I am so stunned, I'm not even sure where to begin.

I love you, Ray, but on this matter you are totally wrong. The internet is the greatest force of education and repository of knowledge ever!

Please write more books.

He may be a little upset over lost royalties lost to bittorrent for his books and movies...
... possibly.

He also hates pesky kids with their rock and roll music albums. Now get off his lawn!

I'm with Ray. What happens if something happens to the internet? We need libraries and we need to fund them. Why put everything on the web when we can preserve what we have already in cities across America.

I am all for libraries. The point is this: if you are in Miami you can easily access the public library in Seattle. You don't be in the library anymore in order to GO there.

Libraries have been around for centuries. They are repositiories of knowledge, lectures, events and recreational reading. It will never replace the Internet but perhaps it can suppliment it. Remember, you can*t hold a good book by the computer screen

I love libraries. As much as I love Web 2.0, nothing beats finding a book printed in the 1800s.

The internet and libraries are both great resources. One needn't supercede the other. They're not mutually exclusive.

I wish someone who'd dreamed of the future the way Ray Bradbury has could see that some small part of it has finally arrived.

To ascertain that the internet could cease to exist is both ignorant and ludicrous. I mean sure, the internet could collapse if there was this thing called World War III. But even then, it isn't too likely there is too much redundancy for the internet to collapse. The internet spans the globe, it consists of countless servers and computer systems linked globally to serve as a massive information sharing medium. The internet is essential to the growing demand for knowledge and information in the 21st Century. Nothing could ever be truly lost in the internet domain. There will always remain some copy of it on some computer or server somewhere globally. Books have this tendency of getting destroyed over time whether it be because of ware and tare of time or because of the elements. To put it simply, the Internet is the library of the future.

Before Bradbury dies, he'll find that no one reads his books anymore because they are not online.

It is kinda sad to hear this from a scifi writer. The internet, like books is a tool. Part of being human is designing and utilizing better tools. This doesn't mean that you throw the old ones away but the days of "needing" to sit in a libary in order to get all your informaiton are now really over. I understand. This is a shocking, jarring change. One that could mean the death of the physical library if we aren't careful. However Bradbury does nothing helpful by being so inflamatory. There are no attempts to kill the physical library anymore than having the ability to download an E-book means we want paper books to be abolished. Lighten up a litte Ray.

In some ways Ray is correct. The major illusion that the internet is in someway a permanent fixture is greatly mistaken. "Digital" information storage is a myth and governments around the globe are beginning to discover that their stored archives of digital materials are actually degrading and becoming inaccessible. Hardcopy storage and the other role of libraries as custodians of knowledge is still and will be for a long time yet, the only true method of storing knowledge. Ask an archivist, librarian, academic or anyone else who relies on continuity of information where they would store their important information.

the internet is a transmitter of information, in this it excels, it is not, cannot be an archive of knowledge, a teacher of minds, it is simply a multimedia communication tool.

First, I gotta say I still love going to libraries even though I don't go close to as often as when I was younger. I am also surprised Bradbury would say these things as technology is such an overwhelming aspect of science fiction. Libraries though are not teachers, they are mainly another resource to find information as is the internet. I for one still really enjoy libraries but the internet is the future and still believe they can exist together in one form or another. As for Bradbury, I gotta respect the guy for what he has done for the scifi genre but he is way off on this one.

He's largely right. You can't find porn in libraries, but the internet is a massive time waster. I freely admit to not using the internet for the better of my mind and the world the vast majority of the time.

What's frightening about most of these comments is that they're proving what Bradbury says in "Fahrenheit 451" entirely right. Books are being swallowed up by our faster faster faster world. The internet will never be able to fully recreate the character of books and libraries. People say it's weird that a scifi writer would hate the internet, but a lot of what Bradbury wrote was dystopian fiction warning against what could happen if we get too absorbed in technology. Perhaps most of you should actually go out and read "Fahrenheit 451" and then go rethink what he's saying here.

Wow. Another reason to love Ray Bradbury. I totally agree with him. The internet is garbage. I hate that society forces people to use it and I wish it would be completely destroyed. Censorship hurts culture but the internet is the biggest force of cultural retardation ever created by man.

Mom and her friends had to get together and run the tiny library in their town to keep it from closing. One of the first things they did was arrange a couple of donated computers hooked up to a donated internet connection.

Those who are anti-technology are simply dinosaurs. Yes, we can't let a dystopian future happen and we do have to be careful, but believing technology cannot and will not interface with every part of life eventually is just a fallacy. As for books being better in paper form, that's wrong as well with the advent of ebook readers. I know people who say they like the smell and a feel of a book, but for those like me who itch and sneeze when they are in a library or sneeze when they open a book too closely to the face unless it is a book with those glossy pages like a textbook, technology is much better.

Being anti internet is not being anti technology. By all means advance technology in every way, space exploration, cybernetics to replace damaged limbs and organs, Genetics to prevent illness and improve human quality of life. The one exception is the internet. While many technologies have equal potential for good or bad the internet is overwhelmingly a negative thing. It retards culture with things like youtube it encourages crime with things like craigslist and napsters/limewire/kazaa. It provides a means for companies to defraud consumers with dot com stocks and download distribution. It allows the worst of society (perverts, neo nazis, etc.) a means to easily communicate and work together on their depraved acts. The internet is the one technology I can think of that we would be better off without but unfortunately it has grown too large and amorphous to simply drop a nuke on it.

"By Kevin at 9:19 PM ON 06/23/09

Before Bradbury dies, he'll find that no one reads his books anymore because they are not online."

THAT...at least in part...is what he is talking about!

The Internet, like any major communication tool, can and will be used for anything the user can imagine. It's very much what you make of it -- cruise porn sites if that's your thing, study astronomy if that's your thing. No tool is inherently "good" or "evil."

Wake up people, it's just another method of communication.

@ladyblue:
"I'm with Ray. What happens if something happens to the internet? We need libraries and we need to fund them. Why put everything on the web when we can preserve what we have already in cities across America."

How could something happen to "the Internet" (which by Internet I assume you mean World Wide Web, but maybe not)? I mean "the Internet" isn't like located in a single place. In order for something to happen, it would have to be pretty bad, like nuclear holocaust bad. I'd say we're fucked if that happens anyway. People could blow up a library just as easy as they could blow up a data center. However, the data in the data center is probably available in other servers around the world anyway. I'd say it's not going anywhere easily.

But maybe you're right and the Internet will be destroyed and we will start at square one and everything will collapse.

"I think that technologies are morally neutral until we apply them. It's only when we use them for good or evil that they become good or evil."
-William Gibson

Yes, the Internet isn't being used, for the most part, as it was intended to be used, or as would be best for eeveryone, but many tools and devices that were initially designed to benefit mankind have been used to the opposite effect. I'm sure anyone could think of at least ten. I disagree with Bradbury because, although it is mostly wasted, the Internet brings information to millions of people around the planet who are incapable of attaining that information any other way. It is merely another form of communication, just one that has more potential than most others.

While I totally agree with Bradbury's efforts to save the library as an institution, I think his anger is misdirected. It's really about how a technology is being used, not the technology itself. The problem is the attempts to control technology, its resources and its value. For example, when digital media is manipulated, edited by zip code, or price-inflated, so it's only available to the few who can afford it. The greatest thing about books is that no one can control words on paper and libraries facilitate viewing books. Also, while reading plain text is fine on paper, PDF, or Kindle, nothing can replace my experience gazing beautiful picture books as a child, or shuffling through gorgeous color photo books today. We need both, Ray! Trust me, you wanna be mad at the current educational system, not the net.

I can see his point, though it's all a matter of a point of view - I see the Internet as one huge free library (and more)!

Baen Books doesn't seem to disapprove of the internet. They started an online Library nearly a decade ago to enable readers to find new favorite writers. They sell books in several digital formats and they still print, I think.

http://www.baen.com/
http://www.baen.com/library/

@Matt

If the Ancient Greeks and Romans wouldn't have stored their information in data centers across their known worlds, then perhaps so much knowledge would never have been lost! lol

Bradbury's always been a bit of a technophobe-this is hardly surprising. His ideal world is Kansas,1928-he tends to hate anything that takes away from that.

Ray Bradbury is one of my favorite classic sci-fi authors, but like some people I've seen posting here, he's missing one important factor. The internet and the library are neither at war with each other nor are they exclusive of each other.

They said the same thing when video tapes and DVD's came out... "It's gonna destroy the theater and movie industry!" In fact, it's given the movie industry yet another avenue for profit.

Most libraries have internet access now days, and while there's nothing like a good book, I have excellent usage for ebooks as well.

And Ray's comment to Yahoo is not only unnecessarily rude (assuming the renditioning of it is accurate) but if true lowers my personal opinion of his actions. As a science fiction writer, he of all people should appreciate the inevitability of science and advancement. He should, it's vision like his that inspires it.

I am sure that his books are available for the electronic formats, so tech is not the issue. Placing a book on the open web has no respect for the text, the author, or revenue. It also opens up the further action in the future of burning all the old texts to make room for other media, thus resurecting facets of Farenheit 451, eh?- KH

It could be said that the Internet is no more real than say dramatic television series, or films, or even books. To hell with books I say! Ray who?

How is the internet all that different than television with regards to critical opinions here? TV is just as if not more culturally void than the internet, and an enormous time suck when compared with more worthy pursuits. At least the internet still allows for free expression by the people and not just the media giants and advertisers.

The "internet generation" is developing a collective consciousness around online content and information, from the humorous meme of the moment to major world events.
Mr. Bradbury can surely recall watching the first man on the moon, the assassination of President Kennedy on television, or watching footage of the Vietnam war on the nightly news. These were and are shared memories, moments in history that are notable not only for what happened, but for how the world experienced these moments together, in unison through the new medium of broadcast television.

For my generation, it is watching the thousands of tweets of Iranians go silent, then slowly creep back with 40, then 160, then 10,231 followers awash in green. It is watching the hash feeds during the 2008 presidential debates, finding the momentum and energy of the Obama tweets almost palpable and knowing that he would win. It is about knowing that if our own government were to turn off my cell phone, text messaging, and internet access, that I also would be in the streets fighting for democracy, and I would have an entire army of young people along with me.

The times & issues have changed a bit, but aren't the concepts the same?

ROFLMAO!!!! sci fi wire bloggers hitting the streets to fight for democracy, or at least free mp3 downloads :)

I was incline to disagree with Ray Bradbury's statement here but he's sort of right toward the end, how a lot of students who can't afford colleges need libraries. When I finished High School all I could afford were vocational schools or six month correspondence course things. I didn't have the money for proper university. But I have always been a student. I love learning. What Ray Bradbury doesn't know is that sometimes you find more information on the Internet than you would in a public library because there is (whether we want to admit it or not) a lot of censorship with America's public libraries.

Kevin, you are very ignorant. There's no science fiction fan in the world- no true fan of scifi who has not read Ray Bradbury's work. He's to be respected. Though I feel there are things on the Internet you can't find in libraries there is nothing like holding an actual book in your hands. I, myself, am a book collector.

I think he's fundamentally correct in his statement, but lacking in expanding on it. The internet has it's role in life, it's not the be-all and end-all of life though. I also don't think he should be mocked for not wanting his books put on line, he wrote them so he can do what he wants with them. All Yahoo & Google are really interested in is generating traffic through their portals, it's not really about making Ray's books available to the world for the world's benefit. Me? I like the internet, but I also like to get a book, sit back in a comfy chair with my feet up and lose myself in it.

He sounds like a old fuddy duddy that's afraid of technology. "Our Inter-Web-Nets Thingyies" make his bowls turn to water because of all the bright colors and pictures of puppys that he keeps getting when he tries to turn his computer on by wacking it with a baseball bat.

@Wolfstan
"All Yahoo & Google are really interested in is generating traffic through their portals, it's not really about making Ray's books available to the world for the world's benefit."

Just as his publishers' real interest wasn't in making his books available to the world because they were so scary good, but rather they were there to make money. How is what Yahoo/Google want to do any different than a meatspace publisher? (Assuming they're not cutting him out of the financial equation.)

I understand his feelings. Libraries ARE important. But so is the Internet. The two are not mutually exclusive.

Between this comment in this story and his problems a few years ago about how Michael Moore "stole" the title to "Fahrenheit 9/11" from his story "Fahrenheit 451" reminds me that I should never meet my heroes.

It's interesting how he feels so strongly about the Internet. He's not like some old people who don't really know what the Internet is about. He actually does. I think that, in his mind, the Internet is an incarnation of the fire-fighters in "Fahrenheit 451". The Internet will ultimately be the match which will set fire to all the books. He seems to be afraid that books in their paper form will be consumed by the Internet. That would explain his reaction.

For all those who are shocked that Bradbury would say such a thing, please go (back) and read Fahrenheit 451. It is NOT, as many high school classrooms teach, about government control. It is and always has been according to Bradbury himself, about television. So his comments here are no surprise.

To the people who believe the internet is not a threat to libraries and that they will always be around: don't believe it. I am aware of no other profession that must constantly fight for its existence. Libraries are all well and good. Until they have to be funded. Then governments tend to bulk at throwing money their way. For the past few decades at least, governments tend to view libraries as fiscal black holes that suck in money with no tangible return on the investment.

We here of course know this isn't true. But it is the state of the profession. Also, go to your local library at peak time and see how many books are actually being used. Libraries are already hybrids of internet and books. Imagine if all those books disappeared. At peak usage time how many computers would be needed? And though they've come down in price, even a small library bereft of books could easily use 20 or 40 and that would be expensive and would have ongoing expenses that make them less appealing to fund and give credence to the believe libraries are not needed.

I know not all people can read, but I've never had anyone come up to me and say "Can you tell me how to use this book?" On the other hand, you'd be surprised how many people can't use a mouse or a keyboard or the World Wide Web. And I'm NOT talking about us old fogies either.

And yes, I am skipping over the concept of virtual libraries. Mainly because I feel there will always be a need for a library that is staffed by humans to help humans. We are nowhere near AI that can be useful in such regards. And any library, physical or virtual, is going to need funded professionals to make it work. Also, so much more can be communicated and communicated better IRL.

Now that I'm done my rant that libraries are an endangered species, I do want to say I agree with the people here who talk about libraries as tool. You are dead on.

For all Bradbury's love of books, let us not forget they are full of crap as well. Poe's horror stories are very well liked, but he considered himself a poet first above all else and only wrote that horror junk to put food on the table.

It is all a matter of how you use the tool whether the tool is a book, a TV, or the internet. So use your tools wisely and fight to keep the libraries!

California is in a huge deficit quagmire. Heck even our Poison Control Center is on the chopping block since the state has been living way beyond it's means for too long. I'm sure he was just being passionate about the potential closing of the library. Our local library is facing a future of reduced hours and materials even though there is strong community support from a well organized friends of the Library. Still I have to admit that I waste more time on the internet goofing off than I do seeking knowledge. I don't read books online. I read hard copies that I often check out from my local library.

"By Darklighter at 10:27 PM ON 06/23/09

Wow. Another reason to love Ray Bradbury. I totally agree with him. The internet is garbage. I hate that society forces people to use it and I wish it would be completely destroyed. Censorship hurts culture but the internet is the biggest force of cultural retardation ever created by man."

if you truly believe that, why are you online reading sci-fi entertainment news posted on this site? shouldn't you be getting your news from a magazine or newspaper?

He is right on the distraction thing, but I think its time for him to realize PRINT IS DEAD. Now if the newspapers would learn this lesson. One other note: there needs to be away to correct all the wrong info on the net. That is the big threat from the net.

I agree with Ray on the definite need of libraries. The internet is fine as far as current events and some entertainment, but a local library does not require you to buy anything to sit and read both classic masterpieces and current bestsellers.

I grew up with a library being the only means of seeing what was out in the world and can relate to those who do not have access to a computer at home. I know libraries have computers available now, but why reduce books to pixels on a screen when they sit all around you?

Another thing that wasn't mentioned is how easily the internet cherry picks what you see when you go to the major sites. MSN have their own preferred stories, as do AOL and, well, all others.

Until online books become as free as your local library, I can't see closing libraries down as anything but a tragedy. Other countries struggle to have any form of information that can be shared freely.

One of the last places still worthy of respect is the library where we hold the gift of knowledge at our fingertips.

One important thing about books is the fact that the the information they contain and the actual physical artifact of the book are inseparable. Information obtained on the internet or stored digitally no longer has that kind of immediate physicality, and perhaps that's what Mr. Bradbury regrets losing.

Nothing is quite the same as turning and reading the pages of a book. It was the same way with vinyl record albums--the music they could create was inseparable from the disc it was recorded on, and so people had as much affection for the album itself as for the music it could create. Although I know it may sound silly to some of the younger people here, when music became something that was essentially stored--and transferred--digitally, and was no longer tied to a CD or vinyl album, I felt a sense of loss. Sure, it's much more convenient to store thousands of songs on a single Ipod instead of hundreds of large, heavy albums; but there's still something about putting an album on a turntable, setting the needle on it and knowing that each time you play it, the sound will diminish ever so slightly from the time before. I think because books and albums had to be cared for, it sometimes gave their contents even greater meaning. I certainly wouldn't want to give up digitized information but I think perhaps I can understand what Ray Bradbury is feeling.

I just wonder if ancient historians that were used to telling history orally felt the same way as Ray when books replaced the oral tradition.

What a thing of ignorance it is to say that no one will read Bradbury's books anymore if they are not online! His books are readily available at most any book store you go to - if you even bother to step away from the computer and enter a physical place anymore.

This man prefers his art to be displayed on the medium of his choice, paper and ink. You maybe upset because you can't use your e-reader with this, but pick up the book. There is something inherently different and special about reading from a book and not from the lights on your screen.

Same reason you would go to a concert instead of listening to an MP3, or go see a religious relic instead of viewing a picture online, or even go to a museum to look at the art or physically preserved history - it is real, you can touch it, breath it, you can experience it without the disconnected feeling of cyberspace.

I love the internet, but it will never replace life, or life that a physical book has imbued into it.

P.S. Ray Bradbury is a guy that warned in his writing about a disconnected society made possible through technology and the destruction of books - why should we be surprised by this development?

Books smell funny.

Bah. Books are stupid. What if there is a fire? I just don't trust them. I was raised on cuneiform tablets, and that's all that anyone needs. Paper is far too light and fragile, and printing fades in the sun. Nothing look good old clay tablets to keep the words fresh for eons, and of course the smell of freshly dried clay.

To say print is dead is very, very dangerous. If we rely too heavily for the Internet to store our information without any hard copies than any major catastrophe that could effect the Internet would cause the loss of all human knowledge. We need hard copies of all the important writings and history. Even if it's just for a worst case scenario.

The ignorance of some of these comments is astounding...

Comparing the smell of a real book, the feel of a tangible object in your hands- infallible by electrical outages- to compare that to stone tablets...

Saying real books smell funny? I grieve for society...

I don't know when or how, but I feel it is a virtual certainty (pardon the pun) that at some point in the future the internet is going to disappear in the blink of an eye. Most people have no conception of just how fragile our civilazation is. It doesn't take much of a stretch of the imagination to concoct scenarios that would send the internet crashing to nonexistance in a big hurry. Think of all the things that are required for the internet to exist - electricity for one thing. Energy is a major issue and it's going to get more critical with time. Consider also the possibility that political upheaval could lead to draconian censorship or event an outright ban on the internet. There is also the very real threat that superhackers and cyberterrorists will render the internet completely unusable - they could easily win the cyber war already in progress! No, I'm afraid the internet is indeed "ethereal" at best. I hate to sound like the Unibomber, but we'd best be prepared for a post-internet lifestyle.

Many of the institutions we tqke for granted and think of as permanent and immutable are actually no more durable than a butterfly's wing.

I fear that unless we start solving major problems faster than we are creating new ones, we are going to be shocked at just how quickly and easily our civilization will come crashing down around us.

I'm with Mr. Bradbury. A large amount of data online vanishes from the public eye because of bias and attempts at manipulation of the masses.

I've seen countless posts objecting to our president's grab for power suddenly vanish, leaving only the "party line" comments.

Once real books and libraries become digitized, what's to stop anyone from altering them or deleting anything that is "objectionable material"?

Book burning was a tool used to supress information in the past. The future may simply use the "delete" key to accomplish the same thing.

Ray Bradbury has it right.

he's right, the internet is at best a tool, at worst a big flashy magazine with too many ads, and little creativity, and alot of duplication, and erroneous content that goes unchecked even by the average user, not to mention, young and very impressionable surfers.

@pimzond: people who know how to use the "tool" of the internet get ad filters (try adblockplus) and don't see any ads online.
Can't say that about America's beloved television. I don't know anyone my age who has reg. tv unless they live with their parents (only online). TV is full of ads, I should know I was practically raised by channel 13.

Converting all our knowledge to purely electronic formats would be idiotic. Computer files from even 10 or 15 years ago are now more or less unreadable because the technology has moved on. Whereas the book is a fantastic piece of technology, storing permamently and accessibly information without requiring any other technology to read. Only fire and water are a danger to it, and what do fire and water do to a hard disk?

Anyway, the internet dies once the oil runs out...

Rather books die once somewhere the oil runs out (they can be burned).

I think this is either misconception (words out of context) or just a Future Shock of some low level. To have a book stored somewhere in a few thousand hard copies, accessed by few, is NOT MORE RESILIENT than to have it stored in some more sophisticated storage. I don't mean common free or paid online hosting, I mean something like Google World Digital Library. With billion-year nanotech media, worldwide mirroring with redundant copies, etc. Even including some ideas by Long Now Foundation. This would be much more harder without Internet. The knowledge of Alexandria library, Ivan Grozny's library, other ancient world treasured disappeared not due to the internet, but because the lack of it, does R.B. realize that?

Please, Mr. Bradbury, can we have our ball back?

Poor guy has probably only seen the negative side of the internet. He needs a good does of the positive.

I don't think he meant of what he said. It just happened that the new generation relied on the computers right now..and that libraries became an option,..to most of us.

What libraries? We need maps.

haha.

I think it's interesting that those who complain about the useless internet, are doing it on the internet. Hmmm.

""I don't believe in colleges and universities..."

Clearly.

Ray Bradbury is being missunderstood. He is absolutely correct. The internet is a distraction from human evolution, technological evolution, and human contact.

I disagree with his feelings about colleges and universities, but I do agree with his main premise.

"The Internet" is worthless - living is from real human interaction offline.

LOL, Ray just delivered the equivalent of a "You kids get the hell off my lawn!" speech.

Come on Ray! Libraries raised ME TOO! What do you THINK the Internet really IS?!! It's EVERY LIBRARY ON THE PLANET, and THEN SOME!

Sorry, Ray's wrong on this one, and I think the world of him. Oh, and the Internet's de-centralization means less likelihood of his "451" vision coming true!

The man's work speaks for itself.
Physical libraries SHOULD never disappear.
The internet is also WONDERFUL.
Ray, as I recall, also sued M. Moore over F-911. Take the old genius with a grain of saltpeter.

So, Ray Bradbury (of all people) can't have a legitimate opinion of the Internet without being treated with scorn? Some of these hateful and cowardly comments just prove his point-the Internet is full of blowhards who spew things they wouldn't have the courage to say in the real world. Unfortunately, because of governments and the citizens priorities,I think the day is coming that libraries as we know them will disappear.

I get his point, but what he doesn't get is that the Internet is a tool; and like all tools can be misused. The Internet can be a force for great good and great evil.

Doesn't surprise me that he said this. He is pushing 90 years old . My mother is 82 and
an ex-journalist and is as smart as they come and she thinks the internet is some giagantic mysterious plot against the world to crush humanity. She doesn't understand
and is so old school she asked recently if they still make electric typewriters.

I think what Bradbury was trying to say, is that you can't love the Internet the way you can love libraries and books, and you can't love those who love the Internet the same way you can share the love of a library/book worshippers.

Bradbury was always into a deep sense of place, its purpose and meaning, and sharing that with fellow travellers. You just can't do that with the Internet :)

Um.. I think Ray is senile.

Lately I've been reading all my books on the screen, downloaded from... the internet.

Isn't it ironic.

don't you think?

The argument on this page is very depressing to me. A lot of you need to be more open minded. There are two sides to every situation and if you are unable to see that, then you have no right to comment. I suggest you go out and get some real first hand info on the matter before you speak.