We go to war not because we ignore the costs, but because we know there are costs, but we are willing to pay those costs because we get something from the war which we wouldn't get otherwise.
— Christopher BlattmanEvery time we achieve some version of success we see another version of ourselves that we didn't even know was possible. We as humans wonder what else potential we have to explore. I didn't know that it was available to me but now that it is, and that's amazing and it's exciting and it's wonderful, it's also anxiety provoking and stress inducing and identity questioning.
Politicians, by and large, don't understand technology at all, and technologists don't understand politicians—and both tend to denigrate each other. The technologists in Silicon Valley see politicians as venal, short-term, and ignorant, while politicians view technologists as rapacious capitalists who will stop at nothing to beat their rivals and lack any ethical compass.
Happiness should never be pursued! Happiness is a by-product of living a lifestyle. How do I design a lifestyle where the by-product of the lifestyle results in happiness? You can't create something you don't know.
Resilience is the responsibility and opportunity of the community.
Creative process by its nature involves figuring out all the things that don't work on your way to figuring out the things that do. You can't have it both ways…
There's a joke within Facebook that if you want to know which countries will have a genocide in the next couple of years, look at the ones that have Facebook free basics.
After each strike the drone would be updated with information about the actual destruction caused. It would note any damage to nearby buildings and would subsequently receive information from other sources, such as soldiers in the area, fixed cameras on the ground and other aircraft. Using this information, it could compare the level of destruction it expected with what actually happened.
Whether we look at the rioters who converged on the capital, the Gamestop Redditors, Incels or Qanon followers, what they have in common is that they're groups of people who are lonely and craving community. That fundamental need for human connection is missing for significant swathes of our population, and that's dangerous.
When I came back, it didn't take me and my brother long to see that this was a failing business. It had been making the same product since the 1930s. The business was dying.
When you're young, you're trying to earn a living- that's the most important thing. But alongside trying to earn a living, you're trying to find a voice and make films about things that interest you- you have an intentionality to your work. As you get more mature, gain trust and success- you get more freedom to make what you want- but those first-principles still apply; you are making a film that speaks to the things you're interested in.
We are living longer and measuring GDP growth is not the way to decide whether a society or an economy are flourishing.
San Francisco is the city of love and compassion, will always be, and will never change that. I know that's a very broad response, but I do think that's what motivates me the most in terms of the vision and feeling I have for the city.