Murray Grimwood shines a light on what academics discuss among themselves when thinking about the global future. He reduxes some key presentations from a 2023 Stockholm conference you should watch

By Murray Grimwood*

These links come from one coming-together, of some of the best looking-ahead brains on the planet. The coming-together was Stockholm Impact/Week 2023.

The overarching theme is ‘The Metacrisis’; most of these are lecture-length, but they reward in content per time taken, and render obsolete hours of (endless?) small-talk, so I’d argue that (for some) they will be an overall time-saving.

The smartest in intellectual terms is Daniel Schmachtenberger, but I’m going to start with Hagens because his overview is clean and easy to grasp – particularly for those who are beginning this thought-path journey.

1 - Nate Hagens

Nate is an ex-investment banker (10 years on Wall St; a VP at one of the majors). He had an epiphany; went back to university; adding to his finance degree (with honours, University of Chicago) with a Ph.D. in natural resources from the University of Vermont. Nowadays he runs The Great Simplification; more than 100 meaty interviews and a lot of useful content.

2 - Now we’re primed for Daniel Schmachtenberger

Put on your thinking-caps. He takes the basic Hagens premise (he is one of Hagens’ interviewees; a fascinating exchange in itself) and asks Kant-level philosophical questions. I found myself thinking of those who seem to need to believe in something, because they have hung their mana upon it. Comparison and relative importance of topics is also covered.

3 - Olivia Lazard

Olivia Lazard I had not come across before. She has a BA in International Development and Middle East Studies from McGill University; an MA (Sécurité International, Sciences Po Paris) and an MSc in International Political Economy from the London School of Economics.

She does a good job of articulating our Catch-22 dilemma. I couldn’t help thinking of Shane Jones’ Neanderthal comment re ‘goodbye Freddie’ – and the dearth of real journalism following it (how many NZ journalists have asked the questions that this link throws up, compared to how many peddling the mainstream growth mantra? I disagree with her comment that rejection of mining applications should be ‘compensated’; in my opinion that demonstrates a cognitive disconnect in terms of money/energy/resources; compensated with what? That aside, “System change actors” is perhaps her key takeaway.

4 - Kate Raworth

Raworth is next. She came to NZ for writer’s week and famously clashed with Arthur Grimes here.

Several cities around the world, including in NZ, are attempting to apply her Doughnut to their existing structures. I think they will fail; I think they will reject. That is because their primary goal is economic GROWTH, with which the Doughnut is incompatible. I also question her optimism; overshoot is here, now. But her comments re regeneration and recirculation and demand reduction, are right on the money. She is probably aware that the ship won’t be turned around in time, but that it is worth the shot.

5 - Lisen Schultz

This is largely the kind of dime-a-dozen comment we’ve had from earnest environmental types (think: Forest and Bird) for a long time, but you can tell from her final comments (that redirecting investment is not enough, that the system has to be altered) that she is likely straddling the Overton Window in terms of audience.

6 - And the bonus

... perhaps the most encouraging of the lot:

Here Nate Hagens provides an empathetic platform for three impressive young examples of humanity. The first minute sets the scene. Interesting to note is the lack of intergenerational angst: “we’re all in this together”, and the ability of all three to think holistically; mention feed-back loops, and none of them would miss a beat. If something is to be constructed beyond the demise of unsustainability – the regime we are currently running – this echelon of 'youngsters' is perhaps our children’s children’s best hope.

If I had to pick two, 1 and 6 are the perhaps the gems; and the first 11 minutes of No6 is the standout of the lot.

*Murray Grimwood comments on interest.co.nz as powerdownkiwi.