Davos Reminds Us That Smart People Are Dumb
23rd January 2018
Davos is a work of art. And like all the best art, it both delights and instructs. It reminds us that the smartest people in the world are actually the dumbest.
Imagine being one of those exalted personages, graduates of our finest universities, global citizens equally at home in Manhattan, San Francisco, Paris, Tokyo, and Bombay, for whom “Creating a shared future in a fractured world” is a highly erudite proposition, a paradox of chin-scratching complexity. Imagine going every year for decades without realizing that this year’s “theme” and “The Power of collaborative innovation” (2008) and “Global cooperation and megacompetition” (1990) and “Competitive cooperation in a decade of turbulence” (1988) are virtually identical. Imagine thinking that “Responsive and responsible leadership” (2017) is not a meaningless phrase. Imagine having any idea what “Resilient dynamism” (2013) even means. Imagine thinking that “globality,” as in “Responsible globality: managing the impact of globalization” (1999), is a word.
I would say ‘foolish’ rather than ‘dumb’, but a case could be made for it.