“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
“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
“Defeasible beliefs provide the provisional certainty necessary to navigate an uncertain world.” — John Brockman Faith Copy Share Image
“What the mediocrity principle tells us is that our state is not the product of intent, that the universe lacks both malice… — John Brockman Kindness 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
“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
“Science itself is learning how to better exploit negative results.” — John Brockman Learning Copy Share Image
“If we knew what we were doing, it wouldn’t be called research.” — John Brockman Research 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
“if we wish to understand why, as humans, we often act in certain predictable ways (and particularly if there is a desire… — John Brockman 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
“Being a heretic can be fun, but being a successful heretic is mostly hard work.” — John Brockman Success 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
“Hustle to keep your kids on or off the Internet, eating organic or local or nothing at all. Take these actions, or… — John Brockman Internet 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
“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
“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
“Throughout history, only a small number of people have done the serious thinking for everybody.” — John Brockman Geniuses 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
“Choice is simply a fanciful shorthand for biological processes we do not yet apprehend.” — John Brockman Choice Copy Share Image
“By undercutting fundamentalism and intolerance, education would curtail violence and war. By empowering women, it would curb poverty and the population explosion.” — John Brockman Education 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
“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
