Society

The defining feature of our era is that the next generation are bona fide digital natives. They've been raised in a digital world, so concepts like artificial intelligence or quantum computing don't faze them. They're backed by technology, making them tech-empowered. This is the first aspect. They're equipped both to decide how capital is utilized and to research if it aligns with their values.

Those defending the inevitability of death vastly outnumber the proponents of indefinite life. This almost trance-like acceptance of the status quo is genuinely surprising to me.

Biohacker & Blueprint Project Founder focused on extreme longevity optimization

While epidemics can shape communities through their demographic impact, fear of disease invariably has a stigmatising effect. Groups, often minorities, are targeted as carriers of disease. Fear involves an 'othering' and leads to discrimination.

Today, policies are sold to us largely on the basis of fear, or fear mitigation: from immigration to climate change, from health services to defence. It's less about promoting a progressive vision of the future and more about playing to our fears of what might happen if we don't toe a particular line.

I find it fascinating that human beings seem like their default recreation is sedation. People are terrified, they don't like fear. They're literally bubble wrapping themselves. If you never face real fear, then you're going to weaken yourself.

Professional BASE jumper and skydiver known for extreme cliff jumping

I often tell my students to recognize the implicit messages our clothing conveys about our mood, social status, and more. Soon, our entrance into a room will announce our presence not just visually or audibly, but also electromagnetically. Our interactions with others will encompass sight, sound, and this electromagnetic identity.

Communications scholar and pioneer in media effects research and digital divide studies

There's a pervasive sentiment that silence or a lack of immediate response equates to complicity, and this is seen as an endorsement of a particular viewpoint. These demands for instant opinions are concerning as they overlook the individuals who are earnestly seeking to grasp the full picture, delving into the nuances of age-old issues before formulating a stance.

The more pronounced a group identity is, especially when an identifiable outgroup exists, the more likely individuals are to dehumanize those not in their group. When asked to describe oneself, if the first identification that comes to mind is that of the group, the likelihood of outgroup dehumanization increases, seeing them as less than human.

The crux of the matter is, the human journey is fraught with challenges. It's frequently marked by pain, confusion, and a feeling of helplessness. Herein lies the allure of fiction—it provides what reality often withholds. Fictions grant us a semblance of understanding, a hint of control, and a sense of community during times of solitude. This makes misinformation appealing, as it fulfils these basic human desires: comprehension, control, and community.

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.

Being 'online' does feel sort of 'godlike', it does make you feel that the limitations of material human existence don't apply quite so much. This godlike feeling explains some of the terrible behaviour on anonymous social media. It also gives you this sense that you somehow could become one with the metaverse.

Guardian columnist & author on psychology, time management, and happiness

I often envision the modern world as a battleground, with a continuous tug-of-war between the forces of salvation and our own potentially destructive instincts. AI emerges as a beacon of hope with a promise to significantly elevate the quality of life, especially for those in the lower echelons of society.

Author of "The Tipping Point" & Popular Cultural Theorist

Consider a car with malfunctioning brakes; it's unsafe to let it on the street, as it could cause harm. You'd need to confine it, but you wouldn't punish it or moralize its malfunction. Instead, you'd seek to understand why its brakes failed. This approach mirrors how we should handle human criminality.

Neuroscientist & primatologist known for stress research and public engagement

We must start by eliminating a culture that falsely implies the existence of agency where there is none and condones differential treatment of individuals based on a misguided notion of self-control.

Neuroscientist & primatologist known for stress research and public engagement

A crucial aspect of addressing antisemitism involves recognising that we are confronting not only ideological Jew-haters, the overt antisemites, but also the more pervasive cultural phenomenon of antisemitism. While we often think of antisemites as 'the other guys', antisemitism is part of our broader culture.

Under international law, genocide specifically requires the targeting of a group identified by national, ethnic, racial, or religious characteristics, often termed 'ethnicity', and aims at the physical destruction of this group. This is where controversies often arise, particularly when there's insufficient evidence of an intent to physically destroy the group.

International human rights lawyer & UN investigator on war crimes