SOME QUOTES FROM THE WINTER SUMMIT OF MINDS 2023

  • Fear is a response to both physical and social and/or psychological threats. Fear can be dangerous in so far as it reduces our ability to find the necessary solutions. Building “banal resilience” by looking at the roots of our fears, and not only their consequences, could reduce this danger.
  • All the young people are on the wrong side of the world.
  • Solution generation isn’t leading to climate action.
  • In the short term we need to deploy technology to buy ourselves time; in the long term there must be a major shift in mindset leading to a collective consciousness that we are all connected.
  • On the one hand… in the current system, yes you will have to compromise on returns to be sustainable…On the other hand, in the future economic framework we need, being sustainable will be non-negotiable, so anything that contributes to greater sustainability will yield better returns.
  • We cannot be well in an unwell planet.
  • The real existential danger is about energy. The biggest computer we’ve yet made – which is still way less sophisticated than a human brain – uses a million times as much energy.
  • Knowledge is being ‘oligopolised’.
  • Truth should always be pursued in the development of policy, and policy must be based on sound evidence, not an ideological position then supported by carefully selected evidence.
  • The root of this war is people striving for freedom, not only in Ukraine but also in Russia. If, as in 2013 Ukraine could achieve democracy and this degree of pluralism, then Russians could do the same. It’s this connection which drove Putin to war.
  • The war in Ukraine affects absolutely everybody… it’s a war about values.  It’s Vladimir Putin’s war against the West fought on the battlefields of Ukraine. Whether the West wishes to believe it or not, it is in conflict with Russia.
  • The success of a post-war Ukraine will be depend on the ‘last kilometer’ and this lies in the hands of its institutions.
  • How this war ends will determine the shape of Europe and trans-Atlantic security.
  • Decision making by consensus has an important part to play in good leadership.