I felt like design—as the final dialogue and the core focus of the organization sponsoring the dialogues—should have been the capstone of the whole event. However, the dialogue was scattered, focusing primarily on whether or not beauty exists, and whether permanence or impermanence should be a focus of designers’ work. […]

BELIEF
This was a dialogue that I was very much looking forward to, but unfortunately I feel like it didn’t develop.  I was impressed with Dr. Pasternak for starting out by defending religious belief and stating his desire to see reconciliation between religion and science.  I felt that some of the discussion was underdeveloped though.  Dr. […]

I found Mr. Hughes’s comments to be the most relevant, not only to science but to human experience on the whole.  His statement on ignorance and humility are something that all of us need to hear and heed.  Science is good at telling us “how” but that only to a limited extent, and never “why” […]

I found Dr. Saquet’s comments to be very insightful.  His delineation between incremental innovation and transformational innovation was particularly relevant.  Innovation is a much kicked-about term that while popular and hip, is unfortunately largely not understood.  The idea of qualifying it is excellent in my opinion and it speaks to a larger strategic view of […]

Richard Addis started out by saying that politics is about leadership, but the discussion progressed to criticizing government and suggesting that politicians be “done away with.” I found this odd, for it considered with Mr. Addis’s first statement, it would seem he was saying do away with leaders. We need leader, now of […]

I think the most relevant comment I heard throughout the dialogue came early.  The question of doing more and being more creative with less was right on in my opinion.  I think that would not only address climate change, but a host of other issues as well.
One thing that was not addressed was the initial […]

Joined by Blaise Aguera y Arcas, Chris Lefteri, and Thom Mayne
Stephen: The man who invented the adhesive for post-it notes once said “If I knew what I was doing, it wouldn’t be research.”  We’re here to close the day by talking about design.  Tom, where do your ideas come from?
Tom: It’s part of our process, […]

Joined by Joann Fletcher and Charles Pasternak
Bigna:
Charles: Some say that religion is a delusion, maligned not benign.  I find that arrogant as well as rubbish.  I hope by the end of the hour to bridge the gap between religious belief and science.  The brain speaks to the rest of the body and the same types […]

Joined by David Orrell, Fotini Markopoulou, David Hughes
Robert: A lot of what you’ve heard about science isn’t true.  3 examples: the human genome project leading to genetic disorder cures (it hasn’t), the Sun being a rather ordinary star (it isn’t), the “big bang” theory (there are holes).  What attracted
David: Started working on particle accelerators, the […]

Joined by Alfons Sauquet
Lynda: Much of business has to do with how we want the world to be and what we want to do with it.  One of the biggest questions we face is what role can business play in creating a sustainable world?  Don’t think that we’ve really accomplished that much in business thus […]