An open society calls itself open to improvement. It is based on the recognition that people have divergent views and interests, and that nobody is in possession of the ultimate truth.
Interpretation
An open society values diverse perspectives and acknowledges that no one holds absolute truth.
The quote emphasizes the importance of having an open society that welcomes different viewpoints and is committed to continual improvement. It recognizes that human opinions and interests are varied and that acknowledging this diversity is crucial for progress, as no single perspective can claim to have the definitive answer to complex issues.
In practice
This quote can be used in a speech about the importance of democracy and open dialogue in society.
The securitisation of mortgages added a new dimension of systemic risk. Financial engineers claimed they were reducing risks through geographic diversification: in fact they were increasing them by creating an agency problem. The agents were more interested in maximising fee income than in protecting the interests of bondholders. That is the verity that was ignored by regulators and market participants alike.
The collapse of the global marketplace would be a traumatic event with unimaginable consequences. Yet I find it easier to imagine than the continuation of the present regime.
Regulating and taxing marijuana would simultaneously save taxpayers billions of dollars in enforcement and incarceration costs, while providing many billions of dollars in revenue annually.
We are the most powerful nation on earth. No external power, no terrorist organization can defeat us. But we can defeat ourselves by getting caught in a quagmire.
My foundations support people in the country who care about an open society. It's their work that I'm supporting. So it's not me doing it. But I can empower them. I can support them, and I can help them.
The criminalization of marijuana did not prevent marijuana from becoming the most widely used illegal substance in the United States and many other countries. But it did result in extensive costs and negative consequences.
We started our foundation because we believe we have a real opportunity to help advance equity around the world, to help make sure that, no matter where a person is born, he or she has the chance to live a healthy, productive life.
Regret is a short, evocative and achingly beautiful word: an elegy to lost possibilities even in its brief annunciation.
You can tell the greatness of a man by what makes him angry
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow: In Flanders fields.
The yearning to know what cannot be known, to comprehend the incomprehensible, to touch and taste the unapproachable, arises from the image of God in the nature of man. Deep calleth unto deep, and though polluted and landlocked by the mighty disaster theologians call the Fall, the soul senses its origin and longs to return to its source.
It's a near miracle that nuclear war has so far been avoided.
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