Wisdom in fragments

Loneliness is thought to be as bad for our health as smoking 15 cigarettes per day. We're essentially creatures of togetherness. We are hardwired to connect and so when we're lonely, an alarm bell goes off within our bodies that triggers fight or flight mode. Our heart rate goes up, our stress levels go up, our pulse rate goes up and our blood pressure goes up.

Economist & Author on Globalization, Corporate Power & Digital Society

The neo-liberal capitalist mindset has also been a huge contributor to loneliness. Since the 1980s, alongside Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan, a new form of economics came to the fore which enshrined the pursuit of self-interest over the pursuit of collective good. That generated the mindset we see today- me first, dog-eat-dog, greed is good… that inevitably begets a world where people feel less connected to each-other, more atomised, and many ended up feeling marginalised and unseen.

Economist & Author on Globalization, Corporate Power & Digital Society

Human cooperation is the greatest force in history- it enabled us to put people on the moon, build microprocessors and advance medicine. Human cooperation with intelligent machines will define the next era of history.

Creator of AI baby "Baby X" & facial animation technology pioneer

Digital technologies can actually draw attention to our humanity as we take so much of this for granted. How we behave really affects others, and has repercussions, and by understanding behaviour as deeply as we need to, it can draw attention to ourselves and make us more mindful as a result.

Creator of AI baby "Baby X" & facial animation technology pioneer

We take ethics very seriously – and it's important to never fool the user. It must be clear that you are dealing with a digital person, not a real person, and at the same time you cannot create any dependency.

Creator of AI baby "Baby X" & facial animation technology pioneer

The ultimate goal is to be in a state of flow with machines. Think about people working with horses, or herding cattle with a dog, they are examples of interactions with other intelligent creatures in a way which is fluid and allows us to achieve something we couldn't do ourselves.

Creator of AI baby "Baby X" & facial animation technology pioneer

Creating digital people is really hard. The quality really matters, especially when it comes to the face. We're so attuned to seeing faces that we pick up anything that doesn't look right. Faces communicate so much- when we see someone else, our imaginations go into overdrive.

Creator of AI baby "Baby X" & facial animation technology pioneer

The story is told sincerely, but the cumulative effect is misleading – a subconsciously organised trick. The whole show is ultimately anchored around the wizard, a character who comes on stage one day to reveal how they got to the very top – they will tell a moving story often involving their mother, how they were taught about hard work, seizing opportunity and being resilient.

To be a happy human being, we must each have an extraordinary life and an ordinary life. We need both to be connected and happy. We were born to find what we can be extraordinary at, alongside leading our ordinary lives. The important thing is to find both lives and hold onto them.

If I could change only one thing about public understanding of the meritocratic structures in our world, it would be to give more recognition to our hidden heroes. These are often people just below the levels we would consider as being 'the elite.' They don't even realise themselves that they are heroes because of the confidential nature of the work.

Connection is not a nice to have. When we lose the right kinds of connections with others, we start to feel we don't exist. Buried underneath the complexity and the contempt, there's something wrong with how we're connecting as a society that's fuelling the anger we see.

The most corrupting idea about power is that it gives you a set of techniques to enable you to get more of what you want, no questions asked. If we think about power in that way, our soul will get eroded. We need to start thinking differently, the Ubuntu interpretation would be that parts of us are hidden in others – that we will only fully exist if we explore and encounter.

the knowledge that we must die 'the worm at the core' of the human condition

Pioneering American psychologist and philosopher; founder of pragmatism

Ernest Becker proposed that we still worship, it's just that we worship money and political leaders or become members of cults, conspiracy groups or yoga! These are just different ways of dealing with death and anxiety.

Pulitzer Prize-winning author of "The Denial of Death

Without what Becker called 'cultural world views' we would be overwhelmed by existential terror. Beliefs about reality that we share foster psychological equanimity by giving us a sense of meaning and value.

Pulitzer Prize-winning author of "The Denial of Death

the distinguishing characteristic of humanity is our awareness that death is inevitable and the disinclination to accept that fact. Very simply, Becker says that we're just like all other creatures- we want to survive- but the difference is that we're able to do it using our vast intelligence. We can imagine things that don't exist and make them real.

Pulitzer Prize-winning author of "The Denial of Death