A whole bunch of big technological shocks occurred when Asian innovations - paper, gunpowder, the stirrup, the moldboard plow and so on - came to Europe via the Silk Road.

Artificial lighting, air-conditioning, and automobiles, all powered by fossil fuels, swaddle us in our giddy modernity. In our ergonomic chairs and acoustical-panel cubicles, we sit cozy as kings atop 300 years of flaming carbon.

Americans are willing to cheer on politicians who denounce bureaucratic overreach and job-killing red tape in abstract terms. But they turn out to like specific regulations against toxic chemicals in their drinking water.

The queue of activists, interest groups, and ordinary people wringing their hands over what a President Donald Trump might do in office is long, and environmentalists are at the front of the line.

Technology is now part of the social fabric; it is what is causing dislocation. It is the cause of fear amongst all of us.

I think because of the Internet I was able to study comedy from quite a young age and watch a lot of comedy.

Big companies often use their leverage to take stakes in would-be suppliers, especially in the technology business.

I just want to be seen as what I am - just look beyond TV/social media, and you will see what kind of person I am.