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Jared Cohen Quotes

Powerful Jared Cohen for Daily Growth

About Jared Cohen

Jared Cohen is an American author, technology entrepreneur, and President of the Council on Foreign Relations' (CFR) Strategic Foresight Initiative. Born in 1984, Cohen grew up in New York City with a strong influence from his family's background in diplomacy. His father, Stuart E. Eizenstat, served as a U.S. Ambassador under President Clinton, and his mother, Judy Lichtman, was an advisor to Hillary Clinton during her tenure as First Lady. After graduating from Harvard University with a degree in Government and Middle Eastern Studies, Cohen joined the U.S. Department of State as a member of the Secretary's Policy Planning Staff under Condoleezza Rice and later under Hillary Clinton. In this role, he worked on various diplomatic initiatives, including the Obama administration's engagement with Iran. In 2010, Cohen published his first book, "Children of Jihad: A Young American's Journey into the Heart of the Middle East." The memoir detailed his experiences while working as a Special Advisor for Google Ideas, where he focused on using technology to address global security challenges. Following his tenure at Google, Cohen served as CEO of Shipyard, a technology startup that used machine learning to forecast geopolitical events. In 2018, he published another book, "The Big Nine: How the Tech Titans and Emerging Superpowers are Redefining Global Competition," which explores how nine dominant forces in technology will shape the future of global politics and security. Cohen's work often centers around the intersection of technology, diplomacy, and global security, making him a leading voice on these issues. His insights have been featured in numerous media outlets, including The New York Times, CNN, and TED Talks. Currently, as President of the CFR's Strategic Foresight Initiative, Cohen continues to analyze and predict future global trends.

Interpretations of Popular Quotes

"The future isn't something we arrive at. The future is created."

This quote emphasizes that our actions today shape the tomorrow we experience, rather than the future being an inevitable destination. It suggests a proactive role in creating our own destiny, implying that we have the power to shape the world around us through our decisions, behaviors, and innovations. Essentially, it's a call to take responsibility for our future by taking action now.

"The greatest resource for solving global crises doesn’t come from Washington or Brussels – it comes from the ground up."

This quote emphasizes that grassroots initiatives, rather than relying solely on decisions made by international institutions like Washington (USA) or Brussels (EU), are vital in addressing global crises. It suggests that solutions to complex global problems often originate from local communities with intimate knowledge of their challenges and strengths. This perspective underscores the importance of empowering local populations, fostering collaboration, and encouraging bottom-up problem-solving for effective crisis resolution on a global scale.

"In an increasingly interconnected world, we can no longer think in terms of national security or economic development; we must begin to address human security and human development."

This quote underscores the notion that as the world becomes more intertwined, traditional concepts like national security and economic growth are no longer sufficient to ensure global stability and progress. Instead, Cohen suggests a shift in focus towards prioritizing human security (the well-being and protection of individuals) and human development (improving the social, economic, and political aspects of people's lives). In essence, he is advocating for a more holistic approach to global issues that recognizes the interdependence of all societies and strives to address the needs and potential of every individual.

"The technology we take for granted today will be the toolset of diplomats tomorrow."

This quote underscores the notion that the technological advancements currently prevalent in our society will significantly impact future diplomacy, as they will become essential tools for diplomats in their work. In essence, it highlights how technology's rapid evolution is shaping a new landscape for international relations, where effective communication, data analysis, and digital interaction play increasingly crucial roles in resolving global issues.

"It's never too early to start thinking about the future, because the future is always just around the corner."

This quote emphasizes the importance of being forward-thinking and anticipating change, as the future tends to arrive swiftly. It encourages individuals to constantly prepare themselves for what's next, whether it be personal or professional growth, so they can seize opportunities that may come their way. Essentially, it suggests that one should always be ready to adapt to and navigate the ever-evolving landscape of tomorrow.

Since most cyberwar is conducted covertly, governments avoid any public acknowledgment of their own abilities and shy away from engaging in any sort of 'cyber diplomacy.' Statecraft conducted in secret fails to create public norms for deterrence.

- Jared Cohen

Shy, Own, Away, Engaging

I think companies need to put up tools that put privacy and security in the hands of their users and make it easy to understand those tools. In Google's case, two-step verification is a perfect example of this.

- Jared Cohen

Hands, Perfect, I Think, Perfect Example

It's not a panacea: there are problems in the world that technology can't fix. You can't fix water shortages. You can't storm a Ministry of the Interior with a cell phone. You can't magically create leaders and institutions overnight. You can't eat it. You can't shield a bullet.

- Jared Cohen

Leaders, Shield, Cell, Panacea

I dislike the phrase 'social media.' 'Social media' is merely a way to describe new tools in an old and narrow paradigm where we measure success by how many people are reached.

- Jared Cohen

New, Social, Paradigm, Narrow

Part of the responsibility of the technology industry is to anticipate the challenges of the vast majority of its future users and proactively start thinking about them now and proactively build products that address those challenges.

- Jared Cohen

Challenges, Part, Address, Anticipate

Essentially, it's not that technology or cyberspace is some parallel universe that operates tangentially from the world we know; it is simply a new front in the international system.

- Jared Cohen

Technology, New, Some, Parallel

We live in a world where all wars will begin as cyber wars... It's the combination of hacking and massive, well-coordinated disinformation campaigns.

- Jared Cohen

World, Will, Hacking, Cyber

The intensity of cyber conflict around the world is increasing, and the tools are becoming cheaper and more readily available.

- Jared Cohen

Cheaper, Becoming, Readily, Cyber

Cyber weapons won't go away, and their spread can't be controlled. Instead, as we've done for other destructive technologies, the world needs to establish a set of principles to determine the proper conduct of governments regarding cyber conflict.

- Jared Cohen

Other, Away, Proper, Cyber

While the specifics of Russia's interference in the 2016 American election remain unclear, no one doubts that Moscow has built a robust technological arsenal for waging cyberattacks.

- Jared Cohen

Election, Doubts, Robust, Unclear

I often say Policy Planning is very analogous to a venture capital firm. A venture capital firm sees an interesting idea and puts money behind it; in Policy Planning, we look for promising ideas and then put contacts and relationships behind it.

- Jared Cohen

Behind, Very, Capital, Interesting Idea

At a certain point, a critical mass of people either have used the Internet or have expectations. Anything less than the free flow of information will be seen as having something taken away. We've seen time and again - in Egypt and Iran, for example - that creates a backlash.

- Jared Cohen

Away, Critical, Free Flow, Flow

For people involved in pre-meditated crimes, whether it is terrorism or robbery or something else, their use of technology means that they leave a digital trail, and the room for error goes up dramatically. In the future, it will be easier for violent people to make mistakes and get caught before they commit their crimes.

- Jared Cohen

Caught, Violent, Before, Dramatically

The 21st century is a really terrible time to be a control freak.

- Jared Cohen

Control, Freak, Century, 21st Century

The number of people who believe in stopping violence in the world is wildly greater than those that want to perpetrate it. When everybody has a smartphone, the ability for people to actually do something about violence goes up significantly.

- Jared Cohen

Want, Goes, Everybody, Stopping

The importance of human judgment does not evaporate in the future, and as connected individuals, we will have to exercise sound judgment about what we choose to share or not share about ourselves.

- Jared Cohen

Sound, Will, Importance, Evaporate

The virtual world is a 'public square' much more vast than Tiananmen Square. And you can't send in the tanks to crush the netizens.

- Jared Cohen

More, Square, Virtual, Send

Name any issue in the world, I can tell you how technology is intertwined with it. I can tell you how technology will make it better. How it can make it worse. It needs to be part of everything that we do, whether you are a government or a company or a citizen.

- Jared Cohen

Citizen, Needs, Issue, Intertwined

Technology is a tool, and it's a platform. Nobody gets arrested for being a blogger; people get arrested for dissent. Nobody gets arrested for putting information about themselves online; they get arrested for being an activist. I'm a strong believer in the fact that you should not blame the tools; you should blame the circumstances.

- Jared Cohen

Strong, Dissent, Arrested, Tool

I want to use the best technology we have at our disposal to begin to take on trolling and other nefarious tactics that give hostile voices disproportionate weight. To do everything we can to level the playing field.

- Jared Cohen

Give, Other, Level, Disposal

It is difficult to predict technology more than 10 years out with any certitude, but what I observe is that change and innovation happens earlier and faster than we expect. We are constantly surprised at what technology can do.

- Jared Cohen

Innovation, More, Certitude, Surprised

By definition, transnational crime crosses borders, but efforts to combat it mostly do not.

- Jared Cohen

Efforts, Transnational, Crosses

When you work at Google and tell these engineers that their skill set is relevant to somebody in Iran who doesn't have access to information in their country or the rest of the world, it really inspires them to want to do something about it. There is a genuine altruism that exists at this company, and that's why I'm here and not anywhere else.

- Jared Cohen

Country, Here, Access, Engineers

When we're splitting our time between a physical and digital world, you have to stay safe online the same way you stay safe offline.

- Jared Cohen

Digital, Splitting, Our, Our Time

Kids are coming online and connecting at a pace that's faster than their physical maturation process. Would you ever imagine that you'd have to talk to your kid about phishing before you're talking to him about the birds and the bees?

- Jared Cohen

Kid, Before, About, Connecting

Technology can be useful to organise a large number of people online and offline against the common goal of getting a particular dictator out of power. But at the end of the day, somebody still has to run for president with a different last name and deliver for the population.

- Jared Cohen

Run, Against, Deliver, Useful

When people think of digital diplomacy, they think of government tweeting. It is not what it is. That is public diplomacy.

- Jared Cohen

Think, Digital, Diplomacy, Tweeting

The big unknown is, at what point is a cyberattack so significant that it warrants a physical-world response.

- Jared Cohen

Big, Significant, Point, Response

I'll say that technology will make revolutions start happening faster, but it'll make them harder to finish. Technology can't create leaders and cause institutions to appear.

- Jared Cohen

Start, Will, Cause, Appear

Privacy and security are the ultimate shared responsibility, and everyone - including governments, companies, and citizens - have an important role to play.

- Jared Cohen

Play, Including, Shared, Citizens

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