Decius:

It is our failure to avoid embracing fear and sensationalism that will be our undoing. We're still our own greatest threat.

Marilynne Robinson:

Fear operates as an appetite or an addiction. You can never be safe enough.

Threat Assessment:

Lisa: Uh, are you sure that's safe?
Kearny: Well it ain't gettin' any safer.

William Damon and Anne Colby:

Any democracy requires a minimum level of shared trust to function. We may be approaching that minimum level right now.

Decius:

I'm confident that technology has improved the resources available to people if/when they choose to act. So far they don't need to, largely. Don't wish for times when they do.

Diana Kimball:

The thing about sharing is that once you get your hands on a general-purpose tool for collecting and presenting content, it's entirely possible that the audience you're most interested in sharing with will be your future self. Whenever a nominally social tool introduces a single-player, "private" mode, that's a sure sign that the people have spoken. What we wish for exposes us. Many people -- perhaps most -- just aren't ready to have their intentions exposed.

[But] the urge to enrich the Database of Intentions is irresistible.

Decius:

Money for me, databases for you.