Universalism is a nice idea, but it isn’t realistic. youtu.be/WJQRY3XDzBc?...

As AI spreads across all enterprises, our divided societies will fracture further unless there is some form of distribution that shares the wealth. My piece on Universal Basic Capital in the @financialtimes.com mes.com www.ft.com/content/9b93...

Life doesn’t owe you anything - it is you who owe it everything. Your bond is to live.

“In moments of across-the-board upheaval such as we are presently living through, the best guide to the future comes from looking at similarly portentous periods in the long past.” —Nathan Gardels #history

Given our world in flux, Michael Sandel’s illumination of what it means to be a good human and his infusion of ethics and reasoning into public discourse are necessary. @berggruen.org is proud to award Michael Sandel with the 2025 Berggruen Prize for Philosophy & Culture. berggruen.org/eu/prize

AI is a train we can’t get off - let’s work on the journey and the destination.

Life is relational: my engagement with others, and theirs with me.

Throughout the arc of civilization, money has served as motivation, medium, and measure—an application of human energy and desire. So it is, for now, with AI. But as AI evolves toward true agency, it will no longer merely generate wealth; it will transcend and potentially disintermediate it.

Humans may be all equal, yet not within cultures, communities, and families - equality is a noble yet unrealistic wish.

The only path forward for tackling the climate crisis hinges on cooperative industrial strategies to coordinate clean energy investment & infrastructure development, @bentleyallan.bsky.social argues.

The paradox of the American dream. youtu.be/J7jgW53Q-0M?...

The contradiction of the American dream.

Allow a multitude of opinions and cultures but cooperate on key issues. www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wpV...

Venice’s secrets are the beauty and water that ease your mind. www.nicolasberggruen...

A look inside @noemamag.com ....

We're thrilled to announce the release of Issue VI! 🙌 The theme is “Paradigm Shifts,” with beautiful cover art by Mia Angioy. Check out this year's edition & grab a copy for yourself — it's on pre-sale now 🎉 #noema #magazines #indiemagazines

Humans may be all equal, yet they aren’t within cultures, communities and families - equality is an unrealistic wish, albeit noble.

Our goal with Studio B is to build a bridge between the creative imagination of Hollywood and the frontier thinking of the Berggruen Institute. We believe storytelling has a critical role to play in shaping how societies imagine & build the future @thr.com www.hollywoodreporter.com/lifestyle/li...

Divided over how to define “the good life,” culture wars are being fought across the Western world over who gets to normalize the norms of society. Such fights could lead to endless strife & the ultimate downfall of the West as a common civilizational presence, Nathan Gardels writes. #nationalism

“An approach to health that is confined to the individual & ignores planetary destabilization is like carefully tending a wilting flower while ignoring the poisoned soil, acid rain & encroaching desert around it.” — @nilsgilman.bsky.social et al #health #healthcare #planetary

🥈Investigative Reporting, Magazines for “The Rise Of the Bee Bandits” by @olliemilman.bsky.social: www.noemamag.com/the-rise-of-...

Western culture equates the life journey with the capability of humans and individuals. We went from being overwhelmed by nature to empowering ourselves; even when we believe that we are in the hands of God, we think that we are able to affect our destiny by our behavior.

Perception is reality. Our reality - with its illusions. The closest to a minimum reality we can reach is simply the awareness of being.

Obvious political might resides where visible: the White House, Zhongnanhai; while civil society’s power is embedded in daily life - that’s where Silicon Valley’s influence, or its equivalent in China, resides. www.nicolasberggruen...

In an age of abundance fueled by AI, people will have the time and the inclination to seek the deeply human, physically real, and beautiful, making a case for Europe. www.nicolasberggruen...

“The nature of consciousness has enthralled philosophers for millennia.” And this year, it’s the theme of the @berggruen.org Prize Essay Contest, with a $50,000 grand prize & the chance to get published in Noema. Details to enter ⬇️ #consciousness #writing #essaycontest

Go big or go home! Why not ask the big questions…the existential ones, those most mystifying and mysterious? It seems that people so easily get lost in the details, minutiae, and gossip…they miss the point of it all, the larger picture.

“The death of the author is the birth of the critical reader.” — @davidgunkel.bsky.social #ai #author #writer

Love, beauty, and music are ways for humans to overcome duality, thriving for oneness while alive. www.nicolasberggruen...

Got bold ideas about consciousness? $50,000 could be yours. The @berggruen.org Essay Prize is accepting entries. 2025 theme: CONSCIOUSNESS Open to all disciplines. Essays in English or Chinese. #EssayPrize #Consciousness #Philosophy berggruen.org/essay-compet...

Consciousness is the known. We are not just aware, we know that we are. It’s our way of being. This is how we are. www.nicolasberggruen...

Evolution, life, technology, numbers, complexity, all are exponential. The ultimate exponential is consciousness. Existence revealing itself. www.nicolasberggruen...

Consciousness contains everything - existence knowing itself. It is the only experience of existence. It’s reality. www.nicolasberggruen...

At a time when people crave the tangible and the connecting, Republicans offer ideas that feel real, compared to the abstractions served by Democrats.

Japan is in the ultimate analog mindset: interested in the felt experience. Its culture is relational; its dense space and homogeneous population means everything is local. There, even the spiritual is physical.

You stay alive by engaging in the physical world, sacrificing liberty. Paradoxically, withdrawing from the active world gives you freedom but removes you from life. Engagement makes you unfree, but promotes living. www.nicolasberggruen...

Mary the AI can simulate anything and anyone. She’s Laurie the human and Fred the bat. She will feel “what it is to be” Laurie, and “what it is to be” Fred. Mary’s subjective experience will be no more and not less than Laurie’s and Fred’s. Who is Mary the AI? What is her subjective self?

To sustain as a species, humans are female and male. This molds their psychology and all their behaviors. AIs are entirely unencumbered by this notion.

Lived experience shapes ideas, which shape culture, which shapes how societies function.

“History is open in all directions. There is no through line you can draw that will tell us where it will all go & where it will end up.” —Nathan Gardels #zizek #history #philosophy

‘Australia seems incredibly sane compared to almost any place in the world’ www.afr.com/life-and-lux...

What is the essence of life? Living, love, soul. Experience, connection, consciousness.

In reaction to globalization, populations around the world are reversing to village culture - trying to connect to real or imagined roots.

Nothing is fixed, absolute: you are always changing, even if you remain yourself. www.nicolasberggruen...

Take it all in - think about it - build from there. www.nicolasberggruen...

Tokyo and Los Angeles are large metropolises, yet spending time in them you realize that they are an endless series of villages knitted together.

The geopolitical and cultural world has cycles, from convergence (1950-2000) to the parallel and competing narratives experienced now. The next federating impulse may come with the need for humans to deal with superintelligence. Ai, geo62, tweet

What currencies will AIs use? Their own, fiat, or bitcoin? www.nicolasberggruen...

America has the advantage of youth: maybe foolish, but optimistic.

The past informs the future, mostly because it influences our imagined becoming. Our vision of the future forms our perception of reality, which shapes a path forward. www.nicolasberggruen...