Aaron Koblin Quotes

What’s clear – and exciting – is that communication for social change is growing.

There’s something that happens with the collection of a large amount of data when it’s dumped into an Excel spreadsheet or put into a pie chart. You run the risk of completely missing what it’s about.

As we get more transparent with data sets about infrastructure and systems management, I have a feeling we’ll see big changes in how we think about complexity and our relationship to our actions.

The trouble with progress is that it tends to happen slowly and quietly. It’s not necessarily going to shout about itself, or make the nightly news like a disaster or a scandal would.

They say an elephant never forgets. Well, you are not an elephant. Take notes, constantly. Save interesting thoughts, quotations, films, technologies… the medium doesn’t matter, so long as it inspires you.

I’ve always loved music and held it as a sacred thing that I can’t touch, as I don’t really want to deconstruct it or be a musician.

I’ve found that when everyone rallies behind a cause, and when they learn their effort can contribute something bigger, they get engaged.

I’m interested in ways that digital interfaces can be utilized as powerful narrative devices, and to engage people in new and exciting ways.

It’s so hard for me to wrap my head around the concept of truth, I don’t even know what people mean by it.

I studied at UC Santa Cruz before going on to do a grad program at UCLA. Santa Cruz was like an awesome hippie summer camp. I got to take a vacation from reality and hang out on beaches and in forests.

My mom‘s a psychologist, and I think that has influenced me on a personal level. Plus, I’m just generally interested in visualization and humanity, social activity and technology, and what happens in aggregate.

When I look at a pie chart, I just go numb.

I’ve always been a bit of a mix between art and technology. I used to paint a lot, but I’m not very good with my hands. It has always been a fusion between my computer gaming interests and being exposed to the rich data of society that we live in.

I think that music and visual arts can complement themselves nicely. They do different things – the music forces you into a different mood and perspective whilst the visual stuff can engage you in a more direct cognitive manner.

I think you can have a ridiculously enormous and complex data set, but if you have the right tools and methodology then it’s not a problem.

The possibilities for creation and insight are endless. We’re constantly collecting more data, and it’s starting to be very relevant to our lives.

Geniuses come in many shapes and colors, and they often run in packs. If you can find one, it may lead you to others. Collaborate with geniuses. Send them your spells. Look carefully at theirs. What could you do together? Combination is creation.