We cannot think about technology in confrontational terms. There is no race against the machines, there is no fight, no war. We have to end this long, historical confrontational narrative.

The industry is so big that it's difficult to give a general read of its state. It's a bit like saying 'what's the state of the global banking industry?' You could do a broad-brush and say that the banking industry is full of corrupt individuals intent on defrauding the world, or you could say that in some markets banking is doing very well- and in others it's doing terribly.

If I finish a marathon at 4.02 (which is the fastest I've ever ran a marathon in my life), what is the first thing that occurs to me? Oh that was so close to 3.59, I wonder if I could do it. Then as soon as you imagine yourself crossing the line at 3.59 boom, you're in wonderhell because everything that you do, every time that you run you're like 'if I could just keep that up for 25 more miles that could be 3.59'. So as soon as you see it, you can't unsee it.

Doing something which has a social purpose gives you the motivation to overcome the hurdles and obstacles that you will meet along the way. It gives you that inner strength when you're doing something and you know it's making a massive difference and a huge impact.

One thing that really helped us was NOT following the IMF prescription, and hence I think the fact that we insisted on having growth (alongside stability) was something that made for a big change in Brazil.

Identities are useful – if you had to make everything up in your life, from the start, with no input whatsoever – that wouldn't be freedom – you'd be less free; you'd have to think constantly about what you should or should not do. There would be no structure for your life choices.

This is where people expect me to reveal some magical formula I've discovered in the caves of Indonesia. You're going to be disappointed. I'm about to tell you some of the simplest, most mundane things in the world. They're so basic that many people don't even want to bother with them. But trust me, these basics are far more important than attending a breathwork class three times a week.

Most people do not realise what will happen when they cross the divide- they've already accepted a story about who's on the other side, and have already decided that the other is frightening, delusional and dangerous. In truth, we are all confused. This era is nothing if not confusing. We all see some things with clarity, we all see some things upside down, and we all have blind-spots.

You don't pick an aesthetic in abstract – you need to have a core point, a core reason to make a film, and the form of aesthetic springs from that necessity. Everything has to relate to that core intention.

I've been fortunate not to be formally trained in any of these disciplines. I don't know how to play music, nor do I know how to code, but I have a strong sense of what the market wants. Around that, I build a team of people who are skilled at execution.

I came away from space flight realising that I don't have enough faith to be an atheist. Life is so amazing. When you look at the universe and the forces of nature, there just has to be a creator.

We are in the epoch of simultaneity; we are in the epoch of juxtaposition, the epoch of the near and the far, of the side-by-side, of the dispersed.