OFC Meeting 15
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11 June 2019:
"Free-for-All" Discussion of future Futures Topics
Feel free to add your thoughts here!
You might want to revisit our first, second, third or fourth "free-for-alls" to harvest some ideas.
AGENDA ITEMS
- We are still hoping that Anne Toby, CEO of the ElderCollege, will soon give us a talk on her specialty, Human Genetics. (Can humans modify themselves enough, or in time, to "cure" their tendency to destroy everything around them?)
- Feel free to add an Agenda item here! As tomorrow's meeting is supposed to be a Free-for-All, I'm not entirely clear as why we need a start-up topic, but if the group feels we do, how about: The OPIOID CRISIS: Can't live with them! Can't live without them! -- Keith
The discussion ranged over many topics selected from history, current events and possible futures. Roland pointed out the parallels between today's oligarchy in the USA and the "robber barons]" of the late 19th and early 20th Centuries and how the people rose up to stop their rule, in the guise of labor unions and progressive politicians. Jess remarked that if a peaceful progressive revolution was possible in the 1930s it must have been because the electorate expressed their frustration effectively, and that if it could happen spontaneously then, it might happen again, despite today's more sophisticated technology of public manipulation. We went on to cover lots of other topics, but without a recording I have forgotten most of the details. Perhaps someone else can fill in some blanks?
David Brown mentioned the meeting last Friday (07 June) of his "current affairs" group at the downtown Nanaimo Public Library 10-noon, itself a spin-off from the VIU-sponsored "Pint of Science" meetings, which sound great except that the venue tends to be very noisy for intelligible discussions. Some of the topics from that meeting were discussed further in our OFC meeting; this might become a pattern!
At the end we discussed the issue of whether to just continue with "free-for-all" discussions or to try to at least lead off with a topical presentation by a volunteer, which would encourage input to the corresponding page on this wiki, including suggested reading material or other relevant events. To that end, Philip agreed to start the next meeting with a presentation on DEMOCRACY in the FUTURE -- are humans capable of governing themselves? -- Jess
