A Quote by Vaclav Smil

I wouldn't put a big trust in what people in Silicon Valley say. They may be good at manipulating ones and zeroes and writing software, but beyond that, their contribution to human progress has been pretty dismal. I'm not impressed.

Vaclav Smil

Quote Topics

Be Good Been Beyond Big Contribution Dismal Good Human Human Progress Impressed May Not Impressed People Pretty Progress Put Say Silicon Silicon Valley Software Trust Valley Writing

Quote Author

Vaclav Smil
Czechoslovakian - Scientist
Born: December 9, 1943

Just the number of people - 'Silicon Valley''s a relatively small, core cast, whereas 'The Office' was enormous. Also, I feel more of a sense of ownership of 'Silicon Valley' because I've been there from the get-go.

Zach Woods

More and more major industries are being run on software and delivered as online services—from movies to agriculture to national defense. Many of the winners are Silicon Valley-style entrepreneurial technology companies that are invading and overturning established industry structures. Over the next 10 years, I expect many more industries to be disrupted by software, with new world-beating Silicon Valley companies doing the disruption in more cases than not.

Marc Andreessen

There's been entrepreneurs working in the Valley for probably 50-60 years. It's not to say that you can't create that in other places, but I think people are a little bit impatient about creating the next Silicon Valley.

Dave McClure

Silicon Valley does not breed great technology. Instead, the smartest people from around the world tend to move to Silicon Valley.

Patrick Collison

I'm probably the worst Silicon Valley insider ever. I don't hang out with Silicon Valley people.

Alexis Ohanian

I've been reading a lot about Silicon Valley history recently and was struck by just how core the lack of unions has been to the American tech industry's evolution. It's enabled the constant creative destruction that keeps Silicon Valley relevant and thriving in a rapidly changing world.

Sarah Lacy

I'm a Silicon Valley guy. I just think people from Silicon Valley can do anything.

Elon Musk

Indian software engineers are the best in the world; even in Silicon Valley, the best software engineers are Indians.

Masayoshi Son

The people running Silicon Valley are not making the show because they want to do a satire of Silicon Valley. They are just comedy writers, and they want to make a funny show.

Daniel Lyons

Google has been amazing at acqui-hiring, buying small companies for the engineers. I think in the competitive market of Silicon Valley, it's really a good way to do it. Big acquisitions often don't work out.

Ross Levinsohn

What created Silicon Valley was a culture of openness, and there is no future to Silicon Valley without it.

Sarah Lacy

What auto and steel is to Ohio River Valley, refineries are to the oil regions. You wouldn't tell Silicon Valley you're going to put a moratorium on high-tech.

Gene Green

Banks don't want certain asset classes, and that's created opportunities for private equity, hedge funds, Silicon Valley. In this case I think he was referring to some of the European banks shedding assets, and the big buyers are probably not going to be big American banks. Someone like Blackstone may have a very good chance to buy those assets, leverage them, borrow up a little bit, and do something good there.

Jamie Dimon

When I got to the Bay Area, everyone was talking about 'Silicon Valley, Silicon Valley,' so I just wanted to go and learn more about it.

Harrison Barnes

I don't program, so I don't belong in Silicon Valley. If I did belong in Silicon Valley, I'd be there creating a revolutionary compression algorithm for billions of dollars.