From 600+ conversations with the world’s leading thinkers.
Fundamentally, we must slow-down the process of change. We should recognise that most change is not progress- and therefore, it is in our interests to slow down without interfering too much with actual solution making.
The more we recognize that we are the ocean and the waves represent different aspects of our being, the less any individual wave of difficulty will consume, overwhelm, or define us.
One of the greatest myths in the lives of the people I coach is, 'I will be happy when…' as if there is some place to go to. There's only one book that ends with the phrase happily ever after, that's a fairy-tale.
Quantum computing can be seen as a monumental effort to fully confront this exponential scaling that lies at the heart of quantum mechanics. By building and testing quantum computers, we are conducting an experiment that should either indisputably confirm this exponential nature, or overturn a century of established quantum theory.
We're tackling serious subjects like life, death, and existential questions, but in a lighthearted way. This approach makes heavy topics more approachable. There's a cultural instinct to revere those who have passed, as if they know something we don't. Yet, in our show, we flip this idea on its head.
These three facets of attention—focus, panoptic, and hyper-reflection, are inherent human abilities, each vital in its own right. Their harmonious cultivation is instrumental in leading a fulfilling and meaningful life. They are not merely skills, but essential components that enrich our understanding and interaction with the world.
The real scarcity today is attention to the importance of the question, to what end are we deploying this capital. The knowledge age economy is aspirational and that is where I believe we should aim for as we are clearly not there yet. We are in a limbo now, an interregnum phase and this is when everything is particularly unsettling.
We often have this flawed, broken principle of perfection put on us from a very young age that we must be perfect as people. No-one is perfect. In fact, we are perfectly imperfect.
Before you succeed, you must first learn to fail. If you keep repeating the same thing, you're always going to fail, you need to adjust. We have to look at failures and use them as an educational tool.
Work is not the be-all and end-all for me. It never has been. My family is the most important thing to me, and I talk a lot about that to my employees. It actually makes you a better employee if you have your balance right between work, family, passions, studies, all those things.
There is a proverb in Hebrew that says that there used to be prophecy, but prophecy is now left for fools. I am not enthusiastic about forecasting anything.
Much of our future work may end up being about convincing them that we are conscious, and worth keeping around.