Quotes About Responsibility

How can we act morally when we have no way of knowing all the relevant facts?

If we knew how many species we've already eradicated, we might be more motivated to protect those that still survive.

Homo sapiens held the record among all organisms for driving the most plant and animal species to their extinctions. We have the dubious distinction of being the deadliest species in the annals of biology.

whenever long-term environmental considerations demand some painful short-term sacrifice, nationalists might be tempted to put immediate national interests first, and reassure themselves that they can worry about the environment later, or just leave it to people elsewhere. Alternatively, they may simply deny the problem.

There were pacifists in the past, such as the early Christians, but in the rare cases that they gained power, they tended to forget about their requirement to 'turn the other cheek'.)

Incluso Estados Unidos, ultracapitalista, se ha dado cuenta de que la protección de la libertad requiere al menos algunos servicios de bienestar facilitados por el gobierno. Los niños hambrientos no tienen libertades.

No hay contradicción entre esta globalización y el patriotismo. Porque el patriotismo no tiene que ver con odiar a los extranjeros. El patriotismo tiene que ver con cuidar bien a nuestros compatriotas. Y en el siglo XXI, con el fin de cuidar bien a nuestros compatriotas, hemos de cooperar con extranjeros. De modo que los buenos nacionalistas tienen que ser ahora globalistas.

Talvez se mais pessoas estivessem cientes da Primeira e da Segunda Onda de Extinção, seriam menos indiferentes à Terceira Onda, da qual fazem parte. Se soubéssemos quantas espécies já erradicamos, poderíamos ser mais motivados a proteger as que ainda sobrevivem.

It is the responsibility of all of us to invest time and effort in uncovering our biases and in verifying our sources of information. As noted in earlier chapters, we cannot investigate everything ourselves. But precisely because of that, we need to at least carefully investigate our favorite sources of information—be they a newspaper, a website, a TV network, or a person.

even rational leaders frequently end up doing very stupid things.

People were unable to fathom the full consequences of their decisions.

los algoritmos pueden servir para la circulación de vehículos y la cura de enfermedades, pero cuando se trate de resolver problemas sociales, tendremos que seguir confiando en políticos y sacerdotes.

Mucho antes de la revolución industrial, Homo sapiens ostentaba el récord entre todos los organismos por provocar la extinción del mayor número de especies de plantas y animales.

Humanity has very little time left to wean itself from fossil fuels.

Unfortunately, what was good for survival and reproduction in the African savannah a million years ago does not necessarily make for responsible behaviour on twenty-first-century motorways

secular education does not mean a negative indoctrination that teaches kids not to believe in God and not to take part in any religious ceremonies. Rather, secular education teaches children to distinguish truth from belief, to develop compassion for all suffering beings, to appreciate the wisdom and experiences of all the earth's denizens, to think freely without fearing the unknown, and to take responsibility for their actions and for the world as a whole.

Como bomberos en un mundo sin fuego, en el siglo XXI la humanidad necesita plantearse una pregunta sin precedentes: ¿qué vamos a hacer con nosotros?

En resumen, mientras que el nacionalismo me enseña que mi nación es única y que tengo obligaciones especiales para con ella, el fascismo dice que mi nación es suprema y que debo a mi nación obligaciones exclusivas.

babies and children

Does the data about my DNA, my brain, and my life belong to me, to the government, to a corporation, or to the human collective?

while we cannot be certain that some new Ebola outbreak or an unknown flu strain won't sweep across the globe and kill millions, we will not regard it as an inevitable natural calamity. Rather, we will see it as an inexcusable human failure and demand the heads of those responsible

When a single professional makes almost all the decisions, mistakes can be catastrophic.

Quién fue el responsable? Ni reyes, ni sacerdotes, ni mercaderes. Los culpables fueron un puñado de especies de plantas, entre las que se cuentan el trigo, el arroz y las patatas. Fueron estas plantas las que domesticaron a Homo sapiens, y no al revés.

He still dreams about Cinderella and she keeps pining for Prince Charming, while they argue about whose turn it is to take out the rubbish.