Culture Quotes

From 600+ conversations with the world’s leading thinkers.

In the 1960s and 70s, a lot of quantum physicists (probably high on LSD) thought that quantum mechanics could explain the nature of consciousness, and phenomena like ESP. To this day, you have the Deepak Chopras of the world who associate quantum mechanics with spiritualism and all manner of pseudo-science from homeopathy to teleportation.

The team was a meritocracy in which performance alone was rewarded. As I got better and my team started winning championships for my school, my status as freakishly tall black kid became a badge of accomplishment and inclusion.

I argue that the ecosystem where idea pathogens originate from is the university; it takes intellectuals to come up with some of the most moronic ideas possible.

To understand what we're facing in the 21st century, we need to look back in history. It has not always been the case that women were considered inferior or subordinate to men. The myth of women's inferiority is the product of a social system that has produced and fostered countless other inequalities, inferiorities, degradations, and discriminations.

I'm surprised that people argue that economic integration causes a loss of identity. In fact, countries get the benefits of their own country (whether it be food, types of goods, technologies) but in-addition, they get the benefits of all the things other countries produce too. Economic integration doesn't remove a country's identity, far from it… rather the range of products, services, instruments and intellectual processes available increases. You keep what you have and add things from abroad. This is not reducing identity, but expanding it.

After the Holocaust, such thinking became widely discredited. In the post-war era, other developments also influenced attitudes towards antisemitism, leading to a significant shift in political antisemitism. However, what persisted were the cultural stereotypes – the entrenched narratives and stereotypes about Jews within the culture, ready to be drawn upon whenever they seemed relevant or useful.

After the Holocaust, political antisemitism became widely discredited. However, what persisted were the cultural stereotypes – the entrenched narratives and stereotypes about Jews within the culture, ready to be drawn upon whenever they seemed relevant or useful.

Most people don't know who they are. They're trying to be what other people want them to be- or they're trying to create something that fills a void that comes from within. The pressure to conform is huge right now, especially with people getting cancelled; saying what you really feel can make you unpopular… so people box themselves into a place where they're not celebrated or respected for being truthful. It's tragic.

Fighting crosses demographics. You can come to one of our gyms and find a barrister rolling with a security guard. If you go to the polo club, it's usually a single demographic.

Seeing the earth from space was just breathtaking – I cannot imagine anywhere being more beautiful, we're living on an absolute paradise. Seeing our planet from that vantage point also changed my perspective on the concept of home. I used to think of myself as a New Yorker, as an America, but now? I'm a citizen of earth first and still all those things. Now, when I think of home, I think of the earth.

Technology presents a difficulty for our world right now. Everyone is simultaneously an individual who can have a conversation, and a broadcaster. So we're getting on social media and training ourselves to think in broadcast mode, but then we go out in public and get our wires crossed.

Women were never in the driver's seat with dating. It always came down to the man to take the lead, to ask the girl... There was this playbook where the guy has the power, the girl is weak and fragile waiting to be saved by Prince Charming... and this is disempowering for both sides.

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