"Fortunately, human beings are remarkably diverse models to work from"
About this Quote
David Brin points to a creative and scientific windfall: the sheer range of human personalities, cultures, and quirks gives us a vast library of prototypes for thinking, building, and empathizing. Every person becomes a test case in how minds can work, how societies can organize themselves, and how values can be balanced. The word fortunately signals a deliberate counter to any nostalgia for uniformity. Variation is not noise to be filtered out but a feature that fuels discovery and resilience.
For a writer and futurist steeped in the Enlightenment tradition, diversity is the raw material of both storytelling and problem solving. Brin’s fiction thrives on clashes and collaborations among different viewpoints, and his nonfiction argues that progress comes from open comparison, critique, and iteration. When people differ in background and approach, their successes and failures teach complementary lessons. The marketplace of ideas, so central to his work, depends on having many distinct models in circulation so that better patterns can be identified, stress-tested, and adopted.
The phrase models to work from also evokes how humans learn by imitation. Role models expand the menu of possible selves; seeing a wide range of lives lived well widens what seems attainable or worthy. In design, policy, and ethics, attending to diverse experiences helps uncover edge cases, biases, and unintended consequences before they cause harm. In science and technology, especially in an era of data-driven systems, the richness of human variation challenges us to avoid flattening people into averages and to build tools that serve many kinds of users.
There is a caution tucked inside the optimism. Treating people as models must not reduce them to stereotypes or mere inputs. The point is to honor individuality while learning from it, to let pluralism and evidence guide improvement. Brin’s line becomes a gentle directive: look around, learn widely, borrow bravely, and keep the conversation open.
For a writer and futurist steeped in the Enlightenment tradition, diversity is the raw material of both storytelling and problem solving. Brin’s fiction thrives on clashes and collaborations among different viewpoints, and his nonfiction argues that progress comes from open comparison, critique, and iteration. When people differ in background and approach, their successes and failures teach complementary lessons. The marketplace of ideas, so central to his work, depends on having many distinct models in circulation so that better patterns can be identified, stress-tested, and adopted.
The phrase models to work from also evokes how humans learn by imitation. Role models expand the menu of possible selves; seeing a wide range of lives lived well widens what seems attainable or worthy. In design, policy, and ethics, attending to diverse experiences helps uncover edge cases, biases, and unintended consequences before they cause harm. In science and technology, especially in an era of data-driven systems, the richness of human variation challenges us to avoid flattening people into averages and to build tools that serve many kinds of users.
There is a caution tucked inside the optimism. Treating people as models must not reduce them to stereotypes or mere inputs. The point is to honor individuality while learning from it, to let pluralism and evidence guide improvement. Brin’s line becomes a gentle directive: look around, learn widely, borrow bravely, and keep the conversation open.
Quote Details
| Topic | Wisdom |
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