We have to have a conversation about how data can empower or oppress us- we have the opportunity to re-imagine this, it's not a deal that's been done, and it's not too late to imagine a different way of organising, regulating, collecting, contributing and benefiting.
— Sir Nigel Shadbolt“My colleague Jerry Joyce once chaired a NASA committee that defined life in a practical sense, as a self-sustaining chemical system with the potential for Darwinian evolution (the hallmark of biology). That's a perfectly adequate operational definition that is appropriate for research into the origins of life. Obviously it has nothing to do with consciousness, or even the experience of being alive.”— Jack Szostak
Nobel Prize Winner for Work on Chromosome Protection and Telomeres
The quote archive
Wisdom in fragments
A growing archive of 3,000+ moments, drawn from every interview.
I remain a technical optimist… the problem is not artificial intelligence, it's natural stupidity.
— Sir Nigel ShadboltMy fear has never been the machines waking up and deciding to do away with us, but rather that we- in our own bone headed way- deploy systems inappropriately, or without thinking through the unintended consequences that may occur.
— Sir Nigel ShadboltWe didn't just make technology, it made us. In the modern context, this phenomenon terrifies some people and excites others- but it's going to happen. We have to understand how humans and their tools and technologies blend at scale – it's going to be an absolutely fascinating journey.
— Sir Nigel ShadboltEconomics is like artificial intelligence, it's not really there… there's no physical invisible hand…. It's about people interacting with people against a social order, a set of ethics, principles and practices.
— Jaron LanierPioneer of Virtual Reality & Critic of Social Media
Technology isn't a 'thing,' it's a social structure that people act upon the universe through. The social structure has incentives, roles and governance which determine the meaning and effect of the technology, not the engineering itself.
— Jaron LanierPioneer of Virtual Reality & Critic of Social Media
I actually think social media can be fine, and in fact if you look at the first year or two of any particular social media, they often start out quite charming before the stupid business model kicks in where companies can only make money by having third parties inject money into the system.
— Jaron LanierPioneer of Virtual Reality & Critic of Social Media
Social media was kind-of created to destroy humanity, in a literal sense. The first notion of the implications of such networks was provided by B. F. Skinner who spoke of the dangers of people who- on networks- were too free, too creative and too uncontrolled.
— Jaron LanierPioneer of Virtual Reality & Critic of Social Media
There's no sensible definition of people without technology. Our relationship with technology is complex and helical. As technology changes over time, so do we, and we have a situation therefore where we develop technologies, adapt, and then need new technologies to solve the side-effects of the first.
— Jaron LanierPioneer of Virtual Reality & Critic of Social Media
Instead of militaries fighting militaries, we now have militaries or military motivated agents that are able to activate civilians in each other's countries. Social media is global national security threat, and one that we're not even spending billions of dollars to protect against.
— Tristan HarrisDesign ethicist & founder of Center for Humane Technology
If Russia or China try to fly a plane into the United States, they'll be shut down by a USAF F35. Meanwhile, if they try and fly an information plane into the United States they're met with Facebook and Google algorithms that run an auction to enable them to get the maximum audience, for the cheapest price.
— Tristan HarrisDesign ethicist & founder of Center for Humane Technology
Technology claims to be showing us a mirror of what was already present in society but in reality, technology is a funhouse mirror with a feedback loop that's engineered to show us the most egregious parts of society that are better at keeping our attention.
— Tristan HarrisDesign ethicist & founder of Center for Humane Technology
We are now 10 years into the mass warping of the human collective psyche because of a lack of checks and balances. To even begin to correct what's already happened means we have to wake up to the challenge of a world which must collectively wake-up from a mass delusion that has warped our trajectory as a civilisation.
— Tristan HarrisDesign ethicist & founder of Center for Humane Technology
Technology is systematically undermining human weakness, the costs are huge. This is what degrades our quality of life and how we make sense of the world. This is what destroys our ability to form identity, to form relationships and make choices.
— Tristan HarrisDesign ethicist & founder of Center for Humane Technology
The purpose of intelligence is to improve the quality of decision making by reducing ignorance. The more you know the more likely it is that a sound decision will be taken. That applies to all of us in our day-to-day decisions.
— Professor Sir David OmandFormer UK Security and Intelligence Coordinator & National Security Adviser
We wouldn't want to live in a world of full transparency. That is a world where I can see into your brain, and you into mine. We all need privacy for our thoughts, and inside government we need politicians and advisers to be able to explore ideas in private.
— Professor Sir David OmandFormer UK Security and Intelligence Coordinator & National Security Adviser