Society

We're afraid of living under constant terrorism, and the constant threat of a neighbour who wants to kill you and destroy everything you care about. The escalation is already here.

Ukrainian politician and head of Servant of the People party faction

However brave you are, you can't protect yourself against a huge pile of metal coming from the sky to kill you and everything you love.

Ukrainian politician and head of Servant of the People party faction

It's only when we were asked what price we were prepared to pay that we found the truth; we were prepared to pay with our lives.

Ukrainian politician and head of Servant of the People party faction

All you have to do is walk through an airport, for example, and notice that it is very difficult to navigate through it. You will encounter humans (almost statue like) who are glued – looking at their mobile phones, unaware of what is happening around them, because they are addicted to their technology. That is by design that people are addicted to technology.

Neuroethicist & Duke Law professor specializing in neurorights and genetics policy

Deep fakes in terms of a true deep fake, you do not even know if this is Barack Obama speaking or if this is a synthetic Barack Obama. There are ways to detect that today, and we think that we can discern otherwise. That's quickly going to fall, but already the minute changes that can manipulate perception are terrifying.

Neuroethicist & Duke Law professor specializing in neurorights and genetics policy

We are very porous now, and it isn't just through neurotechnology, it is through all modes of technology that are designed to interpret and change our cognitive and effective functioning. So as I wrote this book, it is more of a call to recognise that in the modern era we have to expand our notion of liberty to include the right to cognitive liberty.

Neuroethicist & Duke Law professor specializing in neurorights and genetics policy

We've never met anybody that has changed the world without moving people. We've never met anyone that changed their own world without moving people. Moving people is not a 'yucky' thing. Martin Luther King Jr. moved people.

Any time you are trying to influence somebody or get them to make a decision that's good for them you are selling. Whether you're selling a product, whether you're selling an idea, whether you're selling your child on whether they should eat their vegetables.

Inventor of the Steadicam camera stabilization system

We have lived through an era where success has been defined only in financial terms- leaving out any consideration of the impact of business on communities or the world. Just because accounting standards don't require you to measure certain things, doesn't mean those things aren't real.

Founder of Lotus Software & Digital Rights Pioneer

There were large segments of the population with tremendous talent, who were being overlooked and underestimated because they didn't have the right 'pedigree.' – These individuals had fabulous business ideas and were genuinely going to change the world as they were solving real problems.

Founder of Lotus Software & Digital Rights Pioneer

Most of the venture backed businesses, and venture capital firms, are a mirror-tocracy not a meritocracy! Senior executives are disproportionately drawn from a narrow stratum of society – in the US, this means Ivy-League Schools such as Stanford. They tend to be overwhelmingly white (and increasingly now Asian) but certainly overwhelmingly male.

Founder of Lotus Software & Digital Rights Pioneer

The essence of this connection lies in an enduring quest to effect positive change in the world. The judgement criteria revolve around whether the individual in question endeavored to make the world a better place.

Co-Founder of Saatchi & Saatchi Advertising Agency

So many things in life divide us – the colour of our skin, the language we speak, the god we worship, but when we run, we're the same. When we run, we're united, it's a commonality across our species like nothing else.

Ultramarathon runner known for extreme endurance feats and adventures

The conversation I want us to have is, 'This could be any one of us.' Frequently, when we point out 'them', we're referring to the corporate, narcissistic, aggressive, high-achievers, often the deliberate culprits. Their stories pervade our movies and crime podcasts, enabling us to distance ourselves because we can't necessarily identify with their actions.

Forensic Accountant & Professor; Expert on Corporate Fraud and Whistleblowing

Even prior to the pandemic, we were witnessing double-digit increases in nearly every major category of mental disorder—be it anxiety, depression, PTSD, substance misuse, or suicide. These are considerable issues, and the pandemic, like a magnifying glass, has only intensified them.

Consider the adoption rates of various technologies: for telephone and electricity, it took approximately 15 years to jump from a 50% to 75% market share. With the advent of the internet and computers, that span dropped to 10 years. Television achieved this in only 5 years. But smartphones? They shattered all records with a mere 3-year period.