From 600+ conversations with the world’s leading thinkers.
This exponential scaling reveals the immense complexity lurking beneath the surface of reality. Taking full computational advantage of these quantum laws is the essence of quantum computing.
We have turned life into a business model- and have somewhat forgotten the reciprocity we have with nature rather; we just see it as a resource. We have maintained societies for thousands of years based on a reciprocal relationship with nature, and we need to.
Disasters keep coming along at random intervals, they are not normally distributed. They either come randomly (in the case of war) or they are governed by power-laws (pandemics and earthquakes). 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.
If you're doing anything for legacy, you might as well forget about it – even your great grandchildren will have no idea who you were or what you did. Legacy lasts 50 years maximum.
This realization that everywhere you look is home and everywhere you look there is something new and beautiful and wonderful to discover. It is a real lesson in Earthling and Earth appreciation.
Falling in love with your brain ignites a passion for discovering how best to nurture it. I'm particularly fond of one guiding question: 'Is this good for my brain or bad for it?' When you respond to this query armed with knowledge and driven by love, you naturally start making wiser choices.
We compensate for our failure to exercise actual control over events by creating a generalized, subjective sense of control by undertaking acts the effect of which on the environment is illusory.
Born into a family where my father made about £35 a week and both of my parents worked tirelessly, we didn't have the luxury of material wealth. Yet, we were enveloped in an abundance of love, which I view as the ultimate luxury. This upbringing imbued me with empathy towards families facing similar circumstances.
It has been said that we went to the moon to explore the moon, but while we were there, we looked over our shoulder and discovered Earth. Seeing the Earth in that perspective upgraded the firmware of all our brains, of everyone's subconscious. Those missions sparked Earth Day, the Environmental Protection Agency, a comprehensive Clean Air Act... So much activism came from seeing that there's no hint of anyone coming to help us from somewhere, that we're here by ourselves on one planet.
I often have odd conversations where people say, 'Should we take happiness seriously?' And I pause and ask, 'How do you feel about misery and suffering—are those not bad? Do they not matter at all?' Then they admit, 'Oh yeah'. I then ask 'so, don't you think it's good if people enjoy their lives?' And they say, 'I suppose so.' So, everyone agrees happiness matters to some extent – but we often forget this and need to bring it to the surface.
Comedy delivers the cerebral and the hyperbole, it can be funny and serious. Comedy is built on the idea of building pressure…. Building tension and then breaking it… a great punchline cuts after a ton of pressure you build up on a premise, and you know what? That's just how life works.
With technology, we're creating a lot more hammers – and with more hammers, we're able to find more nails. The question is whether those hammers are being made for the right purposes, and whether they will serve the right purpose.