What Ada Palmer thinks about censorship
Historian of the Renaissance and of the history of ideas, professor at the University of Chicago, author of Inventing the Renaissance and the Terra Ignota novels, and writer of the blog Ex Urbe.
Ada Palmer did not write this page.
We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.
2 dated positions, 2026, in their own words. Our reading of what Ada Palmer has said — not written or endorsed by them.
-
Their wordsmini thesis, every time there's a new information technology, there's a subsequent wave of censorship to try to censor the new technology and a bajillion books get banned all at once.
↗Machiavelli is the most misunderstood thinker of all time – Ada Palmeryoutube.com 21st of 26 in this recording
-
Their wordsand you may now use the actual Inquisition record of you having gone through censorship as the document to prove that you and only you have the right to print the book and therefore you can sue people for plagiarizing it or printing an unauthorized edition. And so, the very first version of copyright is the Inquisition.
↗Machiavelli is the most misunderstood thinker of all time – Ada Palmeryoutube.com 24th of 26 in this recording