“A commonplace book is a central resource or depository for ideas, quotes, anecdotes, observations and information you come across during your life and didactic pursuits. The purpose of the book is to record and organize these gems for later use in your life, in your business, in your writing, speaking or whatever it is that you do.”
—…since there is only one real world, whereas the number of potential virtual worlds is infinite, the probability that you happen to inhabit the sole real world is almost zero.
— The shift from a homo-centric to a data-centric world view won’t be merely a philosophical revolution. It will be a practical revolution. All truly important revolutions are practical.[390]
— The lives and experiences of all other animals were undervalued, because they fulfilled far less important functions, and whenever an animal ceased to fulfill any function at all, it went extinct. However, once humans lose their functional importance to the network, we will discover that we are not the apex of creation after all.[395]
— Looking back, humanity will turn out to be just a ripple within the cosmic data flow.[395]
— We could say people have been playing virtual reality games for thousands of years, we just call it religion. Religion is like a VR game because we create rules that live in our imagination, like“you must pray 5 times a day; if you’re a man you can’t have sex with another man; you can’t eat pork; etc.” And you“play” in religion by trying to get points. You pray five times a day, you earned some points; you’re a man and had sex with another man, you lost points. At the end of your life, you hope you got enough“points” to move on to“the next level.”
— We assume that Homo Sapiens have different cognitive and conscious experiences than Homo Erectus, so we could also assume as we continue to evolve and technology evolves, a there will be new cognitive and conscious experiences that us Homo Sapiens have not and possibly will not ever experience(maybe a self learning cyborg or machine will be able to experience these in the distant, distant future).
—[On globalism and against nationalism]: Globalism is essential because we cannot otherwise solve the biggest issues of the 21st century: climate change, global inequality, nuclear war, AI, etc. There is no nationalist solution for climate change as everyone would have to work together, so it’s interesting we don’t see anyone from the right, who also supports nationalism deny climate change because they then couldn’t be nationalist as there is not nationalist solution. Same with nuclear war, it’s not something a single country can solve by itself. Same with technological advancement, specifically AI. It doesn’t matter if one country, like the U.S., puts laws around AI and how it should be used if another country, like Russia or China doesn’t abide by those laws and creates something that could destroy everyone.
— Science doesn’t prove anything to be true. It’s constantly proving things that are false. Scientists are always trying to prove their colleagues wrong. Then we take what’s left and come up with new hypothesis to test.
— You can’t take credit for really anything you’ve done. You didn’t choose your parents, your genetic makeup, the country you were born in, etc.“You didn’t build and pave the roads you’re able to take.” So it’s hard to take pride in something you’ve done. That’s not to say there was no effort involved or that you can’t feel accomplished, but just realize you didn’t do it yourself.
— People without an internalized symbolic system can all to easily become captives in the media. They are easily manipulated by demagogues, pacified by entertainers, and exploited by anyone who has something to sell. If we have become dependent on television, on drugs, and on facile calls to political or religious salvation, it is because we have so little to fall back on, so few internal rules to keep our mind from being taken over by those who claim to have the answers.[128]
— Most jobs and many leisure activities—especially those involving the passive consumption of mass media—are not designed to make us happy and strong. Their purpose is to make money for someone else.[163]
— Differentiation means that each person is encouraged to develop his or her unique traits, maximize personal skills, set individual goals. Integration, in contrast, guarantees that what happens to one person will affect all others. If a child is proud of what she accomplished in school, the rest of the family will pay attention and will be proud of her, too. If the mother is tired and depressed, the family will try to help and cheer her up. In an integrated family, each person’s goals matter to all others.[180]
Homo Deus
Between the World and Me
Waking Up Podcast
Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience