“Quantum mechanics is the most radical break in our thinking of reality that we have ever encountered... Quantum mechanics comes along and says that whole experience is misleading, and that the best you can ever do is to predict the probabilities of outcomes. Quantum mechanics says our world is nebulous, fuzzy, a haze of possibilities until it somehow snaps to attention upon an appropriate interaction, observation or measurement.”— Brian Greene
The quote archive
A growing archive of 3,000+ moments, drawn from every interview.
We need companies to play by a different set of accountabilities, not just those that are related to performance. It's about creating legal accountability around the creation of value for stakeholders, not just shareholders. That's what changes the conversation in the boardroom.
— Andrew KassoyCo-Founder of Bridgewater Associates & Pioneer in Radical Transparency
Our theory of change is that you need credible, authentic leaders to drive systems change. Certified B Corporations are these leaders. They're setting the example by prioritizing people and the planet over profits. They're playing by a different set of rules! And they are doing so successfully.
— Andrew KassoyCo-Founder of Bridgewater Associates & Pioneer in Radical Transparency
Systems change is slow because it requires consensus that there is a system failure to start with, as well as the presence of a viable alternative. This requires a combination of culture shift, behavioral change, and structural change to ultimately change the rules of the game.
— Andrew KassoyCo-Founder of Bridgewater Associates & Pioneer in Radical Transparency
I love Mick and Bianca, but Jade's more my speed. I taught her how to colour and she showed me how to play Monopoly. She was four and I was forty-four.
— Andy WarholPop Artist Who Revolutionized Modern Art Through Mass Production & Celebrity Imagery
If I say to you 41, it's data. If I tell you 41 is the temperature in centigrade, that's information. If I tell you 41 is the temperature, in centigrade, of a human patient, that really is information – in fact, it's in danger of becoming knowledge because of the contextualisation it gives you.
— Sir Nigel ShadboltRight now, it's a bit like the early stages of the universe. Lots of hot plasma gas everywhere, but structure takes time to emerge… We have the opportunity to re-imagine this, it's not a deal that's been done, and it's not too late to imagine a different way of organising, regulating, collecting, contributing and benefiting.
— Sir Nigel ShadboltI remain a technical optimist… the problem is not artificial intelligence, it's natural stupidity. Through treaties, regimes and pressure we have at least stopped ourselves from the worst excesses in chemical, biological and nuclear science.
— Sir Nigel ShadboltMy fear has never been the machines waking up and deciding to do away with us, but rather that we- in our own bone headed way- deploy systems inappropriately, or without thinking through the unintended consequences that may occur.
— Sir Nigel ShadboltWe didn't just make technology, it made us. In the modern context, this phenomenon terrifies some people and excites others- but it's going to happen. We have to understand how humans and their tools and technologies blend at scale – it's going to be an absolutely fascinating journey.
— Sir Nigel ShadboltI grew up in the age of space exploration, reading Asimov, Le Guin and Clarke, getting lost in the worlds they had created which were littered with aliens, robots and AI. For me, I think it was a combination of Star Trek, far too much Asimov and the niggling question of understanding ourselves better through computing technologies.
— Sir Nigel ShadboltThe future isn't written, and so whether it's too late to fix this is not determined but it has on many occasions this year in particular felt that we've crossed the point of no return. We need to be optimistic to do so, pessimism serves nothing.
— Jaron LanierPioneer of Virtual Reality & Critic of Social Media
I do feel that there is less hope now than there has ever been during my lifetime and- it would appear- for centuries. When you speak to most young people, they don't have an articulate sense of the future, of what they're looking forward to.
— Jaron LanierPioneer of Virtual Reality & Critic of Social Media
Economics is like artificial intelligence, it's not really there… there's no physical invisible hand…. It's about people interacting with people against a social order, a set of ethics, principles and practices.
— Jaron LanierPioneer of Virtual Reality & Critic of Social Media
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.
— Jaron LanierPioneer of Virtual Reality & Critic of Social Media
Social media was kind-of created to destroy humanity, in a literal sense. The first notion of the implications of such networks was provided by B. F. Skinner who spoke of the dangers of people who- on networks- were too free, too creative and too uncontrolled.
— Jaron LanierPioneer of Virtual Reality & Critic of Social Media
Humans haven't been able to survive in any of our environments 'raw' – we've made fire, made shoes, made hunting tools… we've never had to experience being adapted to an environment 'as it is,' and so there's no sensible definition of people without technology.
— Jaron LanierPioneer of Virtual Reality & Critic of Social Media