Arthur Ashkin: What important truth do very few people agree with you on?

What important truth do very few people agree with you on?

Originally asked

Peter Thiel, to job candidates, Zero to One, chapter 1, 2014

Peter Thiel, Zero to One, chapter 1, where it is introduced as his job-interview question. Thiel supplies his own standard: a good answer takes the form "most people believe x, but the truth is the opposite of x."

You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.

Recorded Arthur Ashkin said elsewhere, not written here

This light is shining on you. Do you know that it's pushing you?…Most people don't. But it is, because it's got energy. The only thing is, it's so small you don't feel it.

Hilary Brueck, Business Insider interview at Ashkin's home, 26 January 2019 source ↗

Others on this question

View all 33 →

David Hare Playwright and screenwriter

There is an awful lot of pious theatre at the moment, where you go to have what you already believed reinforced.

Recorded Matthew Reisz, Books interview, The Guardian, 7 August 2022 source ↗

Yvon Chouinard Founder of Patagonia

Everything man does creates more harm than good. We have to accept that fact and not delude ourselves into thinking something is sustainable.

Recorded Jeff Beer, interview, Fast Company, 16 October 2019 source ↗

Ephraim Asili Filmmaker, Educator, and DJ

I just don't really see the dialectic between inside and outside, and corporate and revolutionary, as being as cut and dry as I used to.

Recorded Metal Magazine source ↗

Henry R. Kravis Financier; co-founder of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.

I'd argue that while no doubt mistakes have been made, including by us and KKR, many have misunderstood (or greatly simplified) the model. They have overlooked how value is created -- and for whom.

Recorded KKR, 2024 source ↗