"A Journey on the Information Highway"

It's (The internet) simply like a lot of other technologies, a lot of other major technological revolutions that have taken place in the history of the world, for example, agriculture. Agriculture was obviously a tremendous invention. It made life better. It not only got people fed, it freed them up to do many more things, to create art and invent ... See more

So then you look at the really big Internet companies and services, and you see this pattern over and over. Look at Google, the biggest. They are really good at speed. They cover a wide range of human desires, answers, solutions, information. They make it so easy. There’s one box. You don’t even have to come close to spelling anything correctly, an... See more

I discovered a technology that could take me out of there (my small town) for periods of time. It was combination of a form of time travel and mind reading that allowed me to tap the knowledge and ideas of people who are much wiser than anyone I thought was around me and learn amazing things. Of course, this technology was books.

Here's the formula if you want to build $1 billion Internet company because I know that's what people come to XOXO to learn. It's simply this, identify a human desire, preferably one that's been around for a really long time. We often think the Internet enables people to do new things, but people just want to do the same things they've always done.... See more

There is the potential and reality of amazing, positive, good things coming from the Internet even though it's driving force is convenience. Because humans don't only have mundane desires. They have amazing desires. They have desires to make art and music and funny card games. And they have desire to help people and to do science. And the Internet ... See more

The amazing thing was when I was reading that book, I just had this epiphany. And I realized, years of experience and knowledge had gone into this little device in my hand, and I could read that in a few hours and gain the benefits of that experience and knowledge.

And I decided that the Internet is simply a giant machine designed to give people what they want. That’s what these connections do. And another way to say that is that the Internet makes human desires more easily attainable. In other words, it offers convenience. I learned that the Latin root of “convenience” actually means assembling and agreeing.

But the amazing thing was when I was reading that book, I just had this epiphany. And I realized, years of experience and knowledge had gone into this little device in my hand, and I could read that in a few hours and gain the benefits of that experience and knowledge. And I thought, “That’s incredibly powerful. Why aren’t people reading books all ... See more

It’s simply this, identify a human desire, preferably one that’s been around for a really long time. We often think the Internet enables people to do new things, but people just want to do the same things they’ve always done. So you identify that desire, and then you use modern technology to take out steps and make them not have to think. And so to... See more