Nick Bostrom Quotes

Present thinking people kill the future.

If you think of people as making decisions actively, every time we think about the cup of coffee, we say, "How much will I enjoy the cup of coffee, what else could I not do in the future because I buy this cup of coffee?

I've always been drawn to the idea that small choices in our lives could have drastic effects on our future.

I think music has the ability to inspire people and to change hearts, and the heart has the power to change the mind, and the mind has the power to change the world.

We think about the enormous costs of homelessness, or the enormous cost of HIV/AIDS, over the long term, as people visit emergency rooms, etc. The more we are investing in that ounce of prevention the better off we're going to be.

I like to think I've been a good example and an inspiration to some people. And some people say that about me, but I'm just going about my work and doing what I do best. I'm a very professional 'Me.'

I think that when somebody, when people really have a connection with each other, they change each other. You become a different person, hopefully a better person, because of it.

Today’s generation of young people holds more power than any generation before it to make a positive impact on the world.

Young people in general - and young women in particular - need to understand that they cannot retrieve in their forties the opportunities they threw away in their twenties.

I think given all the different imperatives - getting energy to Africa, security of energy, climate change, that we should be spending half as much as we spend on health, which will get you all the way up to $15 billion - the health people don't like it when things get compared to their number.

And I come to realise that all my small todays, the way I act, will lead into my tomorrows.

I don't think about wealth. I get one thing in my mind, "How can I help people...come on humans...do something, you know. Let's wake up. Man alive...you're half dead. Let's do some living".

I generally think if you do good things for people in the world, that comes back and you benefit from it over time.

Scientifically speaking, a butterfly is at least as mysterious as a superstring. When something ceases to be mysterious it ceases to be of absorbing interest to scientists. Almost all things scientists think and dream about are mysterious.

Acting is one thing, but actually trying to change the world and the way people think to make people's lives better? That's the stuff I'm most proud of.

I feel like when I stay focused on encouraging people, and giving them hope, and helping them live their everyday life, I think that's where I can have the most impact.

Some people even think that I'm still just not right for it [ballet]. And I think it's shocking because they hear those words from critics saying I'm too bulky, I'm too busty. And then they meet me in person and they're like, you look like a ballerina. And I think it's just something maybe that I will never escape from, those people who are narrow-minded. But my mission, my voice, my story, my message, is not for them. And I think it's more important to think of the people that I am influencing and helping to see a broader picture of what beauty is.

You're trying to tell me that everything you've done is for a good cause. You think that all this killing is worth it because of the results. I'm not sure I agree. Lots of people work for charity; lots of people want to change the world. But they don't have to behave like you.

I don't think I had a bad influence on anybody. I made people feel better about themselves.

Quite often when you help poor people, they don't think about the environment. They think about survival.

I think if you put a smile on people's faces, they give that back to you.

One little ripple started today could create a typhoon fifteen years from now.

Muslims have been an almost entirely benevolent force in the 20th century. They did not wreak the havoc the Western powers wreaked on the world. They have not come anywhere near to the environmental degradation that we've done to the planet. So I think Muslims need to be seen in the proper light. They're mostly decent, hardworking people, people with deep family values, and they want to live in peace.

I think our main priority is to make people happy and try to take them out of all that for a second.

I love what I'm doing. And the world is so mad at everybody. If I do something to make people smile, I'm going to say, I got you. For that moment, if it don't last, I made you forget about the other thing you might have been thinking about.