By
Nick Denton,
12:23 PM on Mon May 21 2007,
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CLAY SHIRKY — I'm old enough to know a lot of things, just from life experience. I know that music comes from stores. I know that you have to try on pants before you buy them. I know that newspapers are where you get your political news and how you look for a job. I know that if you want to have a conversation with someone, you call them on the phone. I know that the library is the most important building on a college campus. I know that if you need to take a trip, you visit a travel agent. In the last 15 years or so, I've had to unlearn every one of those things and a million others. This makes me a not-bad analyst, because I have to explain new technology to myself first — I'm too old to understand it natively. But it makes me a lousy entrepreneur. [From
The Advantage of Youth]