Fundamental Reboot

The real question, tho, is in the imagination of what the 22nd century will be like, and what the “reboot” being discussed by the Davos Society will look like and lead to.

"The world needs to examine the basic operating systems that drive its economies, markets and societies and aim for a “fundamental reboot” to establish a fresh platform based on renewed confidence and trust, and on sustainability, responsibility and ethical principles. That was the over-arching message that 700 of the world’s top thought leaders from business, government, academia and civil society delivered at the end of the inaugural Summit on the Global Agenda, convened by the World Economic Forum in partnership with the Government of Dubai. (9 nov 2008)"
World Economic Forum - Summit on the Global Agenda

I haven’t taken the time to read their reboot report. Perhaps I should reserve my comments until I see what the best and the brightest 700 think. My thought is that the reboot will be meaningless unless there is a whole new picture of how many molecules, and of which kind, are available per person on the planet. It seems that regardless of how many gigawatt hours/person/year are available (i realize my thinking is limited, as I don’t imagine why we would need that kind of power much less where we would get it), we can’t just consume the planet. It seems like we would be eating our young—eating our home—burning the last tree. Short of redesigning life forms including our own, and the life forms of the planet (from bacteria and viruses on up to whales), and doing this without screwing anything up (which I think would be laughable...it would be like we had truly figured out nature and could now take over the controls), we need to back down from the hubris trail and learn to be humble. I think of Joseph Campbell: one spends one’s entire life climbing the ladder of success only to discover, when you get to the top, that it is on the wrong wall.