Category: Uncategorized
Is ambition possible in uncertainty?
We live in uncertain times. The future seems unclear due to climate change, geopolitics, and technological change. Faced with this uncertainty, many people give up on making plans. Any ambition seems impossible. Why aim high when everything could change tomorrow? This resignation is based on two misunderstandings: one about what uncertainty is, and the other about what ambition is.
(more…)The Power of Vertigo: Thinking Clearly in the Face of Uncertainty
With the inauguration of Donald Trump as President of the United States on January 20, we are entering a period of radical uncertainty even greater than we’ve experienced in recent years. We thought we lived in an uncertain world? We haven’t seen anything yet. Accepting this uncertainty means accepting a kind of vertigo, a sense of a world out of balance. For the philosopher André Glucksmann, accepting the vertigo of renouncing certainties is a source of strength. Vertigo is a form of liberation that allows us to think clearly and is a lever for creativity and transformation. But there’s no guarantee that we’ll have this power.
(more…)Why Europe’s answer to Elon Musk’s and Donald Trump’s attack must be innovation
Europe is reeling from the repeated attacks on it by Elon Musk and Donald Trump. Both, in their own way, embody the new challenges Europe is struggling to meet. Musk, with his disruptive innovations, exposes its structural weaknesses, while Trump, the symbol of a transactional, uncompromising world, underlines its inadequacy for a new geopolitical reality. Far from being anomalies, these figures highlight an aging European model, incapable of competing in terms of innovation and asserting itself in the face of determined adversaries. This observation calls for urgent reflection: Europe must wake up from its blindness and undertake profound reforms to avoid irrelevance.
(more…)What if the artificial was our true nature?
We live in a world shaped by human influence. Most of what we consume, whether animal or plant, did not originally exist in nature; it is the result of genetic modifications made over thousands of years. The creation of artificial objects, both tangible and intangible, reflects our identity as a species. The artificial is our true nature.
(more…)Changing the world: Why Davos is Part of the Problem
The world is facing multiple challenges and needs to undergo a profound transformation. We believe that the key to initiating these transformations is for the world’s leaders, aware of the stakes and with the means to act, to come together and agree. A forum like Davos seems ideal for this. It’s a very naive belief, and it’s highly problematic. It’s time to rethink.
(more…)What a dog can teach you about the dangers of AI
As its development accelerates, AI inspires growing fear in terms of both its scale and its power. And that is just the beginning. The most common fear is that it cannot explain how it arrives at a given result and is therefore dangerous. How can we use nonhuman intelligence if we don’t know how it works? And yet we’ve been doing it for thousands of years…with dogs.
(more…)120 years after the Wright Brothers’ revolutionary flight, some lessons in innovation
The significance of great inventions has often been completely overlooked by observers of the time. The historic flight of the Wright brothers on December 17, 1903, exactly 120 years ago, is a case in point.
(more…)Welcome to uncertainty! Surviving and thriving in a world of surprises
The 2008 financial crisis, Brexit, the election of Donald Trump, the Covid-19 epidemic, the invasion of Ukraine, the return of inflation, and what next? The list of surprises keeps growing. Against this backdrop, a new perspective on forecasting is imperative. How can we thrive in a world we can’t predict? This is the question I address in my new book “Welcome to uncertainty” out today.
(more…)Cultivating Curiosity: The Propeller of Human Innovation
What distinguishes us from animals? The philosopher Thomas Hobbes casts an interesting light on this old question, arguing that curiosity is one of the few capacities that distinguishes humans from animals. It is this natural curiosity that explains why innovation is the hallmark of human beings.
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