“It’s damn foolish to assert that providing more sources of information from all over the world somehow makes us dumber. Dumb people will remain dumb, but those possessing of even a modicum of curiosity will be able to find solid information in moments, rather than spending days, weeks, or months in libraries.” —Chris DiBona, open source and public sector engineering manager at Google

“[Family dinner conversations] have changed markedly because we can now look things up at will. That’s just one small piece of evidence I see that having Google at hand is great for civilization.” —Jerry Michalski, founder, Relationship Economy expedition, founder and president, Sociate

“Access to more and different perspectives should enhance the knowledge of those who seek knowledge and understanding…The Internet is a vehicle for democratizing information.” —Robert Hess, senior fellow at the Center for the Digital Future, Annenberg School, USC, and president and CEO of TSG (a consulting firm)

“ ‘Smarter’ implies broader, wiser, more worldly. By definition, access to the World Wide Web makes us smarter.” —Tobey Dichter, chief executive officer at Generations on Line

“It’s just not plausible that access to more information would make people less smart, and clearly more information enables people to make better choices. I don’t know that the Internet will make us smarter, but it will (and already does) put a wealth of information at our fingertips, which should enable us to make better decisions.” —Thomas Lenard, president and senior fellow, Technology Policy Institute, author of many books including Net Neutrality or Net Neutering: Should Broadband Services Be Regulated?

“If average IQs decline in the next decade, it will be because of bad public policy, not technology. As we adapt to a data-rich environment—an evolution that no one sensible opposes—Google is helping make the transition possible. Google does not