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We shape our families, communities, and societies through our actions. And they shape us. The habits we create and perpetuate matter.

In a wealthy society, sometimes it’s just enough to get by and have a good time. It may not sound adventurous or even very American, but we’re going to be seeing more of that in the years to come.

…society is busy actively training up the population in an ongoing fashion. And more formal education is unlikely to be of much benefit.

The most skilled man-machine teams will ear a lot, but there will be an issue of societal trust, precisely because their mastery of external environment may outstrip our ability to judge them.

Whether we will remain a middle class society or not depends firstly on how many people will prove to be effective working with intelligent machines.

Societies have a strong status quo bias, particularly if they have high status relative to other parts of the world.

…there is an unsettling tendency in our society to accept unthinkingly the statements and directions of individuals who appear to be authorities on the topic.

…human societies derive a truly significant competitive advantage from the reciprocity rule and, consequently, they make sure their members are trained to comply with it.

…members of individualistic societies – particularly older members – need to be alert to influence tactics that begin by requesting just a small step. Those small, cautious steps can lead to big, blind leaps.

…all human societies have developed ways to respond together, in unison or coordination, with songs, marches, rituals, chants, prayers, and dances.