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"But in history and in politics, small differences can go a very long way."

"Looked at from the outside, the religious traditions, that divide people often seem trifling, and Freud ridiculed the obsession people have about such matters as "the narcissism of small differences.""

"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 the twenty-first century, religions don't bring rain, they don't cure illnesses, they don't build bombs--but they do get to determine who are "us" and who are "them," whom we should cure and bomb"

"Scientists too know how to cut corners and twist the evidence, but in the end, the mark of science is the willingness to admit failure and try a different tack. That's why scientists gradually learn how to grow better crops and make better medicines, whereas priests and gurus lean only how to make better excuses."

"Bad improvising is worse than no swearing at all."

"This does not mean establishing a "global government"--a doubtful and unrealistic vision. Rather, to globalize politics means that political dynamics within countries and even cities should give far more weight to global problems and interests."

"The rest of the world can learn from the European example. Even on a united planet there will be plenty of room for the kind of patriotism that celebrates the uniqueness of my nation and stresses my special obligations toward it. Yet if we want to survive and flourish, humankind has little choice but to complement such local loyalties with substantial obligations toward a global community."

"A common enemy is the best catalyst for forging a common identity, and humankind now has at least three such enemies--nuclear war, climate change, and technological disruption."

"the nationalist wave sweeping across the world cannot return the world to 1939 or 1914. Technology has changed everything by creating a set of global existential threats that no nation can solve on its own."

"climate change may well come to perform the same function as the two world wars... because nations engaged in total war threw caution and economy to the wind and invested immense resources in all kinds of audacious and fantastic projects."

"When it comes to formulating such ethical guidelines, nationalism suffers above all from a failure of the imagination. Nationalists think in terms of territorial conflicts lasting centuries, while the technological revolutions of the twenty-first century should really be understood in cosmic terms."

"whereas nuclear war and climate change threaten only the physical survival of humankind, disruptive technologies might change the very nature of humanity, and are therefore entangled with humans' deepest ethical and religious beliefs. While everyone agrees that we should avoid nuclear war and ecological meltdown, people have widely different opinions about using bioengineering and AI to upgrade humans ..."

"Particularly in a xenophobic dog-eats-dog world, if even a single country chooses to pursue a high-risk, high-gain technological path, other countries will be forced to do the same, because nobody can afford to remain behind. In order to avoid such a race to the bottom, humankind will probably need some kind of global identity and loyalty."

"Global warming ... is a more vague and protracted menace. Therefore whenever long-term environmental considerations demand some painful short-term sacrifice, nationalists might be tempted to put immediate national interests first ... It isn't a coincidence that skepticism about climate change tends to be the preserve of the nationalist right."

"As long as humans know how to enrich uranium and plutonium, their survival depends on privileging the prevention of nuclear war over the interests of any particular nation."

"during the Cold War nationalism took a backseat to a more global approach to international politics, and when the Cold War ended, globalization seemed to be the irresistible wave of the future."

"The problem starts when benign patriotism morphs into chauvinistic ultranationalism."

"The milder forms of patriotism have been among the most benevolent of human creations. Believing that my nation is unique, that it deserves my allegiance, and that I have special obligations toward its members inspires me to care about others and make sacrifices on their behalf."

"Contrary to common wisdom, nationalism is not a natural and eternal part of the human psyche, and it is not rooted in human biology. ... Humans easily develop loyalty to small intimate groups such as a tribe, an infantry company, or a family business, but it is hardly natural for humans to be loyal to millions of utter strangers."

"Whatever changes await us in the future, they are likely to involve a fraternal struggle within a single civilization rather than a clash between alien civilizations."

"The people we fight most often are our own family members. Identity is defined by conflicts and dilemmas more than by agreement. ... In their conflicts and dilemmas, twenty-first-century Europeans are different from their ancestors in 1618 and 1940 but are increasingly similar to their Chinese and Indian trade partners."

"Though it has no intrinsic value--you cannot eat or drink a dollar bill--trust in the dollar and in the wisdom of the Federal Reserve is so firm that it is shared even by Islamic fundamentalists, Mexican drug lords, and North Korean tyrants."