Opinions from Princeton University's alumni
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Jeff Bezos,
And then the jobless.... Is AI going to put everybody out of work? I am not worried about this. I find that people, all of us, I include myself, we are so unimaginative about what future jobs are going to look like and what they are going to be. Humans like to do things and we like to be productive and we will figure out things to do and we will use these tools to make ourselves more powerful. Wha... See More
Eric Schmidt, Executive Chairman & former CEO, Google
We have to make them [workers] more productive through automation, through tools. So I'm convinced that there is in fact going to be a jobs shortage. There is going to be jobs that are unfulfilled, and that the way we'll fill them is to take people plus computers, and the computers will make people smarter. If you make the people smarter, their wages go up. They don't go down, and the number of jo... See More
Lisa Jackson, American politician
agrees
Fracking
I’m not aware of any proven case where the fracking process itself has affected water.
Lawrence Kudlow,
disagrees
Tariffs
The biggest flaw in the Trump economic plan is the tilt toward protectionism. I have parted company with him on this. The question here is whether his campaign bark will turn out to be bigger than his government-policy bite.
Jonathan Portes,
HMRC has also published important new data about the fiscal contribution made by recently arrived EEA nationals, showing that they paid more than £3bn in taxes on income while claiming about £0.5bn in HMRC benefits. This provides further confirmation that EU migrants have made a strongly positive contribution to the UK economy and public finances.
Frank Sharry,
On the fringes of the immigration debate, you have Donald Trump and his small band of nativists peddling fears and falsehoods. For those of us who inhabit a fact-driven reality, you have a growing body of credible research demonstrating the benefits of immigrants and the burdens of following Trump’s radical proposals.
Pete du Pont, American lawyer and politician
disagrees
Euthanasia
From the Soviet gulag to the Nazi concentration camps and the killing fields of Cambodia, history teaches that granting the state legal authority to kill innocent individuals has dreadful consequences.
Matt Blaze,
disagrees
Electronic voting
Few, if any, state and local IT departments are equipped to protect this infrastructure against the full force of a hostile intelligence service, and these systems are very attractive targets for disruption.
Alex Halderman,
disagrees
Electronic voting
Machines [are] stored around the country [India] in a variety of locations, from abandoned warehouses to schools, etc. [and it is] likely many of them could be accessed by criminals, especially with the aid of dishonest insiders.
Greg Mankiw, Harvard professor in economics
agrees
Carbon Tax
People don't want to think about climate change every time they do every decision. They can't. What a carbon tax does is it nudges them in the direction of doing the right thing. But you can cut other taxes in response.
Mike Novogratz, Former hedge fund Fortress manager
disagrees
Cryptocurrencies
This is a bubble and there is a lot of froth. This is going to be the biggest bubble of our lifetimes.
Mitchel Resnick, Professor of Learning Research at MIT Media Lab
I think the reasons for learning to code are the same as the reasons for learning to write. When we learn to write, we are learning how to organize, express, and share ideas. And when we learn to code, we are learning how to organize, express, and share ideas in new ways, in a new medium.
Mitchel Resnick, Professor of Learning Research at MIT Media Lab
Both groups benefit. Moreover, that’s one way of dealing with the challenge of a single teacher committed to 30 or more kids. It doesn’t have to be that way. Older kids can be helping younger kids, people from the community can be helping.
Gary Becker,
agrees
Carbon Tax
We should seek out the many forms of subsidy that run through the entire energy enterprise and eliminate them. In their place we propose a measure that could go a long way toward leveling the playing field: a revenue-neutral tax on carbon, a major pollutant.
James Baker, American attorney and statesman
agrees
Carbon Tax
You can't look at this as a tax, even though the word 'tax' is used
Alan Blinder, Economist
agrees
Carbon Tax
The 'bang for the buck' from a phased-in CO2 levy would be infinite at first—lots of jobs at zero cost to the federal budget.
George Shultz, American economist, statesman, and businessman
agrees
Carbon Tax
There has to be a way to level the playing field and cause those forms of energy to bear their true costs. That means putting a price on carbon.
Bryan Caplan, GMU econ professor, blogger, author
disagrees
Basic Income
The Universal Basic Income is indeed worse than the status quo. In fact, all the fundamental criticisms of the welfare state apply with even greater force.
Ralph Nader, Consumer advocate, author and former presidential candidate
agrees
Basic Income
Basic income would get rid of chronic capitalism
Jeff Bezos,
agrees
Disagree and commit
This phrase will save a lot of time. If you have conviction on a particular direction even though there's no consensus, it's helpful to say, "Look, I know we disagree on this but will you gamble with me on it? Disagree and commit?" By the time you're at this point, no one can know the answer for sure, and you'll probably get a quick yes.
Jeff Bezos,
I don’t like the ‘Plan B’ idea that we want to go to space so we have a backup planet, we have sent probes to every planet in this solar system, and believe me, this is the best planet. There is no doubt. This is the one that you want to protect.
Marvin Minsky, Mathematician, computer scientist, and pioneer in the field of artificial intelligence
The ultimate risk comes when our greedy, lazy, masterminds are able at last to take that final step: to design goal-achieving programs which are programmed to make themselves grow increasingly powerful.
Alan Turing, British mathematician and logician, a major contributor to mathematics, cryptanalysis, and AI
Even if we could keep the machines in a subservient position, for instance by turning off the power at strategic moments, we should, as a species, feel greatly humbled. … [T]his new danger … is certainly something which can give us anxiety.
Oliver Hart, Nobel Prize winner in Economics and Professor at Harvard
Bill Gates would get 13K, which is crazy. Raising taxes is costly and so redistribution should be targeted to those who need help most.
Frank Wilczek, Physicist, MIT and Recipient, 2004 Nobel Prize in Physics
Without careful restraint and tact, researchers could wake up to discover they've enabled the creation of armies of powerful, clever, vicious paranoiacs
Nick Morgan, Managing director, Le Ski
disagrees
Brexit
You can basically add £50 to £100 onto the cost of your ski holiday if we leave… Anyone who imagines the French are going to renegotiate contracts the week after Brexit with no problem is fooling themselves.
Richard Jeffrey, Chief Investment Officer, Cazenove Capital Management
agrees
Brexit
Once the exit terms had been negotiated [...], the UK could become a more attractive base for foreign companies looking for an European base. One specific of the economy that could benefit would be financial services.
Dani Rodrik, Ford Foundation Professor of International Political Economy, Harvard Kennedy School.
disagrees
Brexit
Nicholas Hammond, British rubik's cube player and writer, field hockey official and commentator, internet businessman
agrees
Clinton over Trump
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