Alex Soojun-Kim Pang points out an interesting thought from Black Swan author and former IF speaker Nassim Nicholas Taleb, who says that
[L]iving organisms (whether the human body or the economy) need variability and randomness. What's more, they need the Extremistan type of variability, certain extreme stressors. Otherwise they become fragile.
Taleb's description of "Extremistan" can be found in this live-blogged account (and here) of his presentation at the 2008 IdeaFestival. The suggestion that we change in tandem with our environment is of course nothing new. But I immediately thought of an important corollary when it comes to our minds: use them or lose them. The future belongs to those exposed to the "variability of ideas," who can take that information, whether it be from the arts, business or sciences, and build new things and imagine different outcomes. The future can't, of course, be predicted, but the festival is a celebration of the nimble thinking that makes the best of it.
"Otherwise we become fragile."
Information about the unbelievable line up of IdeaFestival presenters for 2010 is coming soon. Please stick around!
Wayne
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