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disruptive technologies might change the very nature of humanity, and are therefore entangled with humans’ deepest ethical and religious beliefs.
science is ushering in the era of inorganic life shaped by intelligent design.
consciousness might even be severed from any organic structure and could surf cyberspace free of all biological and physical constraints.
Humankind has a lot of justifiable concerns about AI and bioengineering, but in times of crisis people do risky things.
it had better use them before it loses them.
countries striving to outstrip the technological achievements of their rivals will find it very difficult to agree on a common plan to stop climate change.
As long as the world remains divided into rival nations, it will be very hard to simultaneously overcome all three challenges—and
In the twenty-first century, nations find themselves in the same situation as the old tribes:
political dynamics within countries and even cities should give far more weight to global problems and interests.
in most cases they constitute a major part of the problem rather than a potential solution.
not much has remained of it save for
the real source of their difference will be in modern scientific theories and political movements, not in the Bible.
Attempts by Nazis and communists to scientifically determine human identities based on race and class proved to be dangerous pseudoscience,
But whether beautiful or ugly, all such religious traditions unite certain people while distinguishing them from their neighbors.
“the narcissism of small differences.”
It was fiercely determined to protect its unique identity and to ensure that modern Japanese citizens would be loyal to Japan rather than to science, modernity, or some nebulous global community.
This “state Shinto” was fused with very modern ideas about nationality and race, which the Japanese elite selected from the European imperialists.
Japan was the first power to develop and use precision-guided missiles.
This willingness was the product of the death-defying spirit of sacrifice cultivated by state Shinto.
to preserve a unique national identity.
role of state Shinto in Japan is fulfilled to a lesser or greater degree by
The most extreme example can be seen today in Japan’s former colony of North Korea.
Religions, rites, and rituals will remain important as long as the power of humankind rests on mass cooperation and as long as mass cooperation rests on belief in shared fictions.
Though many traditional religions espouse universal values and claim cosmic validity, at present they are used mainly as the handmaid of modern nationalism, whether in North Korea, Russia, Iran, or Israel.
After all, we are God’s chosen nation, the argument goes, so what’s good for our nation is pleasing to God too.
nationalism and religion still divide our human civilization into different and often hostile camps.
in a globalized world, all humans have moral obligations toward all other humans,
one of the most basic rights of every human collective is to defend itself against invasion, whether in the form of armies or migrants.
a country can have whatever immigration policy it wants.
If Europe has any real core values, then they are the liberal values of tolerance and freedom, which imply that Europeans should show tolerance toward the immigrants too,
Precisely because Europe cherishes tolerance, it cannot allow in too many intolerant people.
a national community is far more than a collection of people who tolerate each other.
The root issue of this debate concerns the gap between personal timescale and collective timescale.
both sides give far more weight to violations than to compliance.
Do we enter the immigration debate with the assumption that all cultures are inherently equal, or do we think that some cultures might well be superior to others?
Human diversity may be great when it comes to cuisine and poetry, but few would see witch-burning, infanticide, or slavery as fascinating human idiosyncrasies that should be protected against the encroachments of global capitalism and Coca-Colonialism.
in the practical context of immigration it might still be justified to judge the host culture as better.
Traditional racism is waning, but the world is now full of “culturists.”
Obama camp will explain that police prejudice is an unfortunate legacy of historical crimes such as slavery, while the Trump camp will explain that black criminality is an unfortunate legacy of historical errors committed by white liberals and black communities.
that could result in far stronger pressures on the “others” to assimilate, and in far harsher criticism of their failure to do so.
culturists often confuse local superiority with objective superiority.
But all too often people adopt very general culturist claims that make little sense.
despite their statistical nature they are all too often used to prejudge individuals.
It makes sense for a firm to prefer sociable employees to stony ones, but it does not make sense to prefer Warmlanders to Coldians.
air pollution kills about 7 million people per year.
fear and confusion will cause the enemy to misuse his intact strength and overreact.
So how does a fly destroy a china shop? It finds a bull, gets inside its ear, and starts buzzing. The bull goes wild with fear and anger, and destroys the china shop.
Now they flourish in the wreckage.
Whenever it is possible to inflict serious material damage, nobody gives that up in favor of mere terrorism.
In most cases, this overreaction to terrorism poses a far greater threat to our security than the terrorists themselves.
