"Response by Hal Abelson - reaction to Gerry Sussman's paper on Open Implementation"

“In the Middle Ages people built cathedrals, where the whole town would get together and make a thing that's greater than any individual person could do and the society would kind of revel in that. We don't do that as much anymore, but in a sense this is kind of like building a cathedral.”

“It is not that there is some magic technology. It is what are you going to do with it?”

“MIT's maverick view of intellectual property worth considering" - Abelson gives his thoughts on MIT's new Open Courseware program and implications”

“Building the Infrastructure for Sustainable Educational Transformation" - MIT article concerning the Open Courseware program”

“Giving it away helps defuse complex intellectual property issues of ownership and control that can distract the universities from their missions to disseminate knowledge." - commmenting on MIT's Open Courseware program”

“Universities are meant to pass the torch of civilization.”