Wisdom in fragments

Markets are human artefacts; however we often treat them as natural phenomenon in the same way we might treat a language. People are the ones who ultimately make language, but we feel have no control over it as it's such an emergent phenomenon. Markets are emergent phenomenon too, but individual market-places have proprietors and groups of users and therefore markets are more amenable to change. When something isn't working, we can change the rules!

Nobel Prize-winning economist specializing in market design theory

Generally power is diffusing. New corporations such as Google and Facebook are also examples of power diffusing from nation states and moving to new forms of entities. Technology will only accelerate this trend.

Former NATO Supreme Commander & Military Strategist

We have relatively small groups like Al Qaeda, The Taliban and the Islamic State who are capable of challenging the mightiest and most advanced militaries of the world.

Venezuelan editor, author, and international affairs analyst and commentator

Size continues to be important, but is no longer the main factor shielding the powerful from the challenges of newcomers and new arrivals.

Venezuelan editor, author, and international affairs analyst and commentator

The most important form of power is human capital, people.. and their education. In today's world it is easier for people to amass education and communicate their ideas than it has ever been before.

Former NATO Supreme Commander & Military Strategist

Power is decaying because it has become easier to acquire, much harder to use, and thus easier to lose.

Venezuelan editor, author, and international affairs analyst and commentator

If you look at the countries in the world that are leading in their levels of reported happiness, it's countries such as the Nordics- Denmark virtually always comes out on top. The countries where people are happiest are ones which are much more domestically oriented and not seeking world-power.

Economist known for the Easterlin Paradox on income and happiness

Research has shown that when you compare the effect of a 1% change in unemployment rate and 1% change in the inflation rate; a 1% increase in unemployment has a bigger impact on people's happiness than a 1% increase in inflation.

Economist known for the Easterlin Paradox on income and happiness

Happiness is a measure that reflects the success with which people achieve their personal objectives of living levels, happy and healthy families and satisfying work.

Economist known for the Easterlin Paradox on income and happiness

GDP and GNP shouldn't be scrapped, they're of value, but they don't even give us an indication of economic well-being let alone individual well-being

Economist known for the Easterlin Paradox on income and happiness

Kuznets (who developed the measure) was highly skeptical about the assertion that all government spending contributed to people's economic well-being. He wanted the measure of output to be more relevant to people's well-being and he lost-out on this argument to the UN and partner economies of the USA.

Economist known for the Easterlin Paradox on income and happiness

He developed national income measures which were then taken-up by the UN and governments as the accepted measure of economic performance. The standardisation of this measure by the UK was ultimately what engendered it's adoption as the criteria of economic success.

Economist known for the Easterlin Paradox on income and happiness

They talk about Steve Jobs having a reality distortion field…. but all the entrepreneurs I met who achieved great things had that. They all had a wilful denial of reality… against all evidence to the contrary they had to believe they would succeed.. that's ultimately what entrepreneurs do.

From the guys who started Adobe to Steve Jobs, and everyone in between…. for the people I documented, money was secondary… They knew absolutely they would make money, but changing the world and doing cool stuff was the primary goal; that was their mission.

Steve Jobs forced me to figure out what was important to me, and who I was. He demanded that everybody in the room had to be at the top of their game, the best in their field… He was challenging people every day to do their best work and rise above their own talents. He hired the most brilliant people and pushed them to go further.

Genius is (possibly) the presence of more- or more closely packed- neurons. I once held a chunk of Einstein's brain, the scientist who was dissecting and analysing it told me the neurons were closer together. We don't really know if that makes thinking faster… but when I sit with true brilliant people and watch them have conversations, they seem to have the ability to recall important bits of information, put the puzzles together, and see patterns faster.