Popova, Maria -- Post (2012-04-30), “Orson Welles: A Rare 1960 Interview,” The Marginalian

Dave — Thu, 10 Sep 2026 20:37:01 +0000

Somewhere, some rights-holder — in this case, Kultur Video — decided it was better for the world that no one see the interview online than that people see it and no one profit from it. This, right here, is the deepest, saddest brokenness of current thinking on intellectual “property” as a wealth of humanity’s greatest intellectual and creative treasures rot in the clenched talons of rights-holders unable to monetize their properties and unwilling to make them available for free. As long as we continue to place commercial profit above cultural profit, especially when it comes to archival materials and cultural preservation, we are doomed to a future bitterly divorced from its past.

Maria Popova (b. 1983) Bulgarian-American essayist, author, critic [Мария Попова]
Post (2012-04-30), “Orson Welles: A Rare 1960 Interview,” The Marginalian

Sagan, Carl -- Cosmos, ep. 13 “Who Speaks for Earth?” PBS TV (1980)

Dave — Sun, 01 Mar 2026 00:18:18 +0000

History is full of people who out of fear, or ignorance, or lust for power have destroyed treasures of immeasurable value which truly belong to us all. We must not let that happen again.

Carl Sagan (1934–1996) American scientist and writer
Cosmos, ep. 13 “Who Speaks for Earth?” PBS TV (1980)

(Source (Video); dialog verified). Referring to the destruction of the Library at Alexandria. This text is not in the Cosmos book (it would fit in roughly here).

WIST Quotations

Popova, Maria -- Post (2012-04-30), “Orson Welles: A Rare 1960 Interview,” The Marginalian

Sagan, Carl -- Cosmos, ep. 13 “Who Speaks for Earth?” PBS TV (1980)