From 600+ conversations with the world’s leading thinkers.
A particular individual trait that has piqued my interest through research is intellectual humility. Embracing the possibility of being wrong enhances the likelihood of being right—a somewhat magical paradox. This notion dovetails with the scientific ethos, where the quest isn't about proving oneself right.
After each strike the drone would be updated with information about the actual destruction caused. If it did more damage than expected, then it could use this information to restrict its choice of weapon in future engagements.
To overcome extreme obstacles, to do the impossible, you have to create another human being inside yourself. I had to create an image of how I wanted to look, how I wanted to act, how I wanted to believe, how hard I wanted to push. I trained that image in my mind, and then I had to become an artist to create it.
The greatest adventure that any of us can take is answering these questions for ourselves. This isn't deep, dark, conversation, it's normal conversation. The wisest, coolest prophets out there… people like the Dalai Lama… they're full of joy.
Either I'm in charge of where my awareness goes, therefore dictating what I'm experiencing and feeling, or I allow my environment to dictate where it goes. Most people become a slave to everyone and everything around them.
We're outnumbered by bacteria 1.3:1, we're slightly more bacteria than we are human. We're also stardust. We are also 60% water, and that water in our bodies is billions of years old. At an atomic level, 98% of the hydrogen in our bodies came from the bigbang. We're incredibly ancient beings, perhaps we should see ourselves as aliens!
It can be understood as the undermining of the human will. It starts with distraction in the moment where our ability to focus is fragmented – but then it runs deeper into how it distracts us into living according to certain habits, values and norms.
Poverty is a result of history first of all. Mankind was always 'poor' according to our development standards. Growth has been very high in the last two centuries, but only in the west for a while, and now
Without truthfulness I would never have been able to grow anything of any significance, I would have been 'found out.' Having truthfulness and ethics within a business creates trust among employees at all levels and is critical.
Extremism is the desire to enforce illiberal views which are in a dichotomy to the liberal values that we all adhere to in a Liberal secular democracy; and you can have non-violent or violent extremism.
As you think this through, a lot of structure dissolves. And then the question becomes: what remains once all of that is gone? You could still choose to do these activities, of course, but there would no longer be any point—no instrumental need. You would only do them simply because you wanted to…
I don't believe in a magic solution or that there's just one thing that makes everything work. It's about a myriad of elements coming together; circumstances undoubtedly play a significant role too. Add a generous dose of enthusiasm and passion into the mix, and then, just a sprinkle of luck on top.