As a planet and a civilisation, we are approaching tipping points – some frightening, others freeing – that will transform life as we know it. PROSPECT has just proposed a list of 25 top thinkers for a world on the brink – a list of intellectuals from priests and strategists to neuroscientists and historians who will help us navigate our changing world in the year ahead – with a neat summary of the thrust of each contributor.
The five sectors are: Climate 5, Economics 5, Freedom 5, Geopolitics 5, Technology 5.
Worth looking up – [Jan-Feb 2024] – casting your vote – and even bringing other thinkers they might publicise to the notice of PROSPECT. Readers are invited to vote for their favourite thinkers [Voting closes jan7] by visiting their website at prospectmagazine.co.uk/wtt-2024-vote
Please note 1. The overall issue 2. the opportunity to cast a vote
TWO of the 25 thinkers are described as follows…………
Daron Acemoglu – Institute Professor at MIT in Economics.
Daron is a small is a Turkish-born American economist based at MIT Institute of Technology. He is a former winner of the John Bates Clark medal [ several other former winners have gone on to win the Nobel Prize] and in 2023 he won the A.SK Social Science Award for his work on the impact of new technologies on growth, poverty and inequality.
His 2023 book ‘Power and Progress: our thousand-year struggle over technology and property’, which was longlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize and co-authored with Simon Johnson, argues that ‘1000 years of history and contemporary evidence make one thing clear. Progress is not automatic but depends on the choices we make about technology.’ Acemoglu and Johnson stress that the huge computing advances of the last century can benefit everyone, but ‘not if all major decisions remain in the hands of a few hubristic tech leaders striving to build a society that elevates their own power and prestige.’ The book is a vital challenge to the notion that tech automatically engenders progress, and contains three suggestions for a modern progressive movement; 1. the technology-equals-progress narrative should be exposed as a convenient myth that suits powerful companies. 2. civil society organisations, organisations, non- profits and modern trade unions must form a countervailing force to those companies; 3. thinktanks and institutions should be emboldened to develop policy proposals on how technological advances can be harnessed for the public good. In the age of AI, thinkers like Acemogu offer a vital steer, grounded in economic history, on how – if we aren’t careful – technology can entrench existing inequalities.
Kate Raworth – Economist. In 2017, the self-defined ‘renegade’ economist Kate Raworth published ‘Doughnut Economics: seven ways to think like a 21st century economist.’ In the book, she set out her ideas for an alternative economic model to capitalism – one that respects the ‘social and planetary boundaries’ within which humanity should exist. Raworth believes that the performance of an economy should be judged not on conventional notions of growth, but on the extent to which the basic needs of people are met – in terms of housing, work, income, health and justice – without us overshooting the ecological boundaries on which that life depends. Six years on from the publication of her book, her ideas are more relevant than ever. Not only is she reshaping the conversation about how to build a sustainable world, but through the collaborative Doughnut Economics Action Lab, her proposals are being implemented in a growing number of cities including Amsterdam, Sydney, Berlin, Brussels and Melbourne. A senior associate at Oxford University’s Environmental Change Institute, where she teaches a master’s course in Environmental Change and Management, and a professor at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, Raworth exemplifies the kind of challenging, progressive thinking that leaders cannot afford to ignore.
Have an enriching Christmas break and ponder deeply the underlying issue of human incarnation!!! Peter
