From 600+ conversations with the world’s leading thinkers.
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.
One of the greatest learnings in my life has been the fact that the sky is really not the limit, after all, there are footprints on the moon. The future of our species will see us travel further, and achieve more, than we could ever predict- so we have to keep our minds open to all possibilities.
You can think of the human mind as a measuring instrument. We're making judgements all the time and studies show that on a day-to-day basis, when presented with the same evidence, our judgements may be different.
I need failure like I need air. Unless people understand what failure is, they can't grow. I find growth in suffering, in pain and in failure.
I would describe games as an art form centred around systems. Viewing the world as a system means perceiving it as a collection of interconnected elements. These elements interact in a way that both enables and restricts themselves and each other. Essentially, what is observed is the collective behaviour of these elements as they unfold over time, creating a range of possibilities.
I fell in love with the process first – they sometimes call it the grind. I fell in love with movement, with training, with everything between the competitions – and falling in love with that was instrumental to me because now, when things don't go right, and I feel vulnerable or emotional, I can dip into that state.
The genius of the classical economists was to think of economics and politics as the same. Remember, in Smiths' Day, there was no economics faculty, it was political economy. We may need to go back to that.
The issue you're worried about, the one you're likely spending most of your time discussing, isn't the only problem in the world. We tend to lose sight of this because we often perceive our immediate tasks as the most crucial. Given the multitude of issues we need to address, the goal shouldn't be to resolve a single problem in an exhaustive and expensive way.
Morality represents the way we would like the world to work, and economics represents how it actually does work.
We take ethics very seriously – and it's important to never fool the user. It must be clear that you are dealing with a digital person, not a real person, and at the same time you cannot create any dependency.
Having grown up and worked in this environment, I strongly believe there is a solution to everything as long as you are not willing to accept a status quo and constantly look for better results.
Adversity, I believe, is vital. It's the crucible where strength is forged. Without struggle, without battles to face, we remain static, unable to grow. Extreme experiences, where the intensity of life is palpable, have been instrumental in my evolution as a person.