December 2007
-
07 December 2007
A quantum theory of jokes
I have a quantum theory of jokes. When I hear a good new gag (new to me, at least) I can’t wait to tell those of my friends who like that kind of thing. But however good the joke, and however well it goes down at first, gradually its power diminishes.
I have reached the conclusion that there is simply a limit to how many times you can tell the same joke without somehow subliminally signalling to your listener that they are hearing the one line equivalent of an episode of Porridge on UK Gold; still funny but not fresh.
I fear speeches are the same. Recently I have been performing my ‘social aspiration gap’ speech twice every week. The talks vary in length and detail from a fifty minute version for the annual Cornwall Lecture to a five minute summary for a new Fellows evening in Cambridge. While the basic argument goes down OK, a fear of sounding stale means on every occasion I try to add some new aspect, fact or perspective.
The aspect that is currently expanding concerns the idea of changing consciousness. My argument involves explaining what I mean by change then offering a direction for change:
- The ways we have of thinking are distinct, they differ from other cultures and from the ways our forebears saw the world and their place in it.
- There are ways in which our world view has changed profoundly in recent times; think of attitudes to gender, race and sexuality, or the way the internet has altered our idea of human networks
- To create a future which is sustainable and fulfilling we need not just new ideas or new policies but new ways of thinking (the social aspiration gap thesis).
To address this†- In the face of our loss of social agency, there is an underlying need for a new collectivism (new in its aims and new in is form)
- This new collectivism holds out the promise of enabling us to balance individual aspiration with social good but also of developing a richer and more robust idea of personal fulfilment
- In seeking to foster a new collective consciousness there are certain priority questions for policy. How can we: have a political discourse that starts with people rather than politicians; engage individuals and communities in developing sustainable ways of living; radically reform the aims and methods of formal education; encourage co-production and co-design in public services?
Many recent RSA events offer interesting insights for this thesis. Today, David Willetts and Paul Ormerod were discussing why greater affluence doesn’t seem to be making us any happier. Tonight Lord David Putnam will be talking about the emergency of climate change will require us to profoundly rethink out priorities and our lifestyles. Next week James Flynn will seek to explain how our intelligences have evolved significantly in recent decades (in some ways we are getting much smarter in others ways not).
Every day we learn more about the capacities and idiosyncrasies of our thought processes. Research in neuroscience, social psychology, sociology, policy evaluation can help us understand how politics and policy might enable us to think and live in ways that work for the twenty-first century.
Maybe along the way I’ll find out why it is my jokes don’t last. -
07 December 2007
Thank you Mr. Blair
P.S. it was remiss of me earlier this week not to thank our trustee Sean Blair for all his help on the 22nd, at our RSA Networks event. His help preparing the day and running it was invaluable. As Sean is a Trustee we get his services for free, but if you want to know more about what he does you can visit his ProMeet website.
-
03 December 2007
So what's next?
What an amazing event we had here on 22 November.
Over two hundred Fellows and staff working together all day exploring how the Fellowship, together with the team at John Adam Street, could become a network for civic innovation.
The day exceeded our most optimistic expectations in terms of the energy, ideas and goodwill of those attending. The conversations started that day are now being actively followed up by the team here and continued online.
The challenge now - and the hurdle at which other membership/Fellowship initiatives in other organisations have fallen - is to follow through.
It will take several years, a great deal of commitment and investment (from Fellows and JAS) to achieve but the 22nd gave us a glimpse of the kind of innovative, collaborative, high-impact Fellowship we can become.
The last few weeks I have continued to tour around with versions of my speech about the social aspiration gap (the gap between the people we are and the people we need to be to create the future we want).
The biggest speech was to an audience of over seven hundred at the annual Cornwall lecture.
The positive reaction to the speech and the interest in the RSA underlined to me again that we need to strengthen our Fellowship operation outside London.
Our regions do good work, and many are themselves trying to devolve, but it is at the level of counties, cities and towns that I think we will be most able to articulate the RSA's potential.
How we build this kind of more local presence is a big issue for the next stage of the RSA's development.
Given the turmoil over 'Donorgate' I have being doing yet more punditry lately.
If anyone is interested in my overall perspective there is a piece on the Guardian's Comment is Free website.
That article was written before Gordon Brown's comments at the weekend which seem to suggest that he too is now convinced of the case for more profound reform of party funding.
Given the damage these 'scandals' do to the already low opinion of politics among the public let's hope we can at last drive big money donations out of party politics.
Previous 1 Next
Please sign in below if you already have an account (your username will be your email address).
Don't have an account?
If you are a Fellow, please sign up for an account now to gain access to Fellows-only areas of our website.
Problems logging in? Forgot your password?
If you cannot login, or have forgotten your password, please go to our Password Reset page to change your password.
If this doesn't work, or you have any other queries regarding your account, just give us a call on +44 (0)20 7451 6927. Alternatively you can also email the Fellowship team.
Share