with restores from…
I released this book a little over a year ago under the terms of a Creative Commons license that allowed my readers to freely redistribute the text without needing any further permission from me. In this fashion, I enlisted my readers in the service of a grand experiment, to see how my book could find its way into cultural relevance and commercial success. The experiment worked out very satisfactorily.
When I originally licensed the book under the terms set out in the next section, I did so in the most conservative fashion possible, using CC’s most restrictive license. I wanted to dip my toe in before taking a plunge. I wanted to see if the sky would fall: you see writers are routinely schooled by their peers that maximal copyright is the only thing that stands between us and penury, and so ingrained was this lesson in me that even though I had the intellectual intuition that a “some rights reserved” regime would serve me well, I still couldn’t shake the atavistic fear that I was about to do something very foolish indeed.
It wasn’t foolish. - View Quote Details on I released this book a little over a year ago…
No one should do a job he can do in his sleep. - View Quote Details on No one should do a job he can do in…
I’d talk to him about the vast carpet of the future unrolling before us, of the certainty that we would encounter alien intelligences some day, of the unimaginable frontiers open to each of us. He’d tell me that deadheading was a strong indicator that one’s personal reservoir of introspection and creativity was dry; and that without struggle, there is no real victory.
This was a good fight, one we could have a thousand times without resolving. I’d get him to concede that Whuffie recaptured the true essence of money: in the old days, if you were broke but respected, you wouldn’t starve; contrariwise, if you were rich and hated, no sum could buy you security and peace. By measuring the thing that money really represented—your personal capital with your friends and neighbors—you more accurately gauged your success. - View Quote Details on I’d talk to him about the vast carpet of the…
I’m of the opinion that science fiction writers suck at predicting the future. We mostly go around describing the present in futuristic clothes - (such as) Mary Shelley, Bill Gibson, and many others. - View Quote Details on I’m of the opinion that science fiction writers suck at…
All secrets are deep. All secrets become dark. That’s in the nature of secrets. - View Quote Details on All secrets are deep. All secrets become dark. That’s in…
The universe gets older. So do I. So does my backup, sitting in redundant distributed storage dirtside, ready for the day that space or age or stupidity kills me. It recedes with the years, and I write out my life longhand, a letter to the me that I’ll be when it’s restored into a clone somewhere, somewhen. It’s important that whoever I am then knows about this year, and it’s going to take a lot of tries for me to get it right. - View Quote Details on The universe gets older. So do I. So does my…
Never underestimate the determination of a kid who is time rich and cash poor. - View Quote Details on Never underestimate the determination of a kid who is time…