21 Lessons For The 21st Century Quotes
"In a world deluged by irrelevant information, clarity is power."
"Humans think in stories rather than in facts, numbers, or equations, and the simpler the story, the better."
"We are probably one of the last generations of Homo sapiens."
"Change is the only constant in life. Ones ability to adapt to those changes will determine your success in life."
"Questions you cannot answer are usually far better for you than answers you cannot question."
"In a world accustomed to fairy tales, reality is often considered provocative."
"The greatest scientific discovery was the discovery of ignorance."
"When you grow up, you might want to be a pilot. Forget it! The era of pilots is over."
"To attain real happiness, humans need to slow down the pursuit of pleasant sensations, not accelerate it."
"Morality doesn’t mean following divine commands. It means reducing suffering."
"In the twenty-first century, the train of progress is again pulling out of the station—and this will probably be the last train ever to leave the station called Homo sapiens."
"Not to take risks is the biggest risk of all."
"Knowledge that does not change behaviour is useless. But knowledge that changes behaviour quickly loses its relevance."
"Happiness does not really depend on objective conditions of either wealth, health, or even community. Rather, it depends on the correlation between objective conditions and subjective expectations."
"If you want to go deeply into any subject, you need a lot of time, and in particular, you need the privilege of wasting time."
"Humans have bodies. During the last century technology has been distancing us from our bodies."
"If we connect with people about what we have in common—sports teams, TV shows, interests—it is easier to have dialogue about what we disagree on."
"The future of the masses will then depend on the goodwill of a small elite."
"If data becomes concentrated in too few hands, humankind will split into different species."
"By capturing our attention they manage to accumulate immense amounts of data about us, which is worth more than any advertising revenue."
"We aren’t their customers—we are their product."
"The real problem with robots is not their own artificial intelligence but rather the natural stupidity and cruelty of their human masters."
"If democracy were a matter of rational decision-making, there would be absolutely no reason to give all people equal voting rights."
"The best solutions for improving discourse may come from getting to know each other as whole people instead of just opinions."
"The danger is that if we invest too much in developing AI and too little in developing human consciousness, the very sophisticated artificial intelligence of computers might only serve to empower the natural stupidity of humans."
"Human power depends on mass cooperation, and mass cooperation depends on manufacturing mass identities—and all mass identities are based on fictional stories, not on scientific facts or even on economic necessities."
"In order to make wise choices about the future of life we need to go way beyond the nationalist viewpoint and look at things from a global or even a cosmic perspective."
"To globalize politics implies that political dynamics within countries and even cities should give far more weight to global problems and interests."
"As long as the world remains divided into rival nations, it will be very hard to simultaneously overcome all three challenges—and failure on even a single front might prove catastrophic."
"Religions still have a lot of political power, inasmuch as they can cement national identities and even ignite the Third World War. But when it comes to solving rather than stoking the global problems of the twenty-first century, they don’t seem to offer much."
"Humankind now constitutes a single civilization, and problems such as nuclear war, ecological collapse, and technological disruption can only be solved on the global level."
"No matter how archaic a religion might look, with a bit of imagination and reinterpretation it can almost always be married to the latest technological gadgets and the most sophisticated modern institutions."
"The European Union was built on the promise of transcending the cultural differences between French, Germans, Spaniards, and Greeks. It might collapse due to its inability to contain the cultural differences between Europeans and migrants from Africa and the Middle East."
"The growing wave of refugees and immigrants produces mixed reactions among Europeans and sparks bitter discussions about Europe’s identity and future."
"In a globalized world, all humans have moral obligations toward all other humans, and those shirking these obligations are egoists or even racists."
"All mass identities are based on fictional stories, not on scientific facts or even on economic necessities."
"A country can have whatever immigration policy it wants. It can screen immigrants not just for their criminal records or professional talents but even for things like religion."
"As long as this debate isn’t settled, it is extremely difficult to answer all subsequent questions about immigration."
"Both sides give far more weight to violations than to compliance."
"The immigration debate is a debate between two legitimate views, which can and should be decided through the normal democratic procedure."
"The power of human cooperation depends on creating and believing fictions."
"Truth and power can travel together only so far."
"If you want power, at some point you will have to spread fictions."
"If you want to know the truth about the world, at some point you will have to renounce power."
"Humans have a remarkable ability to know and not know at the same time."
"Underneath all the fake news, there are real facts and real suffering."
"It is the responsibility of all of us to invest time and effort in uncovering our biases and in verifying our sources of information."
"If you want reliable information, pay good money for it."
"Scientists should not be afraid of making their voices heard when the debate wanders into their field of expertise."
"Art plays a key role in shaping people’s views of the world, and in the twenty-first century science fiction is arguably the most important genre of all."
"Humans control the world because they can cooperate better than any other animal, and they can cooperate so well because they believe in fictions."
"People go to war and build cathedrals because they believe in God, and they believe in God because they have read poems about God."
"Our belief in the modern mythology of capitalism is underpinned by the artistic creations of Hollywood and the pop industry."
"Very few people read the latest articles in the fields of machine learning or genetic engineering. Instead, movies such as The Matrix and Her shape how people understand technological developments."
"Perhaps the worst sin of present-day science fiction is that it tends to confuse intelligence with consciousness."
"The danger of technology being used to manipulate and control human beings has been explored with far greater insight in science fiction."
"Authenticity is a myth. People are afraid of being trapped inside a box, but they don’t realize that they are already trapped inside a box—their brain."
"Whatever you can feel in Fiji, you can feel anywhere in the world, even inside the matrix."
"Most science-fiction movies actually tell a very old story: the victory of mind over matter."
"We like the idea of shaping stone knives, but we don’t like the idea of being stone knives ourselves."
"In the twenty-first century, you will need not merely to invent new ideas and products but above all to reinvent yourself again and again."
"To survive and flourish in such a world, you will need a lot of mental flexibility and great reserves of emotional balance."
"The decisions we will make in the next few decades will shape the future of life itself, and we can make these decisions based only on our present worldview."
"The universe just does not work like a story."
"If you want to make people really believe in some fiction, entice them to make a sacrifice on its behalf."
"To give meaning to my life, a story needs to satisfy just two conditions. First, it must give me some role to play."
"The essence of ritual is the magical spell 'Hocus-pocus, X is Y!'"
"Fascism says that my nation is supreme, and that I owe my nation exclusive obligations."
"The problem with evil is that in real life it is not necessarily ugly. It can look very beautiful."
"To Counter Russia, US Signals Nuclear Arms Are Back in a Big Way."
"Tracking a Trail of Historical Obliteration: ISIS Trumpets Destruction of Nimrud."
"Climate Change Is Already Wreaking Havoc on Our Weather, Scientists Find."
"Accelerated Dryland Expansion Under Climate Change."
"President Trump Slaps Tariffs on Solar Panels in Major Blow to Renewable Energy."
"Putin Offers Ukraine Olive Branches Delivered by Russian Tanks."
"In Washington Pizzeria Attack, Fake News Brought Real Guns."
"How Facebook Can Amplify Low Self-Esteem/Narcissism/Anxiety."
"Facebook Removes Myanmar Monk's Page for 'Inflammatory Posts' About Muslims."