Billionaires and Radical Hope: Thoughts from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland

2016-01-26 · letter vlog · John · 3:39 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Global development (also: World affairs, Economics) · mode: Personal essay · tags: timely hook

Back from the World Economic Forum, John describes its naive ambition and elitist social order but also its real engagement with global problems, and affirms that human progress is possible though not inevitable, sustained by radical hope.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Davos as ski village and as the World Economic Forum: closed-door deals, the pitch for investment, the feeling of changing history, naivete

• ★★★ John spent last week (week of 18 January 2016) in Davos, Switzerland, which most of the time is a fairly standard alpine ski village with souvenir shops and babies in sleds. — 00:00:01
• ★★ John says that one week a year Davos is taken over by the World Economic Forum, a throng of CEOs, world leaders, scientists and security guards ostensibly gathered to improve the world. — 00:00:10
• ★ John says much of the forum's action is behind closed doors, such as EU and American diplomats negotiating over internet privacy or CEOs making business deals. — 00:00:22
• ★★ John describes the town as a fevered pitch for investment, growth and change, urging visitors to think India, Mexico, Kazakhstan, Salesforce, Microsoft, Accenture and Bank of America. — 00:00:31
• ★★ John felt an unprecedented intensity: business, politics and activism smashing together, with everyone feeling they could change history by increasing prosperity, achieving gender parity and educating the world. — 00:00:47
• ★★ John admits there is something naive about that, but cites an artist he heard in Davos saying naivete is perhaps something to embrace rather than be ashamed of. — 00:00:59

00:01:07 — Davos elitism: 'where are you based', Indianapolis, the billionaire class as middle school

• ★★★ John says Davos is criticised for elitism, and he found a weird wealthy provincialism: people asked where he was based, as if the overwhelmingly male Davos man were too international to live somewhere. — 00:01:07
• ★★ When John said he lived in Indianapolis, people almost always asked why; he resisted answering that it was partly because of people like them. (playful) — 00:01:24 · Indianapolis
• ★★ John found the social hierarchies exhausting, joking that the billionaire class seems to have modelled its social order on the American middle school. (playful) — 00:01:32

00:01:41 — What was wonderful: climate discussions, global goals, Save the Children and UNHCR, VR films, Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy's documentary

• ★★ Yet John found Davos wonderful: clear discussions of why climate change is happening and what it will do, and the global goals posted everywhere as reminders of our commitments. — 00:01:41 · climate change
• ★★ John met representatives of Save the Children and the UN Refugee Agency to learn about improving health care and education for the world's most vulnerable people. — 00:01:55 · Save the Children
• ★ John says he learned about virtual reality films made in refugee camps, research on peer learning and the perils of economic inequality. — 00:02:05 · economic inequality
• ★★★ John recommends the Oscar-nominated documentary about honor killing in Pakistan by Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy, whom he met at Davos: one of the most powerful films he has seen. — 00:02:13

00:02:24 — Behind the Beautiful Forevers quote; do people make history or history people; progress possible not inevitable; radical hope; Pakistan's PM denounces honor killing

• ★★ All week John kept thinking about Husain, a father in Mumbai's Annawadi slum whom Katherine Boo quotes in Behind the Beautiful Forevers. — 00:02:24
• ★★ Karam Husain (quoted): Husain, as reported by Boo: everyone in Annawadi says they will make their child a doctor or lawyer and get rich, but it is vanity; your boat goes west, you praise your navigation, then the wind blows you east. — 00:02:32
• ★★★ John says that again and again at Davos he ran up against the ancient question of whether people make history or history makes people, and how power and poverty shape the answers. — 00:02:47
• ★★★ Acknowledging it is easier to say from a privileged position, John believes human progress is possible though not inevitable, and is convinced of and moved by the radical hope behind millennia of human effort. — 00:02:56 · progress, hope
• ★★ John says Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy's film inspired the prime minister of Pakistan to finally denounce honor killing, a small but real step toward a better world. — 00:03:11

00:03:22 — Coming weeks: big problems from Davos; ask for suggestions; jet lag nap; sign-off

• ★★★ John says that in the coming weeks he will look at big problems he left Davos thinking about: income inequality, climate change, the refugee crisis, and how gender inequality affects poverty. — 00:03:22 · economic inequality, climate change, extreme poverty
• ★★ John asks Nerdfighters to say in the comments which other global human challenges they would like the brothers to discuss. — 00:03:31 · Nerdfighteria

In the description and comments

• ★ The description recommends watching the virtual reality film Clouds over Sidra on a phone or with Google Cardboard. — video description

Threads in this video

• update · John attends the World Economic Forum in Davos (January 2016) — John reports he spent last week (the week of 18 January 2016) in Davos for the World Economic Forum and describes the town, the forum and the people he met. (00:00:01)
• kept · John: give Hank some thoughts from Davos in next week's video (January 2016) — John gives Hank his thoughts from Davos: the town, its elitism, what he learned, and the question of whether people make history. (00:02:47)
• restate · Is history inevitable, or made by choices? — John says he believes human progress is possible even if it isn't inevitable, having faced at Davos the question of whether people make history or history makes people. (00:02:59)
• restate · Is it reasonable to be hopeful about the future? — John says he remains convinced of and deeply moved by the radical hope that has defined so much human effort. (00:03:03)
• restate · Is extreme wealth, and the tax system that protects it, a problem? — John names income inequality first among the big problems he left Davos thinking about, after learning there about the perils of economic inequality. (00:03:22)
• promised · John: look at the big problems from Davos (income inequality, climate change, refugees, gender inequality and poverty) in coming weeks (2016) — John commits to looking, in the coming weeks, at problems he left Davos thinking about: income inequality, climate change, the refugee crisis and how gender inequality affects poverty. (00:03:22)
• asked · John asks Nerdfighters to suggest other global challenges for the brothers to discuss (2016) — John asks Nerdfighters to say in the comments which other global human challenges they would like discussed. (00:03:31)

Where the stories that moved here went next

• John: look at the big problems from Davos (income inequality, climate change, refugees, gender inequality and poverty) in coming weeks (2016) — open (no report in 2016–2026); last: promised, 2016-01-26
• John: give Hank some thoughts from Davos in next week's video (January 2016) — kept
• John attends the World Economic Forum in Davos (January 2016) — followed over 3 videos (2016); last: update, 2016-01-29

Mentioned

Central: Davos · historical determinism · hope · progress · World Economic Forum

Also: People: Karam Husain · Nawaz Sharif · Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy

Works: A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness · Behind the Beautiful Forevers

Organizations: Accenture · Bank of America · European Union · Microsoft · Salesforce · Save the Children · UNHCR

Concepts: climate change · economic inequality · extreme poverty · gender inequality · honor killing · refugee · virtual reality

Places: Annawadi · India · Indianapolis · Kazakhstan · Mexico · Mumbai · Pakistan

Events: Academy Awards

Policies: Sustainable Development Goals

Only in the description or credits: Clouds Over Sidra · Katherine Boo

Also centred on Davos: The Looking for Alaska Movie, Davos, and Hufflepuff Shade: It's Question Tuesday

Also centred on historical determinism: History Is Happening · This Is Not Normal

Also centred on World Economic Forum: The Looking for Alaska Movie, Davos, and Hufflepuff Shade: It's Question Tuesday

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