Ideas summary from the Ideas Dinner which took place on 21 June 2019 in Chamonix, France.
This succinct summary does not do justice to the richness of your idea. It is just destined to remind you of who said what. Should you wish to go into more depth about any of these, access the whole “stock” of ideas from other dinners, relate the ideas to the content of the Monthly Barometer, or, even better, get in touch with the person who originated an idea to discuss it in more detail.
Ideas below are listed in no particular order.
- Embrace the healthcare revolution (FC)
A major shift is occurring from hospital intervention to lab-based therapy. The doctor/surgeon will become the advisor supported by AI. Revenues and investments are already shifting to labs. - Develop direct communication with the brain (EB)
Sensing, capturing, and processing directly the various signals generated or received by the brain will enable us to modify and influence its activities. This has already been explored with a type of headphone that measures the electrical currents going through the brain and uses their shapes and intensities to create, for instance, sounds to soothe the mind. - Create a multimedia pen pal network (JB)
Understanding each other better is the best antidote to rising intolerance. Using the education infrastructure, we could establish direct contacts by messages, audio, and video, and thus upgrade the pen pal concept using today’s technology. Public funding and private donations could be used to set up the service. - Understand that the world is indeterminate to reduce norms and standards (PEC)
We need to come to terms with the principle that we cannot protect our societies and institutions against every possible risk. If we accept the idea that there is an “indeterminate” in our lives, we’ll be able to reduce the rules and norms designed to protect us but that have become so inflated that they are suffocating us. - Activate women’s investing in venture capital (AR)
Unequal access to opportunities and systematic bias are two significant challenges women face in today’s world, and women are still abdicating decisions about investing and finances at alarming rates. Less than 5% of VC goes to women who founded business(es) with a women co-founder, impacting the kind of companies that are founded, the products that are developed, and the culture and values of the companies. Thus, it is time to activate women’s investing. - Immersive empathy-learning field trips for the political and business elite (MAM)
Numerous recent crises have exposed how disconnected the elite can be from the everyday realities of their fellow citizens. It has been proven that empathy improves social welfare, so the political and business elite should give higher priority to seeing for themselves what these realities are (e.g. through something as simple as a ride on public transport) to avoid the perils of ivory tower isolation. - Support democracy with digital technologies (MH)
The underlying flaw with representative democracy is that the very people who seek power are exactly those that should not hold it. Expanding the usage of digital technologies in various ways could help societies make better and more democratically driven policy decisions. - Create a safe platform for leaders to exchange, listen and disagree (TEL)
We increasingly live in our own bubbles, surrounded by people who think like us and shutting down on people who have different perspectives. This idea is not new (it was created in 1949 in Colorado with the Aspen seminars) but it needs to be expanded. Debating values, exploring what brings us together and what sets us apart, could contribute to bridging some of today’s divides. - Harness simple communication techniques (MH)
Relationships and communications between children are simple and straightforward. How can we preserve and expand some of those simple communication techniques into adulthood through education and culture? - Find solutions to today’s problems in the natural world (HG)
Life has existed on earth for 3.8 billion years, while we’ve existed for only about 300,000 years. The natural world is governed by some important principles that also apply to our lives: optimization of resources, diversity, interaction (between different species and between a species and the physical environment), and constant adaptation. We stand to gain important insights if we take the lessons from the natural world and learn how to apply them to human activity. - Identify what we would put into today’s ‘Ark’ (BA)
- A system to promote citizen implication and personal investment
Individuals feel increasingly isolated and ignored. These sentiments feed into populism. This tide of populism could be stemmed by an improved system motivating and rewarding individual implication and investment in the workings of the political system. - Replace workshops with ‘walkshops’ (TM)
Misery at work is increasing, non-monetary incentives work better than bonuses for improving productivity at work, and being outdoors is better from all angles. This all points to the need for conducting more work outside, hence turning workshops into walking activities – ‘walkshops’. This could be done via coupons or credit systems.
