Sublime

Trebor Scholz

Many people are working as individuals, even as they work within massive institutions, on problems that affect many thousands, or even millions, of people.

These countries combine highly educated populations; a size that allows for coherence; and successful positions in the global division of labour. They are sufficiently connected to the mainstream to benefit from its knowledge and sufficiently on the edge to think freely and experiment.

generating more and better goods and services to meet people’s needs.

All of this depends on building in-house capabilities in public institutions that enable them to proactively manage a portfolio of projects.

neo-liberalism cements an individualism that weakens the individual, leaving the majority to drift into a precariat sphere, in no position to have realisable dreams.

The thinkers best positioned to thrive today and in the future will be a hybrid of these two animals.

Humanity’s journey through the twenty-first century will be led by the policymakers, entrepreneurs, teachers, journalists, community organisers, activists and voters who are being educated today. But these citizens of 2050 are being taught an economic mindset that is rooted in the textbooks of 1950, which in turn are rooted in the theories of 1850.

Meanwhile, educational and economic meritocracy have merged, to the extent that intellectual achievements without economic added value are regarded as largely worthless.