“twice as many people in India have access to cell phones as to latrines.” — John Brockman Cell phone Copy Share Image
“Science itself is learning how to better exploit negative results.” — John Brockman Learning Copy Share Image
“Sometimes science fiction does become scientific discovery.” — John Brockman Discovery Copy Share Image
“The history of the object is more relevant than the object itself, if we want to pinpoint what is interesting to us.” — John Brockman History Copy Share Image
“I believe that consciousness is, essentially, the way information feels when being processed.” — John Brockman Consciousness Copy Share Image
“Every aspect of life is an experiment that can be better understood if it is perceived in that way.” — John Brockman Experiment Copy Share Image
“But discoveries are what usually egg us on. Not finding anything would be very bad indeed.” — John Brockman Discoveries Copy Share Image
“Throughout history, only a small number of people have done the serious thinking for everybody.” — John Brockman Geniuses Copy Share Image
“Nature is not designed to satisfy our personal longings. Nature is what she is, and it’s a privilege merely to be privy… — John Brockman Nature Copy Share Image
“in case you’re interested. (It was the Soviet attack on Japan that forced Hirohito to surrender to save his war-criminal’s” — John Brockman Copy Share Image
“Defeasible beliefs provide the provisional certainty necessary to navigate an uncertain world.” — John Brockman Certainty Copy Share Image
“Change is the law. Stability and consistency are illusions, temporary in any case, a heroic achievement of human will and persistence at… — John Brockman Change Copy Share Image
“we all have a number of executive subselves, and the only way we manage to accomplish anything in life is to allow… — John Brockman Time Copy Share Image
“Consider the world we could live in if all of our local and global leaders, if all of our personal and professional… — John Brockman Faith Copy Share Image
“If, by contrast, you think that uncovering your mistakes is one of the best ways to revise and improve your understanding of… — John Brockman Failure Copy Share Image
“Traditional American intellectuals are, in a sense, increasingly reactionary, and quite often proudly (and perversely) ignorant of many of the truly significant… — John Brockman Accomplishments Copy Share Image
“The idea that we can systematically understand certain aspects of the world and make predictions based on what we’ve learned, while appreciating… — John Brockman Learning Copy Share Image
“If the concept that technologies have biases were to become common knowledge, we could implement them consciously and purposefully. If we don’t… — John Brockman Common knowledge Copy Share Image
“Human achievement is based on collective intelligence—the nodes in the human neural network are people themselves. By each doing one thing and… — John Brockman Collective intelligence Copy Share Image
“The most important scientific concept is that an assertion is often an empirical question, settled by collecting evidence. The plural of anecdote… — John Brockman Science Copy Share Image
“The black expanse over our heads promise places where our industries can use resource extraction, zero-gravity manufacturing, better communications, perhaps even energy… — John Brockman Space Copy Share Image
“Kakonomics (from the Greek, the economics of the worst) describes cases wherein people not only have the standard preference for receiving high-quality… — John Brockman Economics Copy Share Image
“Mischel refers to this skill as the “strategic allocation of attention,” and he argues that it’s the skill underlying self-control. Too often,… — John Brockman Discipline Copy Share Image
“people readily accept credit when told they have succeeded, attributing it to their ability and effort. Yet they attribute failure to such… — John Brockman Bad luck Copy Share Image
“After several decades of empirical study, Jaques concluded that just as humans differ in intelligence, we differ in our ability to handle… — John Brockman Education Copy Share Image
“Children need practice dealing with other people. With people, practice never leads to perfect. But perfect isn’t the goal. Perfect is the… — John Brockman Child Copy Share Image
“But there is another case for curating as a vanguard activity for the twenty-first century. As the artist Tino Sehgal has pointed… — John Brockman Artist Copy Share Image
“This isn't tolerable for the democracy in the increasing technological world. The most significant example is climate change, it turns out, for… — John Brockman Books Copy Share Image
“Wicked problems demand people who are creative, pragmatic, flexible, and collaborative. They never invest too much in their ideas, because they know… — John Brockman Good enough Copy Share Image
“Adolescence is a period of life when the brain is malleable, and it represents a good opportunity for learning and social development.… — John Brockman Access to education Copy Share Image
“Why do half of all Americans believe in ghosts, three-quarters believe in angels, a third believe in astrology, three-quarters believe in hell?… — John Brockman Personal Opinion Copy Share Image
“Bad behavior is seen as something to be noticed, reported on, and analyzed, whereas people who do not lie and cheat are… — John Brockman Bad behavior Copy Share Image
“Creativity is a fragile flower, but perhaps it can be fertilized with systematic doses of serendipity.” — John Brockman Creativity Copy Share Image
“Happy brains are all alike; every unhappy brain is unhappy in its own way.” — John Brockman Happiness Copy Share Image
“Choice is simply a fanciful shorthand for biological processes we do not yet apprehend.” — John Brockman Choice Copy Share Image
“Being a heretic can be fun, but being a successful heretic is mostly hard work.” — John Brockman Hard work Copy Share Image
“Missouri Republican Senate candidate Todd Akin: “If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole… — John Brockman Female body Copy Share Image
