Wisdom in fragments

Social media really orients us around our identity and our interests because of the way those connections are formed. It's going to suggest people for you to follow, groups for you to join, and so it slots you according to what you're most likely to be interested in based on your individual and group identity.

Disinformation researcher and Stanford Internet Observatory fellow studying online manipulation

The rumour is often significantly more interesting than the facts. And the rumour is often very persuasive to the people who've heard it; they've heard it from somebody they trust. When the target says, 'No, that's not true,' the audience says, 'Oh, of course he or she would deny it,' and so it really puts the target at a disadvantage.

Disinformation researcher and Stanford Internet Observatory fellow studying online manipulation

Rumours are unofficial information that passes from person to person. People share rumours because it makes them more part of their community. It's very pro-social. You hear something that sounds interesting—it piques your interest—you share it with your neighbour: 'Hey, did you hear…?' This is just a social behaviour that people have done in groups forever; it's just part of human society.

Disinformation researcher and Stanford Internet Observatory fellow studying online manipulation

All three of these causal forces manifest to such a degree of intensity as they do today. They have always been present but have not had this degree of intensity and not all at once. That's what makes this a particularly dangerous moment.

There's this sense that our institutions have failed us. The very rich generally pay lower effective tax rates than middle-class and lower-income individuals. There's a sense that the system is broken, the rules of the game are rigged.

The idea that you will sit down with someone who's had 30 or 40 years of lived experience and then somehow get them to change their mind in one sitting is implausible.

What you might think of as a cognitive response is really a product of the lived experiences you bring to the table. You might think of them as irrational, but in their analysis, it may be you who is irrational.

Just as you wouldn't want a surgeon to go from one operating theater to the next without having washed their hands, you don't want a manager to go from one context to the next without being in a position where they can actually do some good—or at least do no harm.

When we have the vocabulary to describe our feelings, we can create a mental model in our brains around our experiences. I'm feeling anxious because I'm uncertain about the outcome.

Psychologist & Director of Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence

We have an emotion categorization for a reason. Anger is about injustice, disappointment is about unmet expectations, and when you feel pride, it's because you've achieved some kind of goal you've been working hard for.

Psychologist & Director of Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence

Be a curious explorer of other people's emotions. Don't approach people as if you know how they're feeling. We often make mistakes when reading other people's emotions because we bring in our own cultural values and belief systems.

Psychologist & Director of Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence

It's awareness that leads to regulation—that's why it's information. Because it's giving us information about how we're feeling and what we need to do about those feelings.

Psychologist & Director of Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence

So emotional intelligence says no, that's incorrect. We used to see emotions as weak because when we think about feelings, we don't think about joy and contentment; we think about anger, anxiety, and depression. Most people think of those as bad feelings that we want to ignore, suppress, or deny.

Psychologist & Director of Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence

Nature has evolved the human race for individuals to be very different from each other. Half of us are thinkers, and we proceed according to the facts. The other half of us are feelers. Nature says you need both kinds of people to push humanity forward.

There are three devils that inhibit economic growth. The first is that the government takes up too much of the economy. The second is that taxes take too much out of the economy. And the third is that there's too much regulation.

About 80 billion of the dead ones died of infection over humanity's lifetime, and the average lifespan of those people was 30. Think of all the self-actualization, the dreams, the aspiration, the success, fulfillment, the family, the grandchildren—all those things that you never ever saw.