Nayef Al-Rodhan > Quotes

“Much like addictive drugs, power uses ready-made reward circuitries in the brain, producing extreme pleasure.”
― Nayef Al-Rodhan

“Global cultural understanding and respect for human dignity for all, at all times and under all circumstances, is not just a noble moral goal but an essential pre-requisite for the national interest.”
― Nayef Al-Rodhan

“Human nature is governed by general self-interest and affected by genetic predisposition, which implies that there are likely to be limits to our moral sensitivities.”
― Nayef Al-Rodhan, Emotional Amoral Egoism: A Neurophilosophical Theory of Human Nature and its Universal Security Implications

“No sustainable prosperity or security can be attained at the expense or marginalization of others. Indeed, in today’s world, humanity will either triumph or fail as a whole.”
― Nayef Al-Rodhan

“It is unrealistic to imagine a US geostrategic vision which sees its pivotal interests linked exclusively to the Pacific region. More appropriately, we need to consider the wider Middle East, Central Asia and North-East Africa to be bound together in a geopolitical unit of pivotal importance.”
― Nayef Al-Rodhan

“Education is the single most powerful tool for pushing back against an always-looming state of nature, and for promoting a more just, secure, equitable, prosperous and sustainable global order.”
― Nayef Al-Rodhan

“All cultures are influenced and coloured by those that have preceded them and by other contemporary cultures with which they come into contact.”
― Nayef Al-Rodhan

“Transdisciplinary endeavours such as Neuro-Techno-Philosophy can teach us a lot about human frailty and malleability. By understanding our neurochemical motivations, neurobehavioural needs, fears and predilections, and the neuropsychological foundations underpinning the behaviour of states, we are better placed to navigate the challenges posed by contemporary geopolitics and global security.”
― Nayef Al-Rodhan

“Much of what we often consider knowledge is actually a point of view held without sufficient grounds: in a word, dogma.”
― Nayef Al-Rodhan

“Neuro-Techno-Philosophy can help us get to grips with dangers of human enhancement – in addition to helping form a moral compass for the ethical and regulatory challenges of enhancement drugs and devices.”
― Nayef Al-Rodhan

“Transdisciplinary insights could bolster conflict resolution efforts, which often incorporate behavioural models but rarely include neuroscientific insights.”
― Nayef Al-Rodhan

“We cannot neglect the virtues of human nature, and we must not assume that our relationship with enhancement technologies will be driven by reason or moderation”
― Nayef Al-Rodhan

“Deeper integration of technology within the body, as well as the use of neuro-technological and neuropharmacological means of enhancing our bodies could affect how we feel and think – and therefore also how we act on the battlefield. While enhancement may boost cognitive and physical capabilities, they also diminish some deeply human features like compassion and empathy, that have been pivotal to us as a species, both for survival and cooperation.”
― Nayef Al-Rodhan

“Globally, democracies have also acted in ways that suggest an outright renunciation of their principles at home.”
― Nayef Al-Rodhan