“If we turned back the clock to 120 years ago, we wouldn't even be aware of many conflicts and crises when they occurred. It might take days before reading about a distressing situation in a distant land in a newspaper. This isn't to say we should ignore the suffering of others, but rather to understand these events within a larger framework.”— Danny Penman
The quote archive
A growing archive of 3,000+ moments, drawn from every interview.
We have a growing inequality of rationality. At the top, we've never been so rational – we've accomplished technological miracles, sequenced the COVID-19 genome in days and deployed vaccines in under a year. At the same time, we have pizzagate, QAnon, chemtrails and 9/11 truthers.
— Steven PinkerCognitive Scientist & Psychologist Known for Research on Language and Human Nature
The laws of cause and effect which govern our universe don't care about our beliefs – so we'd better find out what those laws are and try and align our beliefs to them to eliminate guesswork. The consequences if we don't? we'll get sick, we'll starve, our machines will break down.
— Steven PinkerCognitive Scientist & Psychologist Known for Research on Language and Human Nature
Rationality applies whether you believe in it or not. One idea follows from another – or it doesn't – and if you want some of your beliefs to lead to other beliefs, you have no choice but to be rational. We're committed to it by the very act of discussing, arguing, debating, persuading and convincing.
— Steven PinkerCognitive Scientist & Psychologist Known for Research on Language and Human Nature
Truth is an aspiration which none of us can ever know that we have attained. Nobody has a pipeline to the truth; nobody is imbued with divine revelation. We seek truth through institutions like science, journalism, governance, justice systems and record keeping. These are the bodies that make us collectively more suited to attain the truth.
— Steven PinkerCognitive Scientist & Psychologist Known for Research on Language and Human Nature
We mustn't focus exclusively on this threat, and it tends to be the case that the global elite does. I was at Davos in January 2020 and climate change was the agenda – and the pandemic had already begun! It was quite difficult to persuade people that there might be a nearer-term threat facing us than climate change.
— Niall FergusonBritish historian and author specializing in financial and military history
There's no question that Facebook could have done much, much more in the last few years to address the problem. I don't think we can inoculate people against crazy ideas, they will always have takers- but we can certainly improve the way that platforms like Facebook operate because they don't have any incentive at the moment to restrict the spread of harmful content.
— Niall FergusonBritish historian and author specializing in financial and military history
Those cycles don't exist – that's not what history is like. Disasters keep coming along at random intervals, they are not normally distributed... That's hard for our brains to deal with… we don't like the idea that history is just a lot of random shocks without any predictable features.
— Niall FergusonBritish historian and author specializing in financial and military history
We've built two great contagion machines. Firstly, international travel which has enabled vast numbers of people to fly over great distances. Secondly, the internet – and in particular, the way the internet has evolved... it became a machine for disseminating contagious ideas.
— Niall FergusonBritish historian and author specializing in financial and military history
The story of modernity is a story of scientific advance – but in reality, with every step forward, we're taking half a step backward in terms of making ourselves more fragile.
— Niall FergusonBritish historian and author specializing in financial and military history
Today's civilisation is more fragile as a result of its complexity. We've created an astonishingly networked world in which we communicate and travel in ways which were unimaginable for most of human history... but at the same time, we have made ourselves more vulnerable to certain kinds of disaster, and even invented new forms of disaster that didn't' exist before.
— Niall FergusonBritish historian and author specializing in financial and military history
Creation, whatever form it takes, must improve the lives of as many people as possible.
— Philippe StarckRenowned French Industrial Designer & Architect Known for Innovative Product Design
Art, for him, is a crucial means for turning thinking into doing in the world.
— Olafur EliassonIcelandic-Danish artist known for immersive light and weather installations
An object must be useful before being beautiful.
— Philippe StarckRenowned French Industrial Designer & Architect Known for Innovative Product Design
No one has to be a genius, but everyone has to participate.
— Philippe StarckRenowned French Industrial Designer & Architect Known for Innovative Product Design
Subversive, ethical, ecological, political, humorous… this is how I see my duty as a designer.
— Philippe StarckRenowned French Industrial Designer & Architect Known for Innovative Product Design
Even when I reached the top, I never forgot where I came from. I wondered about the millions of my fellow countrymen who didn't have the chance I got and continued to languish in poverty.
— Manny PacquiaoWorld Champion Boxer & Philippine Senator