If a chimpanzee ventures into the territory of a different group, it will almost certainly be killed. But a New Yorker can fly to Los Angeles–or Borneo–with very little fear. Psychologists have done little to explain this: for years, they have held that our biology puts a hard upper limit–about 150 people–on the size of … Continue reading The Human Swarm: How Our Societies Arise, Thrive, and Fall by Mark W. Moffett (2019)
Our society is dangerously polarised. We don’t listen to each other. Too many of us are separating into ideological tribes. This has to stop. The future of our democracy depends on it. This is what the Munk Debates is all about. Opening minds to different points of view. Challenging groupthink. Debating controversial issues with rigour … Continue reading Our Society Is Dangerously Polarised Munk Debates
A real society comprises hundreds of millions of social beings, each with a trillion-synapse brain, who pursue their well-being while affecting the well-being of others in complex networks with massive positive and negative externalities, many of them historically unprecedented. It is bound to defy any simple narrative of what will happen under a given set … Continue reading A Rational Approach to Politics Is to Treat Societies as Ongoing Experiments Steven Pinker
Gurteen Knowledge Blog May 21, 2023, 14:56In this video, Irshad Manji highlights the importance of harnessing diversity to unite society. She shares five critical skills for constructive conversations: deep breathing for rational thinking finding common ground genuinely exploring others’ perspectives active listening to learn encouraging further dialogue She proposes that adopting these skills fosters healthier outcomes … Continue reading The Importance of Harnessing Diversity to Unite Society Five critical skills for constructive conversations
Gurteen Knowledge Blog December 2, 2020, 14:51I caught this first Reith Lecture of 2020 From Moral to Market Sentiments by Mark Carney (former Bank of England governor) on Radio 4 this morning, where he reflects that whenever he could step back from what felt like daily crisis management, the same deeper issues loomed. What is value? … Continue reading From Moral to Market Sentiments by Mark Carney Reith Lectures 2020 – How We Get What We Value
For both the rich and the poor, life is dominated by an ever-growing current of problems, most of which seem to have no real and lasting solution. Clearly, we have not touched the deeper causes of our troubles. It is the main point of this book that the ultimate source of all these problems is in … Continue reading We Have Not Touched the Deeper Causes of Our Troubles David Bohm
In the book, Liars and Outliers, Bruce Schneier examines the role of trust in enabling healthy, functioning societies. Schneier argues that some level of trust is essential for large-scale social coordination and cooperation. Without trust, societies cannot thrive, and individuals are forced to avoid interactions or spend heavily on protection from abuse and cheating. The … Continue reading Liars and Outliers: Enabling the Trust That Society Needs to Thrive by Bruce Schneier (2012)
Gurteen Knowledge Blog February 24, 2021, 17:25Introduction I want to look at Knowledge Management’s future, but a warning — it may not be what you expect. In the last few years, my work’s focus has turned towards the big picture of the evolution of human knowledge and how we need to think differently to tackle the … Continue reading Reflections on the Future of Knowledge Management Societal Knowledge Management
Description This is an article on Societal Knowledge Management that looks at the future of Knowledge Management. I wrote it for the Henley Forum and it was published in May 2021. It draws on and is linked to much of the material in this blook. Author David Gurteen Article > Posts that link to this … Continue reading Societal Knowledge Management David Gurteen (2021)
Gurteen Knowledge Blog May 7, 2021, 14:09I recently wrote an article for the Henley Forum on what I call Societal Knowledge Management that takes a somewhat different perspective to many others on the future of Knowledge Management. Early in the article, I make the point that Knowledge Management did not start in 1991 or thereabouts. KM … Continue reading Societal Knowledge Management Reflections on the Future
Gurteen Knowledge Blog May 7, 2021, 15:34I recently came across a fascinating theory concerning the evolution of human reason known as “The Argumentative Theory of Human Reason”. However, I prefer to use the term “theory of social reasoning” or simply “social reasoning”. The theory proposes that the primary function of reason is not to improve our … Continue reading Social Reasoning The Argumentative Theory of Human Reason
Our public interactions have become more and more like having an argument with a spouse. Conflict can’t be avoided in our public lives any more than we can avoid conflict with people we love. One of the great strengths of our society is that we can express these conflicts openly. But just as spouses have … Continue reading Public Discourse Is Like Having a Fight Deborah Tannen
Gurteen Knowledge Blog March 7, 2022, 17:02We all care about our own well-being and the well-being of our family. It’s our prime purpose to look after ourselves and our loved ones. Most of us live our whole lives thinking mainly about ourselves, our careers, and our families. We may give to charity, do a little in … Continue reading We Have Two Purposes in Life A personal one and a societal one
Title: Conversational Leadership Café: Why is respect important in society? Date: Tuesday 26th April 2022 Time: 17:00 to 19:00 London time (Time in your timezone) The timing of this event is set to allow participants from EMEA and the Americas to join the Café, but wherever you are in the world, you are welcome to … Continue reading Event: Conversational Leadership Café: Why Is Respect Important in Society? Tuesday 26th April 2022 17:00 to 19:00 London time
As a society, we have come to a point where people too often treat one another as objects and opportunities, rather than as fellow human beings. Respecting one another as individuals, or not doing so, seriously impacts the future for all of us. Credit: Gail Pursell Elliott Quotations: Gail Pursell ElliottThe Importance of Respect … Continue reading The Importance of Respect in Society Gail Pursell Elliott
Gurteen Knowledge Blog October 2, 2022, 18:41I recently discovered Munk Debates and the Munk Debate website. They have some excellent debates, and I love their mission. Interestingly, they also have Munk Dialogues though I find them a little disappointing as they are not dialogues (conversations between equals) but soft interviews – in other words, the interviewer … Continue reading Munk Debates and Dialogues Excellent debates and dialogues
In this book, Deschooling Society, Ivan Illich, explains that schools have failed our individual needs, supporting false and misleading notions of progress and development fostered by the belief that ever-increasing production, consumption, and profit are proper yardsticks for measuring the quality of human life. Our universities have become recruiting centers for the personnel of the … Continue reading Deschooling Society by Ivan Illich (2000)
AustraliaAustriaBrazilCanadaChinaCzech RepublicEgyptFranceGermanyGlobalIndiaItalyJapanMexicoNetherlandsPolandSaudia ArabiaSingaporeSpainTurkeyUAEUnited KingdomUnited States As an Amazon Associate, I earn a small commission when you purchase a book via this site. > Tags: global society (21) | voice (4)Google Web Search Photo Credits: Midjourney (Public Domain)This page is part of a blook on Conversational Leadership. Parts of this book have restricted access. You can … Continue reading The De-voicing of Society: Why We Don’t Talk to Each Other Anymore by John L. Locke
To discredit someone means to cause them to lose people’s respect or trust. We acquire most of our knowledge by accepting the beliefs of those people or institutions we trust, so discrediting authority figures or institutions is one of the most effective, though immoral, ways of opposing an idea. In practicing Conversational Leadership, we should … Continue reading Discrediting People ** Cause them to lose the respect or trust of others
The wisdom of crowds is the concept that large groups of people are collectively smarter than individuals regarding problem-solving, decision-making, and predicting. However, the method can be improved with the wisdom of crowds of crowds. In the concept of the wisdom of crowds, individuals in a group are privately asked to answer a question, such … Continue reading Wisdom of Crowds of Crowds Crowds within a crowd outperform ‘wisdom of the crowd’
