From 600+ conversations with the world’s leading thinkers.
what turns a developing into a developed nation is not the amount of foreign aid it attracts, but how the money is spent.
There's a fascinating duality in technology, acting both as a spreader and a regulator of fear. For instance, the telegraph, first visualised in the 19th century as a governmental tool, was later recognised to be vulnerable to sabotage and exploitation by opposing forces.
Revolution was, in a way, the original problem of political thought. Constitutionalism is a Greek answer to the problem of revolution. You want to avoid revolution? Then you need to design a constitution in a certain way—so that it's balanced and less likely to be overturned by revolution.
For the first time in over 20 years, I feel brown… I find myself being extra careful in terms of how I dress, where I go, how I speak, what I carry and how I behave; not to conform to any new social norms- but rather, so that people don't mistake me for a terrorist, or make assumptions about my intentions.
Chairman Bernanke, as good as he is academically, and as much integrity as he has (which I believe is unlimited), has an analytical framework that suggests a lot more inflation is allowable. Part of this is because he looks at core rather than headline, which is a flawed calculus.
the printing press helped democratise Europe by providing space for discussion and agreement among politically engaged citizens, often before the state had fully democratised.
we even regulate toy guns, by requiring orange tips — but lawmakers don't have the gumption to stand up to National Rifle Association extremists and regulate real guns as carefully as we do toys….
In these political times, that's more difficult, you must plant your flag somewhere, and someone will get upset. You have to be able to take that in your stride.
Many governments, faced with a popular revolt, have chosen to martyr wealth without realising that it is the source of entrepreneurship, innovation and philanthropy in their economies.
There is nothing, however, in standard theories of money that requires transactions to be anonymous from tax- or law-enforcement authorities. And yet there is a significant body of evidence that a large percentage of currency in most countries, generally well over 50%, is used precisely to hide transactions.
The recent politicisation of guns, which I think the NRA is partly responsible for, has been incredibly debilitating for the country.
I don't think there is anything about putting your country first that requires you to turn your back on the rest of the world. If anything, the opposite is true.