Ben Thompson:

I sometimes fear that the tech industry as a whole learned the wrong lesson from the SOPA debate a few years ago. In that case much of the tech world came together at the last minute to defeat a terrible piece of legislation. It was certainly a great outcome, but I very much wonder how often the last-minute protest card can be played. Wouldn't it be better if we never got to the moment of crisis at all?

David Runciman:

Anyone who thinks that technological innovation driven by market forces alone will solve a problem on the scale of climate change is deluding themselves. Market players aren't willing to take big enough risks to effect the genuinely transformative changes. As yet, climate change hasn't got politically scary enough: there needs to be a greater threat of violence. That's the truly scary thought.

In a world of myriad possibilities, especially for those who have the technical abilities that bring lavish rewards in the private sector, politics looks like a real grind. True, successful politicians get to exercise real power now and then, which must be a thrill. But most politicians are not successful: they labour away, scrabbling for votes, striving for influence, only to find that someone has beaten them to it.

People who think they can pick up politics when they need it often find that when they really need it they don't know where to find it. The professionals run rings round them. The only way to learn how to do politics is to keep on doing it, in good times as well as bad. We need more politics and we need more politicians.

Decius:

There are two reasons that people act: Carrots and Sticks. Lowering the barrier to entry might be a carrot, but the sticks are much more effective and come when the political situation makes it impossible for people to go about their lives without acting.

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.

Lawrence Lessig:

We still have the power to fix our democracy.

We will, if you help.

Decius:

We're in a bad part of the cycle of human society. You and I are young enough that we'll see the other side of it, but we'll be old men when we do.

John Givings:

Plenty of people are onto the emptiness, but it takes real guts to see the hopelessness.