TheThinkingTank

Peace debate 16 Dec 2010

2010-12-07T02:25:00.000-08:00

A far from peaceful debate, though with slightly more convergence around barriers to peace than we saw regarding desirability or actions for peace.

There were clearly different schools of thought - the peaceniks and the economists for one.

The most strongly supported statements throughout the discussion was about the challenge of peace (less appealing than polarity):

It brings focus to be against something. A sense of unity. Easier to agree on what we hate than what we love

Building on the earlier statement:

Polarity give us a feeling of safety or of "righteousness" it is clearer to see what one's stands for.

Guest participants
As a new feature we had "guest" participants - relevant quotes from a range of well known people. Not all of them went down well, but top performers were

"When you find peace within yourself, you become the kind of person who can live at peace with others." Peace Pilgrim
"Without conflict, there is no progress or change." Marx
“As I have said, the first thing is to be honest with yourself. You can never have an impact on society if you have not changed yourself... Great peacemakers are all people of integrity, of honesty, but humility.” Nelson Mandela
“If you wish to experience peace, provide peace for another.” Dalai Lama

And these views were reflected in our conclusions at the end of the debate:

more than ever we need leaders who are able to move the crowd in an ethical way
funny he we talk about world peace and yet our own peace over Xmas is a challenge :)
I like the comment that peace requires "material and cultural equilibrium" bit this may be the start of a possible solution!

Barriers to peace - religion, poverty and ignorance

Before we got there though, we considered why peace is so elusive - what gets in our way?

Religion was an early suspect: Or power struggles USE religious beliefs to generate loyalty
And poverty: how can you feel peace in your heart when you are hungry every day
Lack of guidance: Who teaches children about peace? parents, schoolteachers, priests, etc: - not many of them
And greed: We don't want to be equal, we are greedy to be better off than average. So we encroach on each other

Personal actions

As usual, at the end of the debate we considered the actions we could take personally. In the course of the discussion, some developed an appetite for peace action:

There is still time to do something for peace in 2010! 15 more days!
Support charities working for peace!
In the home / workplace / community / traffic jam I might try to notice when I'm taking a polarity position instead of a wholeness one
make peace with one of my enemies
I am buying peace as my xmas presents

Click here to join the next discussion Jan 20th 4pm Home and Homelessness

NOTE: Any comment in italics is verbatim from one of our participants and attracted support from others. Those in bold are supported by the majority

Thurs Nov 18th: Freedom

2010-11-09T04:34:00.000-08:00

Do you feel free? What does it mean to you at a personal and global level? This was the question we debated in November's Thinking Tank. (All statements in italics are verbatim contributions, statements in bold had majority support)

The most agreed upon statement was

There are enough examples of very unfree countries & peoples.

So we did agree that there were undesirable restrictions on freedom

Not everyone who should be free is!
Freedom is unequally distributed

and some desirable restrictions?

I wouldn't like my kids to have total freedom
Not everybody can be trusted - political leaders prove this again and again

The unfree

Restrictions on freedom are concentrated into certain groups or areas

Poor and/or uneducated people are by definition not free at all though this was qualified by another participant: You can be poor yet free or unfree.
Europe is too free though this was also challenged How can anywhere be too free? and There are different types of not being free: in africa or south america you can have a dictator or totalitary system but in europe we don't have freedom of thinking anymore: media controls a lot!
in some countries in particular, people live under oppression and do not have any freedoms

Downsides of freedom

Achieving a freer world is not necessarily quick or easy. We cannot assume those without freedom (as we perceive it) will jump at it

The first time I let my chickens out of their cage they ran back into it. They were afraid of freedom. But now they run straight to the cage door in the morning so I can let them out. Freedom may not be immediately easy but we can learn to appreciate it

Choice and responsibility were key themes

Too many options and too many choices are the downside of more freedom
more responsibility and uncertainty
Freedom is also a bit of a responsibility. It is easier to stay on the railtrack than have every possible future to choose from!

And the answer?

Freedom needs to be sustained by values
Everybody who is committed to a common set of rules can be trusted with freedom
Freedom is not freedom to do all as you please !!

We considered how a freeer world would look

More countries would be ruled by a set of laws freely choosen by their people, ensuring more freedom
Leaders everywhere respect human rights, the freedom of speech
We feel free to take a stand and make even a small difference
We respect others, society, the rules, liberty doesn't mean to do anything you want
First teach what it is I am sure in some countries people would do worse if they were more free

What and Why do YOU dream?

2010-09-13T05:27:00.000-07:00

Einstein allegedly first encountered his theory of relativity in a dream. And interpreting dreams is gaining in popularity. What did we think? Hocus pocus or a brilliant resource?

Our discussion ranged across both types of dreams - the ones we have when we are asleep and our hopes and aspirations.

Dream Big

"Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it.
Impossible is not a fact. It's an opinion.
Impossible is not a declaration. It's a dare.
Impossible is potential.
Impossible is temporary.
Impossible is nothing."
— Muhammad Ali

Muhammad Ali did not take part in our discussion, but some of our comments were along similar lines.

If we stop dreaming we stop evolving
on aeroplanes, all that clear blue sky allows me to think differently and dream bigger
I'm a dreamer because it's a way for evasion and creation

However in general, there was much more diversity of view when it came to our "hopes and dreams" than when we discussed the value of dreaming while asleep.

Sweet dreams
On the value of our dreams while we sleep, of the 20 Floating Thoughts (those of the 145 statements made that achieved support in this Thinking Tank) the strongest was

a place to see what it would be like to live quantum mechanics where time and space are inconsequential
dreaming I like: moments of drifting and solving problems in an unexpected way
I learned from an old boss to write down problems .. so they are on the night-time subconscious thinking list
keeping my mind at peace
there is no limit to possibilities

We talked a little about lucid dreams, though not everybody was familiar with the concept ("in simplest terms, a dream in which one is aware that one is dreaming. Lucid dreaming has been researched scientifically, and its existence is well established")

And we had some observations about times when dreams feel less helpful, alerting us to our anxieties

there is the dreaming I do not like which is the production of long lists of issues to manage the next day
I hate it when I think I'm coping well then have a stress-filled dream of bureaucracy and missed trains
people think you are not working (dreaming is not always recognised as valuable)

June results: Is it a beautiful game?

2010-06-25T03:53:00.000-07:00

The debate was certainly split into two teams - those who felt soccer was a corrupt, money obsessed, scandal ridden waste of time and those who had experience of community soccer giving benefits and opportunities to everyone, no matter their background.

Half the group said they hated soccer or found it boring and a further 17% were neutral. Only a third enjoyed it.

The highest level of agreement was about how to make soccer more useful in society with the top statement (getting 100% support)

have a % that professional teams have to donate to community sport charities

The most significant problem according to the Thinking Tank is

the enormous amount of money involved: there is room for bribing, for buying and selling players at astronomical figures

And the greatest benefit:

It can teach young people about teamwork, about awareness, about winning and losing

May results: and all that jazz

2010-05-22T08:06:00.000-07:00

In this month’s debate we considered the role and value of music at a personal, community and global level. We had higher than usual convergence on this topic with lots of statements achieving 80-100% support. Some of these are included below.

The strongest level of agreement was at a personal level:
"music helps me to warm up moments of joy, allows me to dance... and once in a while to start dreaming, thinking..."

We also shared views on the impact music can have on a group
As a mood shaper...

My feeling is that it can create a collective sense, a collective feeling, a sense of connection with others, & a range of emotions
... at a subtle level
it works on a more subconscious level than speech - on a more emotive level
for general and specific good
Many studies have been done on using music to help autistic patients and also those with Alzheimers
We've become so 'addicted' to information (esp written) that maybe we've forgotten the power of music to connect?

Feel the power
The discussion served as a useful reminder to us all about how we can incorporate music into our lives
This debate made me thing of the power of music and that I should use it more often
I have been inspired to seek out music I used to love not just rely on the radio

We concurred on the need for music to be used more widely, especially live music for its powerful potential to affect the people who hear it
Many musicians are taking their music to places that normally don't see live musicians
some songs lyrics do influence the world.
Reminding us of connection, diversity, leraning more about other cultures through music, maybe its a more universal communications process than language
In multicultural communities, sharing traditional music and learning from each other could be a great way to develop appreciation / understanding of other ways of life

April 2010: voting with hand on heart? Values in politics

2010-04-21T07:24:00.000-07:00

As election fever sweeps the UK, we considered the role of VALUES for politicians. Do they have any? What should they be? Are they more important than the leaders' wives' shoes?

Top 3 most strongly supported statements
Need: to acknowledge that people are human and follow their self-interest, so mechanisms need to be put into place to hold politicians accountable.
Need: start recruiting the right people into politics, looking ,ore into schools etc and changing it at the grass roots
Need: consistency - politicians standing up for what they say and behaving accordingly

The value of values
There was widespread consensus that values are critically important as a guiding light. 90% voted them as having considerable influence in their voting decisions.
Values drive behaviour and give a good indication of longer term actions vs short term ones
let's say the vast majority of politicians believe in social progress...what is the problem why do they cave in on their values and why do they lose their moral compass?

Top values we want from our political parties
100% of the group voted in favour of integrity, connectedness, transparency, wisdom and vision
Runners up (>70% support) were courage, responsibility, reform, listening, decisiveness, innovation, ambition and charisma.
In our poll when participants were forced to choose only one "most important" value, connectedness and courage took over 60% of the votes between them.

Making it happen
There was a shared concern about menu driven political campaigns: There is a risk that polls drive values and every party just reiterates the right buzz words without really espousing them as VALUES

We considered how to impact on politics - can we encourage out politicians to live by these values?
We can make it clear that we need them to be like this
We need to take more responsibility for the country we want to live in. we need to care about each other and to help each other - we need to lead locally in order to get leaders nationally
We could each write to our politicians saying we had a debate and this was the conclusion and can they demonstrate how they stack up against this criteria to earn our vote.

For the full list of synthetrons email us

Next debate "And all that jazz" 4pm (UK time) May 20th. Has music ever stirred your soul or made your heart beat faster? Does it encourage creativity in the workplace or is it just a distraction? Are we making full use of music beyond the obvious domain of the performance space or i-pod? What can we all learn from musicians to be better citizens / entrepreneurs / teams / ... ?

Democracy - Down and Dirty. Results

2010-03-15T10:27:00.000-07:00

Results from our debate on Thursday 18th Mar.

We debated the issue of democracy and how to bring it closer to the people. The most strongly supported statements are shown below (all bullets are verbatim statements which achieved at least 70% support from the group)

IMPROVING DEMOCRACY

it would be an improvement if rulers stay in touch with citizens at all times
[politicians need] direct connection with citizens and their wishes
There should be large-scale online discussions on every important topic. Politicians and experts would have to discuss the results in open debates.
the principle is worth preserving, but how it works in practice should be improved
Give citizen points for engagement. Encourage participation at all levels

VALUE OF DEMOCRACY

freedom to choose our rulers
it means to me to be able to influence how the country is run
democracy guarantees human rights in a way that other political systems do not

APPETITE FOR INTERACTIVE DEMOCRACY
On average the group were prepared to vote monthly on issues. Here are some of their reasons

depends an careful selection of issues only important ones
I'd be much more interested in voting on issues than for political parties, none of whom wholly represent my views
more direct influence in decision and policy making

This word picture shows the recurring words - the size is an indication of how much they were mentioned / supported.

Vote with your feet (and your fingers) make a valid contribution by joining our next live social brainstorm on Thurs 15th April. More details comong soon.

RESULTS: Social Trust

2010-03-09T09:51:00.000-08:00

Our debate was triggered by David Halpern's talk given at the RSA in February 2010 drawing from his recent book "The Hidden Wealth of Nations". We considered social capital / social trust - it's role in our world and ways we might enhance it.
It was interesting to note that
1. This is not an easy or familiar topic for discussion
2. The debate became more animated and drew more consensus when discussing specific actions than theories.
3. Statements in italics are extracted from David's book and were used to stimulate the debate - they still received (or not) support levels)
The debate covered 3 main questions and these are the more supported statements that were made (in order, strongest first under each question):
1. Our own levels of social trust
I haven’t encountered the concept of “social trust” before – can we have a definition please?
The economic value of all the time we spend supporting our friends and family is worth more than GDP
I think social trust is one of the things that helps build social capital
2. The benefits of social trust
Feeling good IS a benefit
Being 'looked after' when things happen - losing a key, having a flat tyre, people giving back loans
3. Increasing social trust
I give a certain number of hours of citizen service...
I think that internet discussion groups, perhaps composed of people living in local communities, can help build community, and building community means increasing trust.
Reciprocity in social care...
The state delivering plants and tools to groups of citizens to maintain their public spaces
Local referenda triggered by deliberative forums of small random samples of citizens

For a sense of what else came up see our wordcloud

Trust you! (or do we??)

2008-11-12T07:48:00.000-08:00

We trust people, not institutions and we prefer gangs to bankers.

In November’s Thinking Tank we tackled the topical issue of trust – how it gets built and what breaks it. Compared to other debates there was more disagreement – but that tended to be with statements recommending a deeply sceptical approach to life.

Personal vs institutional

Most of the change has been in the way we relate to institutions with unanimous support for the comment:

· I think before it was blind trust - now our eyes are open we realise it is foolhardy to trust most institutions.

In the poll questions, we saw that about 70% of us are less trusting of institutions than we were ten years ago - compared to only 30% who trust individual people less than before. And out of the institutions we considered (banks, corporates, politicians, gangs) the banks were seen as the least trustworthy:

· They can change strategy without reference to anyone and are not democratic

A positive choice

To force the issue, we considered which we choose if we had to: trust everyone or trust no-one. By far the majority view is that it is better to operate from a trust default than a mistrust one.

· Everyone: we need to take some personal risks if we are to grow, it might be cosy in the comfort zone but its pretty pointless

· Everyone otherwise life would be unbearable

· Everyone: I find when you give trust, you very often get it back

Breaking promises…

Trust is surprisingly easy to break – 80% of us only allow need to be let down once or twice to lose faith, though it depends a bit on the context

· if someone is holding the rope when you're rock climbing, once is enough. But generally I think people make mistakes and some tolerance is ok too

And dishonesty seems to be the main cause:

· Double speak - I'd rather hear the tough stuff straight than be belittled with some cover story

· not being open

Though the media also get some blame for spreading fear:

· People who read the Daily Mail (or similar fear filled newspaper in another country) are constantly reminded of how dangerous everybody is OUT THERE

… and building bridges

The issue of how to know when to trust someone had the highest level of consensus in the debate, part of the human condition, and very similar to the ways we would have trusted people in the past.

· That they do what they say - or explain honestly why they didn't (not stupid excuses)

· that they can look me in the eye when they explain what is going to happen - even if it's bad news

And there were some ideas about building trust

· I wish we had a system on everybody's forehead that gave us that same feedback info like e-bay!

· [tomorrow I will] notice when I'm being less than completely honest / open and consider the impact on the other person

Young people - trick or treat?

2008-10-07T10:55:00.000-07:00

A fascinating debate that was surprisingly positive about young people. Comments were made around their different world and different outlook—but in terms of what older generations could learn and the need for support and understanding as they grow up in a complex 21st century world.

· there will always be change and youth will always destroy the sacred cows of earlier generations - as they always have

· They are probably more creative than ever, and their creativity takes a lot of new and unexpected forms. This can cause problems for older generations and be perceived as negative - so what we need to do is to enable this energy to be channelled in positive ways

· Stop talking about young people as "problems" and talk instead about the opportunities

· I think we need to be more proud of young people and challenge the imbalance of negative media about them

Education provides some of the answers

· advice: make schools more fun to go to

· advice: support and develop teachers

Introduce more active positive communication to keep the connection and increase mutual understanding

And fix some things

· Create much more opportunity to explore different kinds of creativity—based on their interests

· Have plenty of outdoor activities and open social spaces for young people aged 11-15. Better habits at this age will lead to better habits at 16+

· Develop wide social skills (communication, tolerance, friendship, caring, listening...) that is the glue for tomorrow

· Treat youth crime as just that—rather than let it leak into youth lifestyle—deal with the issues of crime and violence

· Show that lots of our young people are still lucky compared to many others. Let them feel responsible for their luck to have the opportunity and then support them in taking it

Role models and inter-generational relationships seen as crucial

· Offer positive role models

· Teach by example that people matter

· More contact and respectful relationship with adults outside the family

· More opportunities for young people to get away from their normal environment and mix with people from different cultures

· strong role modelling eg one excellent teacher/relation will influence them enormously

· So we need to have the courage to step up and BE that role model from time to time

· Advise, support and develop parents

Download full list of statements

Greed is Good (Sep 08)

2008-09-07T10:28:00.000-07:00

We had a lively and stimulating debate which seemed to be at its best when we were on more philosophical ground. From an initial position where we were sitting on the fence over the assertion “Greed is Good” we came to a conclusion that there is “good greed” (drive for change) and “bad greed” (self serving to the detriment of others). On the whole, there was more support for the positive aspects of greed (60%) than the negative (40%). However extremely pro-greed statements such as “Greed is nearly always good… It's only the losers who don't like it.” were opposed by the group.

Many in the group thought there was scope for more self-awareness “I want to make more good greed decisions” and the two most supported statements throughout the discussion were about intentions to broaden the debate:

Tomorrow I’m going to talk to my children about this

Tomorrow I’m going to reflect where can make a real positive difference outside of normal environment

Below are listed all those statements that the majority of the group agreed on.

The paradox of greed

· So hey we define greed negatively but reckon it has some positive force… funny

· Good for one can be bad for another

· Maybe we need to separate harmless greed from mindless greed

· Maybe we feel guilty about our own greed

· Very convenient to make greed a sin. It was a form of social control - the people with power and influence didn't want the rest trying to get it.

Good greed

The main themes were greed as a desire for more – driving progress

· I think greed, and ambition which is a form of greed, are fundamental human drivers

Greed can be good when it’s…

· a force for advancement

· acts an impetus for change. "I want more out of life". It got us out of the cave

· respects the limits of the other

· a desire to create positive change

· energy for change, but needs to be balanced with caring about the rest of society

· generates optimism

Bad greed

Many comments focused on unfair distribution being a consequence of “bad” greed.

· I feel greed can also be used as a bad thing and drive people to do things that they would never normally do.

Greed can be bad when it makes people…

· sacrifice interpersonal relationships to get what you want

· leads to jealousy, has to do with the scarcity

· overcapacity: getting more than you need;

· wanting things just for the sake of it

So what can we do?

· look at where my own "greed" might be good greed or bad greed

· talk to my children about this

· be very aware of what I’m buying and what things I crave because someone else has them, make more influenced choices on my everyday life and ask my self is this good greed or bad. Try to ensure I make more good greed choices

· differentiate between greed and need

The Wisdom of the Crowd (Aug 08)

2008-08-05T10:24:00.000-07:00

What is wisdom for you?

· Wisdom is a combination of insight, experience, underpinned by transparent values

· Intuitively doing the right thing without considering personal interest

· Sometimes it means being brave about the truth

· There are some wise people but not always in positions of power so wisdom gets wasted

Examples of a gap between the wise solutions and the ones that get implemented

· The widespread belief that we are victims of our communities instead of potential leaders / initiators / bridge builders

· The USA legal system with success fees for lawyers

Techniques that harness the wisdom of the crowd

· Listening and trying to understand where they come from by asking questions and encouraging others to speak up

· Participating in local associations - as long as the association is designed to have open access, and not to create barriers of inclusions/exclusion

What are the personal benefits we get from a good debate?

· Helps clarify my own ideas by explaining them and considering new input

· Gives me a better perspective - sometimes you can get in a rut with your thinking

· Makes me think (again)

What works in debating?

· A wide mix of experience and viewpoints, but where individuals aren't just on their own soapbox

· Show respect

· Open minds, willingness to change

· A diverse audience

… and what goes wrong?

· A lot of the failure stems from uneven power structures. Paying lip service to public consultation (or employees views) but having no intention of acting on it

· Rhetoric and defensiveness

· Hidden agendas

· When you know it's just a talking shop to pretend to ask for input

· Boring, lots of words without meaning

· Too much talking and not enough listening

What will we do differently tomorrow? (impact of the debate)

· Tell a couple of friends about this regular event - the more of us who are involved, the wiser we can be

· Remember to listen with an open mind, you never know when someone is going to make a useful contribution

· I’ll ask some people the same question tomorrow