“The brain is definitely not doing computation in the purest sense. We are not crunching numbers in binary ones and zeros in our heads. When people ask me how our system compares to an NVIDIA GPU in terms of FLOPS, I tell them they're asking the wrong question. A more important question is: what are your inputs, what output do you want, and how intelligently can the system get from one to the other?”
— Hon Weng Chong

The quote archive

Technology

A growing archive of 3,000+ moments, drawn from every interview.

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.

— Frank Lantz

Game designer and NYU professor known for game theory and interactive entertainment

I believe a key issue is this newfound ability to hide behind our screens, which gives a false sense of impunity, allowing people to express themselves without restraint. The more time we spend glued to our screens, the less we engage in meaningful, real-world exchanges.

— Sara Jane Ho

However, the landscape is shifting with the advent of digital transactions. The digitisation of money movement, transitioning from cash to digital, allows for traceability. This traceability generates data, which can be analysed to inform decisions.

— Naré Vardanyan

The reality is, not every business model is designed for scalability. Some businesses don't necessarily need to scale to be successful. The key lies in intellectual property. Once you've developed a piece of IP, the cost of distributing it to one person versus a million is remarkably similar.

— Theo Paphitis

British Businessman, Dragons' Den Investor & Retail Entrepreneur

Games are a potent medium for crafting artificial experiences, offering an unparalleled avenue for exploration and learning. This realisation cemented my ambition to create games, driven by the belief in their profound capacity to encapsulate and convey experiences.

— Trip Hawkins

Founder of Electronic Arts (EA) and 3DO Company

This ease of gaining virtue status on social media, coupled with our innate desire for status, explains the platform's toxicity. We're drawn to the simplest form of status acquisition, and social media facilitates this with minimal effort, creating a cycle of virtue signalling that feeds our need for recognition and approval.

— Will Storr

British journalist and author known for investigative reporting and psychology books

I don't believe social media has transformed the essence of our social dynamics; rather, it has introduced a novel arena for the age-old status games we've always played. Human social interactions are fundamentally structured around three types of status games: dominance, virtue, and competence.

— Will Storr

British journalist and author known for investigative reporting and psychology books

The notion that the Google or Chrome app could become redundant on mobile devices isn't far-fetched. In a future where direct URL visits are less common, the convenience of an all-encompassing app could significantly alter how we interact with our devices.

— Aravind Srinivas

CEO and Co-Founder of Anthropic, AI Safety Researcher

By the time he was still scrolling through his options, I simply showed him the answer on my phone. He was taken aback, admitting that this was a far superior approach. This experience exemplifies the revolutionary nature of answer engines.

— Aravind Srinivas

CEO and Co-Founder of Anthropic, AI Safety Researcher

It's quite rare to enhance the product experience and simultaneously challenge an existing business model. Typically, you manage to achieve either one or the other. However, Perplexity introduces a superior product experience by saving users time and eliminating the need for them to click through links. This disruption is nothing short of revolutionary.

— Aravind Srinivas

CEO and Co-Founder of Anthropic, AI Safety Researcher

The cardinal rule in academic research is to base your assertions on citable evidence rather than conjecture. This principle sets Perplexity apart from ChatGPT, which has the freedom to generate content without such constraints. Perplexity, by design, is restricted to sourcing information directly from the web, eschewing any reliance on pre-existing knowledge within the model.

— Aravind Srinivas

CEO and Co-Founder of Anthropic, AI Safety Researcher

I don't believe that social media is directly responsible for mental health issues. I see social media more as an accelerant than a cause. It tends to amplify pre-existing conditions, speeding up and enlarging problems rather than creating them.

— Bruce Hood

Psychologist known for research on child development and magical thinking in children

The 'compare and despair' generation is constantly bombarded with unrealistic portrayals of success, leading everyone to feel inadequate, regardless of their achievements. We all have flaws and recognize our weaknesses, and there will always be someone who seems better in some way.

— Bruce Hood

Psychologist known for research on child development and magical thinking in children

There's a compelling hypothesis in the field of machine learning called 'overfitting,' where systems become so tuned to recognizing patterns that they falter when faced with new, unexpected scenarios. Interestingly, some computer scientists are exploring ways to inject noise into computational models to keep them adaptable.

— Rahul Jandial

Suddenly, your intuition about what to build is much more likely to be right because you're building what's missing in the future. You're tinkering with technologies first hand, understanding what's new about them firsthand, and understanding what's missing to fulfill and actualize their full potential firsthand.

— Mike Maples Jr

Venture capitalist and early-stage investor, founder of Founders Fund

When the first real version of the game came to life on my screen—without any decorations, scoring, or anything, just the playing field and the pieces—I couldn't stop playing. I realized there was something truly magical about the game. But I could never have imagined what it would become; that was one of the biggest surprises.

— Alexey Pajitnov

Creator of Tetris, the iconic video game