Book: 21 lessons for the 21st century

The terrorists set themselves an impossible task without the army, through violence to change the political balance of forces. To achieve the goal they oblige the state also to set ourselves an impossible task to protect all citizens from political violence, at any time and in any place. The terrorists hope that when the government attempts to fulfill its promise, it will mix political maps and in their hands will suddenly be an ACE.
Terrorists undertake an impossible mission: to change the political balance of power through violence, despite having no army. To achieve their aim, terrorists present the state with an impossible challenge of their own: to prove that it can protect all its citizens from political violence, anywhere, any time. The terrorists hope that when the state tries to fulfil this impossible mission, it will reshuffle the political cards, and hand them some unforeseen ace.

Deep down we understand that terrorism is theatre, and therefore first assess his emotional, rather than material impact.
Because we intuitively understand that terrorism is theatre, we judge it by its emotional rather than material impact.

The fallacy of the analogy between history and biology that underlie the thesis of a "clash of civilizations". Human groups, from small tribes to large civilizations are fundamentally different from animals, and historical conflicts it was nothing like the mechanisms of natural selection.
Groups of people may belong to different social systems, but such systems are not genetically determined and there are rarely more than a few centuries.
The analogy between history and biology that underpins the ‘clash of civilisations’ thesis is false. Human groups - all the way from small tribes to huge civilisations - are fundamentally different from animal species, and historical conflicts greatly differ from natural selection processes.
Human groups may have distinct social systems, but these are not genetically determined, and they seldom endure for more than a few centuries.

But even if you hide your sexual orientation from yourself and friends, you will not be able to hide it from Amazon, Alibaba or the secret police. While you surf the Internet, watch YouTube or flipping through social networks, the algorithm will closely follow you to learn you and to tell Coca-Cola that if she wants to sell you your drinks, it is better to use advertising with half-naked guy and not the Topless girl. You yourself do not even know. But they will know, and the value of such information will amount to billions.
Even if you do, and even if you keep hiding from yourself and your are high school classmates, you won't be able to hide from Amazon, Alibaba or the secret police. As you surf the Web, watch YouTube or read your social media feed, the algorithms will discreetly monitor you, analyse you and tell Coca-Cola that if it wants to sell you some fizzy drink, it had better use the advertisement with the shirtless guy rather than the girl shirtless. You won't even know. But they will know, and such information will be worth billions

But even if you hide your sexual orientation from yourself and friends, you will not be able to hide it from Amazon, Alibaba or the secret police. While you surf the Internet, watch YouTube or flipping through social networks, the algorithm will closely follow you to learn you and to tell Coca-Cola that if she wants to sell you your drinks, it is better to use advertising with half-naked guy and not the Topless girl. You yourself do not even know. But they will know, and the value of such information will amount to billions.
Even if you do, and even if you keep hiding from yourself and your are high school classmates, you won't be able to hide from Amazon, Alibaba or the secret police. As you surf the Web, watch YouTube or read your social media feed, the algorithms will discreetly monitor you, analyse you and tell Coca-Cola that if it wants to sell you some fizzy drink, it had better use the advertisement with the shirtless guy rather than the girl shirtless. You won't even know. But they will know, and such information will be worth billions

Most people have bad knows. I myself am only at 21, after years of denial, finally realized that I was gay. And my case is no exception. In adolescence, many gays are questioning their sexual orientation.
Most people don't know themselves very well. When I was twenty-one, I finally realised that I was gay, after several years of living in denial. That's hardly exceptional. Many gay men spend their entire teenage years are unsure about their sexuality.

When I publish a book, publishers are asking me to attach a short description, which they will use for advertising on the Internet. But they have an expert who can adapt my text to match the preferences of the Google algorithm. This person carefully reads what I wrote and said: "do Not use this word replace it with that. So we will have more chances to attract the attention of the search algorithm". We know that if we can get into the field of view of the algorithm, the number of readers to care.
I know this from personal experience. When I publish a book, the publishers ask me to write a short description that they use for online publicity. But they have a special expert who adapts what I write to the taste of the Google algorithm. The expert goes over my text, and says ‘Don't use this word - use that word instead. Then we will get more attention from the Google algorithm.’ We know that if we can just catch the eye of the algorithm, we can take the humans for granted.