"We live in an age of unprecedented access to information. When you pick up your phone or open your laptop and go online, you are instantly connected to a trillion trillion bytes of data; that's a one followed by 24 zeros....Yet despite all of those whizzing ones and zeros-- the collective intelligence of billions and billions of human brains-- I still feel that we seem awfully... well, stupid. We're not using all this shared wisdom to solve big problems." (3-4)

"Information and application are very different things." (5)

"The EPA, and all the other agencies that do like-minded work, is composed of true ardent nerds working hard to focus on the big picture and to serve the needs of the many rather than those of the few. When those agencies are under assault, and we need to defend our common interests. The EPA is the American people, and we are the EPA. At least, we should be." (49)

"There's an inherent morality in this everything-all-at-once attitude. We are all responsible for the global commons. We all have to look out for our neighbors, and now it's clear that those "neighbors" might be halfway around the planet. Whether you are a scientist or an artist, a very important leader or an ordinary citizen, you have an obligation to pitch in for the greater good." (50)

"Support the causes you believe in. Show up at rallies. Find your community, or help create one if you can. Share and support your inspiration for nerdy compassion and responsibility. Stand up and be counted as an active, rather than passive, member of your democracy." (51)

"If we want to change the behavior of people, convince their kids why it's so important for their parents to do the right thing." (66)

"In politics or religion, changing your ideas can be risky or even heretical. In science abandoning a decades-old habit in response to new information reflects a vital quality of open-mindedness." (79)

"History progresses toward better conditions, and rational thought is what propels that process forward. Nerds treasure knowledge because it is what allows us to find new answers and develop new solutions." (93)

"But I'm writing this chapter at a time when a lot of people, in the United States and throughout much of the developed world, are actively resisting the expertise of other people— especially those whom they perceive to be "the elite". There's a terrible misconception these days about the authority that comes with the kind of knowledge that scientists represent. I regularly hear angry comments about climate scientists and sympathetic politicians. People believe that some of these experts want new regulations. so that they can grab more power, apparently trying to dazzle us with big words until they exploit us. In reality, they're just doing their jobs." (109)

"You can't strain literally every option through the filter of logic; it would drive you mad and take up so much time that you would never end up acting on anything at all." (117)

"Calling on experts does not reduce your control of the situation; it increases it. I feel like a lot of people misunderstand this point when complain about the "experts" telling them what to do." (121)

"A big part of being a nerd is figuring out how to tell a story about a problem in a way that gets others excited about being part of the solution." (122)

"Information is the currency of the nerd perspective..." (189)

"Even if you're a selfish bastard, you want everyone to have a high quality of life for the betterment of you. The best solution may not be the easiest, but it is ultimately in everybody's interest. That's why I talk about changing the world for us. In good design, everybody comes out ahead." (259)

"2016 was a milestone: The atmospheric concentration above 400 ppm for the first time in 4 million years. People caused it, and people will pay the price. The main questions are which people, and just how high will that price be?" (293)

"The future of the Earth depends on coal not having a future in our energy supply." (301)

"Times of crisis bring out the best and worst aspects of the human mind. They activate our tremendous powers of rational problem solving but also unleash potent fears that inspire irrational actions, or no action at all." (307)

"Mastering fear is key because fear really encapsulates all three of the other freedoms— or rather, the threats to freedom. It emerges from the sense that somebody else may take away our wealth, our power, our religion, our right to say and do what we want. Think about all the anger and conflict in the world that can be traced back to these different types of insecurities, and to the fear they inspire." (309)

"Raising the standard of living for everyone, everywhere all at once, will improve our world and make all of us more secure. When people are able to work and earn a living income, they become productive rather than disenchanted and ready to fight. People raised from poverty contribute more to economic growth and to the expansion of human knowledge. Progress leads to more progress, and we all share in that." (320)

"I strongly believe that taking care of all of the people on this planet requires three basic things: reliable and sustainable electricity, clean water, and access to the internet." (321-322)

"As I say every chance I get: Vote. Vote! Wait— maybe you thought I was kidding: Vote! That is the fundamental way we influence policies in domestic nations around the world. Right now, it is clearer than ever that elections matter. Even nondemocratic nations are greatly influenced by what they see other major countries doing. Those of us fortunate enough to live in the United States or one of the progressive democracies around the world have a responsibility to ourselves, and to the rest of the world, to set a good, proactive example. Making your political voice heard is essential because the business of politics is not only setting policies but also finding and choosing our leaders. With the right policies, the right budgets, and the right leaders in place, we can get down to business. Don't get demoralized when an election doesn't go your way. Don't get complacent when it does. Apathy is one of the greatest obstacles to nerdy progress." (334)

"The complexity of our society requires us to take an analytic approach to voting and the management of our resources. What I'm saying is: We have to all pay attention to politics and be participants in the process, not just kibitzers. Sometimes that means speaking up (calling your local representative, showing up at a town hall meeting) when you don't feel like it. Sometimes that means supporting a politician or piece of legislation even if it (or she or he) is less than perfect. Since you are responsible for a whole planet, there are times when you need to be pragmatic." (335)

"Over the past few years, there's been a lot of popular backlash against the idea of trusting "experts". I'd find it troubling if it weren't so absurd. Think about it for just a moment. Would air traffic be better without any experts in radar? How healthy would we all be if no one took an interest in the chemistry and microbiology of wastewater treatment? Would our highways be better with no one who understood how to place and light road signs? These are all specialized skills that are fundamentally technical, and we do not want to be without them. I suspect that the attacks on experts are more about tribalism than about the expertise itself. Some people fear that addressing poverty abroad means less wealth at home; they imagine that acting globally means offering less help locally. It is an utterly flawed argument from a logical point of view, but it has a lot of raw emotional power. It taps into the us-versus-them mentality." (335-336)

"If you don't send the agenda for the Earth, someone else will. If we don't control the destiny of our planet deliberately, we will just control it blindly and carelessly.  Controlling the planet is not a job you can quit." (338)

"Data can tell you what is happening in the world, but only your internal code can tell what to do with that information— tell you how to change the world for the better, or whether you should bother to try." (342)

"Climate-change denial is strongly generational. Very few young people embrace those silly ideas. But what kind of future will those kids face? By the time they are old enough to take action, it may be too late. We cannot let them down. We have to meet climate change with change of our own." (349)

"If you feel as though you are constantly struggling against chaos, it's because you are. Entropy is part of what you have to take into account in order to make change happen." (357)

"Free will and rational action are unbreakably chained to the unknowable nature of the future. The open-ended possibility of our future days is what sets us free, as analytical nerds and simply as human beings. It's what enables us to be optimistic, achieve things, to leave the world better than we found it." (358)

"I encourage people to engage with the world. Join and support organizations you feel are carrying humankind to a better place. Work together to accomplish great things. Start a movement. Take honest, aware, and fair actions every day" (362)