“Strengthen the female mind by enlarging it, and there will be an end to blind obedience.“ Active in the late 1700s, Mary Wollstonecraft is considered one of the founding feminist philosophers. It’s been around as long as women, so what do we need feminism to do today? Or is it simply past its sell-by date?
Join us online, 4pm UK time, Apr 12 and let’s see how we think about feminism in 2012. Meanwhile tweet your views #tttfeminism
Here are a few points of view to get you thinking
@BillyBragg on physical equality: Anyone who believes that equality has been achieved and feminism no longer matters should listen to the women at #ididnotreport
@Pimpleye: I’m glad such a thing as feminism exists, it gives women something to occupy themselves with whilst the men do important stuff.
@Platform51: Our Woman of the Week is Fawzia Koofi, brave champion of feminism in Afghanistan.
@thenatfantastic: if you think you’re being ‘held back by feminism‘, chances are you are actually being held back by gross stupidity.
There is no shortage of strongly held views for and against, by both men and women. What are you thinking on this subject these days? Still work to be done? Time for a strategic repositioning? Wither feminism in 2012?
Join us online, 4pm UK time, Apr 12 and let’s see how we think
Now it turns out the crock of gold at the rainbow wasn’t quite what we expected, there is much debate about where we go from here.
Click here to join our next debate on Mar 1. 4pm (UK time)
Let’s say we consider deBono’s approach of zero budget thinking. If nothing was already decided, what would we want our socio-economic model to look like?
That’s too big a question, so let’s reframe it.
What does the new capitalism have to do for me? What do you want from it?
Bill Gates says Creative Capitalism is the answer… more here
This RSAnimate video might also help get us started…
On Jan 26 we paused for thought to consider our relationship with time. We were joined by Old Father Time who posed some challenging questions. Quotes below got majority support from the group. Those in bold were top 10 statements. Read the full list here Thinking Tank Time or read the summary below
Short of time?
Many of us were aware of a time squeeze.
- chasing my tail trying to get what has to get done today done – thinking about this afternoon as opposed to time in the context of broader lifespan
While others seemed to have more of a balance
- Time is like a rhythm. I am invigorated by sometimes racing through tasks and doing a lot, other times by sitting in silence watching the water. I like the changes in pace
- I love wasting time once in a while.. just hang out, drink a glass, watch a stupid film on tv.. It gives me peace
So we had some advice on making better use of time
- I try to make sure there’s some time-freedom in amongst a usually time-bound week
- Those with life threatening illnesses talk positively about their better relationship with time and making good use of it
How much time do you want?
Old Father Time offered us a hypothetical choice of how long we wanted the rest of our life to last for. Choices varied from 10 to 1000 years but the majority plumped for about a century.Aside from wanting to be healthy during this time there were only two strongly shared views on the reason for wanting more time:
- [I would spend it ] enjoying it and giving it sense
- Time to have several lives /careers
Time for a change?
In closing we considered any learnings from the discussion. There was certainly more consideration of time, and an intention to be more conscious.
- I think we are not enough in touch with time, the present. How could it be is we feel we are chasing all the time, needing to prioritise constantly. A greater connection with the moment should educate us to have a better relationship with time.
- [we can consider] high value uses of time and low value uses of time … looked at and determined by contribution, progress, impact on quality of life
Click here to join our next debate on Feb 23. 4pm (UK time) where we will be discussing the future of capitalism. Bring your bonus, your politics, your resentments and your ideas!
In the December 2011 Thinking Tank we considered rituals and their role in modern society. Some of the discussion focused on Christmas preparations but we also considered marriage, funerals and other rituals. There was some dissent over what was a ritual and what was just a habit, but in general a triumph of personal meaning over social conformity. Just over 100 ideas were proposed and considered by the group. Here is a summary of what was shared
Espresso Summary: Top 5 (the most supported comments)
- You don’t need “official” rituals to have rituals of your own – different and at different periods of the year
- Rituals are fine as long as they can be somewhat “tempered” otherwise they could be quite boring
- Christmas feels like a big task. Not just the work involved (wrapping presents, preparing food etc) but also the ritualistic ways people behave at this time of year
- Christmas is too commercial
- Rituals don’t work when they too superficial – no time and no space to really pay attention to people
Latte Summary: when you have a bit more time
ROLE OF RITUALS
General view is that they can – and should – be personalised to increase their meaning
- You don’t need “official” rituals to have rituals of your own – different and at different periods of the year
- Rituals are fine as long as they can be somewhat “tempered” otherwise they could be quite boring
- Some of the old rituals appears as not mine, others are new and very welcome
There were less supported comments about the specifics of Christmas preparations – carols and family and gifts and food.
BENEFITS
Benefits of rituals were contemplative: a time for reflection, pause for thought. rather than anything to do with pomp and circumstance.
- The positive side is that it creates space for family time, that it creates moments in the family history
- Is almost a way to learn myself better, getting a deeper insight into myself
- My marriage: although I don’t believe in God, I enjoyed the ritual.
- a time to share
Opinion was divided on more mundane rituals – these comments became Synthetrons but also attracted negative scoring.
- arriving home. Not just shuffling in and getting straight into the jobs but taking a moment to arrive, greet each other, be present
- Having a cold shower after a family struggle – you are immediately nourished by fresh energy
- The checkin and checkout of meetings: To get a sense of the feelings that are in the room, to see the development of the meeting, to get a closer feeling to what happens
HAZARDS
There are potential downsides to rituals that the group were aware of, mostly around coercion and falseness:
- when a ritual is felt more as a constraint rather than an event to look forward to
- When the ritual itself becomes more important than its original intention
- When everyone pretends
The group agreed on some strategies to avoid these risks
- rituals must be considered as occasions – not obligations
- Distinguish between personal rituals and traditional rituals. Maybe knowing our own reason for participating makes a difference too. It’s not the ritual that has meaning in itself, it is we who choose to bring it meaning (or just go through the emotions)
IDEAL CHARACTERISTICS OF A RITUAL
Ah. Let’s hope that we can all remember these wise words in our hearts during the Christmas and other seasonal festivities
- a ritual that encourages me to think of the rhythm of life, the tides, the seasons, the births and deaths. Get a sense of perspective and stop obsessing about my own trivia
- a ritual that encourages us to look within hearts and also at our global connectedness
- A trueness-ritual … perhaps … like this: If I was born in Ohio, now i would be this, if i was born in Kabul, now i would be this, if I was born in ….
- A ritual that includes time for deep reflection in a safe environment
- pause to think about the meaning of what we do
- It’s not about the stuff – or the stuffing! It’s about the meaning. I can choose for it to be meaningful or I can choose for it to be a chore. Right now I am hoping to have the presence of mind to choose meaningful.
- Relax, be authentic, thoughtful of others
Full Summary
Click on this pdf file to see all the comments 1112 Rituals full report
In June of this year one blog made this summary “Forty years and $1 trillion later, America’s “War on Drugs” remains a costly, colossal failure – as evidenced by a new report released this week by the Global Commission on Drug Policy.”
Click here to join the debate at 4pm UK time, Thurs Nov 24
One Thinking Tanker has commented
“The war on drugs not only is a total failure, it makes the problem much worse.
It creates much more and much bigger problems than it is trying to resolve, because it starts form a totally wrong premise: for purely ideological reasons, it totally irrationally defines a difficult medical problem as a criminal one.”
Click here to join the debate at 4pm UK time, Thurs Nov 24
Start the debate now by tweeting with #thinkingtank
Stimulus
- Yesterday’s article in the NY Times ““It could lead to a nationalist backlash in the countries involved,””
- Huffington Post: Is legalisation the answer?
- RSA Drugs – is it always abuse?
Click here to join the debate at 4pm UK time, Thurs Nov 17
Future Thinking Tank Discussions
(always Thursdays, always 4pm UK / 5pm Euro / 11am US East Coast…). Topics may change if there is a more pressing issue at the time. Please feel free to make suggestions by adding a comment below
- 22 Dec (Winter Solstice): Rituals and their role in modern society. As you prepare for Christmas, Hannukah, recover from Eid or plan your own rites, we take a break to reflect on why rituals are so important to us and how they might help even a post-modernist society.
- New Year (Jan 26). Stopping and Starting. What will you leave behind with 2011, what will you work on in 2012?
- Feb 23: The F-word. Over a century after New Zealand gave all women the right to vote and nearly 50 years after the US Equal Pay Act the situation is still far from balanced. 70% of the world’s poor are women and girls and the gender pay gap still exists. Where do we go from here?
Posted in Debates, Economics, Society
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Tagged criminality, drugs, equality, ideology, new york times, rituals, RSA, war on drugs, wealth
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As the euro wobbles and personal and national debts mount around the world, we took a 
moment approaching Diwali to debate prosperity. Which involved into a debate around prosperity and scarcity – the yin and yang of creativity and progress according to the group.
Here are some highlights of what they said (statements in italics are verbatim, those in bold were supported by at least 70%):
Prosperity is a broad concept
- My definition of prosperity is much broader than when I was in my 20s. The sun is shining, I am learning new things
Also mentioned: freedom,. education, family, sharing, mentors, work hard play hard. Seen by some as a privilege, a luxury for some people in some countries, not broadly available to all.
Prosperity is desirable and allows progress / evolution
Prosperity also comes with risks
- risk: smugness, complacency, stagnation
- Risk to forget about the less fortunate
Though a smaller group disagreed with this view
- At systemic level I disagree about complacency …. there is always a push from the bottom …. if you get complacent you stop growing …. others will ….
Prosperity and Scarcity
- Scarcity creates some urgency in solving problems. So a good driver. But I think it leads us to focus on the basics so no good for human evolution
- I like the occasional bit of scarcity eg a 2 hour power cut, a day when the shops are closed. It leaves me joyful when it is over
- Plenty of budget makes us unimaginative, plenty of time makes me lazy
- At the begining, need / scarcity motivates change, creativity …. then without a bit of prosperity you get stuck
Prosperity can be nurtured
The greatest levels of agreement were around ways to encourage properity
- Continue to give freedom to women
- Invest in clean and cheap energy (we are not there yet!)
- Teach prosperity in schools (an inclusive view of prosperity which includes social capital, beauty, creativity, caring as well as financial security)
- Continue to reduce trade barriers (e.g. CAP policy in Europe, fran subsidies in the US)
- Continue to try to remove dictators …. (e.g. good news today about Gaddafi!)
- Continue to educate all people
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- Nobody needs more than ten years living expenses. So increase your prosperity by sharing your wealth (or skills)
Next discussion
When do you lie? Does it matter? Is lying increasing or on the wane as transparency shifts our expectations but mobile phones and Second Life allow us to be who we want, when we want? Good for you? Bad for me?
CLICK HERE to join the discussion on Sep 29th
Stimulus:
CLICK HERE to join the discussion on Sep 29th
Future Thinking Tank Discussions
(always Thursdays, always 4pm UK / 5pm Euro / 11am US East Coast…). Topics may change if there is a more pressing issue at the time. Please feel free to make suggestions by adding a comment below
- 20 Oct: Prosperity. As we approach Diwali* let’s consider what prosperity means in the 21st century and how we can enjoy and spread it
- 24 Nov: tbc
- 22 Dec (Winter Solstice): Rituals and their role in modern society. As you prepare for Christmas, Hannukah, recover from Eid or plan your own rites, we take a break to reflect on why rituals are so important to us and how they might help even a post-modernist society.
- New Year (Jan ). Stopping and Starting. What will you leave behind with 2011, what will you work on in 2012?
* Diwali, the festival of light, is an important day for Hindu (awareness of inner light), Jain (equivalent of Easter when Lord Mahavira attained Nirvana) and Sikh (celebration of freedom) communities as well as the beginning of the Indian financial year
CLICK HERE to join the discussion on Sep 29th
ESPRESSO SUMMARY
Power corrupts: we must all be vigilant and selective.
- We need to get our information from different sources , always to balance and weigh whatever comes our way
Watchwords: Governance, ownership, checks and balances, avoid concentration of power
- In Latin America we also see a similar phenomenon with the media companies and their power
The clean up process: ugly but welcome
- Personally I thought that anyway so I am glad that it has been exposed like this. There are many honourable police officers but also systemic corruption that needs to be rooted out.
We are all part of the problem or part of the solution
- Good reminder that we all make many choices each day. Sometimes the choice is to do what’s convenient or to do what is right.. If we go with convenient we are each part of the problem.
FULL WORKS
Click on the pdf file to see the full list of synthetrons ordered by topic 1107 Murdoch Effect full report
Recent events in the UK have jeopardised Murdoch’s bid to control satellite TV. Relationships that have come to light between media, politicians and police have caused many questions to be asked. Click here to join us 4pm (UK time) July 21st.
In this month’s Thinking Tank we consider
- Are these cosy arrangements inevitable or should we fight to expose them?
- Does this decision signify a new era of transparency or is it just a one off?
Previous Thinking Tanks have often cited the media as the cause of the problem.
- Is this a moment of truth for their role in our lives?
- Or are they right when they blame consumers who buy the scandal and horror stories?
Don’t miss out. Have your say in this debate and let’s make the news for ourselves.
Click here to join us 4pm (UK time) July 21st.
