Philosophy

When the hydrogen bomb was first proposed in the early 1950's, the scientific panel in charge of US nuclear research recommended against it, unanimously. They called it a weapon of genocide whose only purpose would be to kill hundreds of thousands of civilians.

Nuclear weapons expert and president of the Ploughshares Fund.

In biology we are still in a kind of Ptolemaic era with man considering himself the centre of the universe.

Plant neurobiologist and founder of the International Laboratory of Plant Neurobiology.

Intelligence is the ability to solve problems. For me intelligence is a property of life. Even the most humble unicellular living organism must be intelligent to solve the problems of everyday life. Human intelligence is, for want of a better phrase, a degree of magnitude greater than the intelligence of a Paramecium or, better, of a Chlamydomonas; but the difference is just quantitative and not qualitative.

Plant neurobiologist and founder of the International Laboratory of Plant Neurobiology.

DNA is not life. A single chemical molecule has nothing to do with life. DNA is merely a storage system. Nobody would ever say that the "Divine Comedy" is the actual paper and ink on which one of its copies is printed, however many influential scientists have supported this nonsensical viewpoint.

Plant neurobiologist and founder of the International Laboratory of Plant Neurobiology.

I want to either hit a homerun or walk or even strike out. This means I fail far more often than I succeed. But the important point is that what I lose when I fail is trivial, epsilon compared to what I make when I succeed.

Hedge Fund Manager & Author of "The Black Swan" Risk Management

Globalisation is here to stay. You cannot, however, look at it as a natural phenomenon on which you have no influence- it's not like a typhoon or a cyclone. It's a process- and a process on which you can have influence.

Brazilian Diplomat & Foreign Minister under Lula's Presidency

This is not just about the elephant- it's about there being different types of elephants. When we have large changes in a market, they might last an hour, a few seconds, a day, a month - there's no fixed time over which they happen! Looking at the market in simplistic distribution perspectives misses the true effect, threat and risk of large movements.

Physics professor studying complex systems, crowd behavior, and social networks.

In science, one never shows causality. Causality is something philosophers are concerned with, not scientists. I cannot stress this in strong enough words- we have not shown a causal link between the public's mood state as we measured it from twitter data feeds, and the market.

Unknown.

My big contention is that we've misread Adam Smith. People don't realise that Adam Smith was a moral philosopher before an economics expert. His first book, before he wrote 'The Wealth of Nations' was, 'The Theory on Moral Sentiments'. In that book, you find the answer for what the invisible hand really is! He never accelerated the narrative that there should be completely unfettered free markets. He believed markets took place in the context of a moral framework and foundation.

The Chinese government has realised that to fuel capitalism, an atheistic, communistic, civil-religion will never propel growth. They weren't doing because they thought it was 'true' but because they were astute in knowing that you need this kind-of cultural base. Recently the Chinese government have done a major funding push for Buddhist centres and institutes around the world. They are trying to replace one philosophical narrative with another… They realise that their system, frankly, will not support the growth or creativity to create the new technologies and companies that are necessary.

we make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves happy. The amount of work is the same…

Author of "The Teachings of Don Juan" & Controversial Anthropologist

People underestimate their personal probability of encountering negative …it is not so much that individuals believe that negative events will not happen, but rather that these events are relatively unlikely to happen to them.

Former Premier of New Brunswick & Canadian diplomat and businessman

I genuinely believe that you can train yourself to see trouble as opportunity and realise that the best time to make money is when other people are most fearful.

Value investor and niece of legendary investor John Templeton

…the question is not can they reason? Or can they talk? …But can they suffer?

Founder and President of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA)

To me the question is, why are we denying them the obvious rights they should have? They are flesh and blood, they feel pain as we do, they experience joy, they have their own behaviours and their own languages among themselves that they understand and we don't. They have maternal instincts and look after each other as we do… it's not an intellectual thing when a mother protects her child; it's an instinctive behaviour.

Founder and President of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA)

Architecture should fulfil multiple criteria. One of its purposes is to itself. A lot of people believe to some degree, in the autonomy of architecture as a discipline which means that part of the purpose of architecture is to construct new forms of knowledge that relate to the enhancement and advancement of the discipline.

Dean of Harvard Graduate School of Design & Architecture Theorist