In this thoughtful RSA presentation professor Jeremy Rifkin talks about what ultimately motivates human beings from the moment they are born. Contrary to previous visions of society and humanity, he dispels the view that newborns are first and foremost motivated by utilitarian desires, the will to survive and the need to extinguish their libido. He suggests that our first drive as humans is the drive to belong and that we are naturally softwired towards empathetic behaviour to feel another's plight because of mirror neurons in our brains. We are not softwired for aggression and materialism rather we are softwired for attachment, companionship and sociability. When talking about an empathetic civilization we are not talking about Utopia or heaveb where there is no such thing as suffering; because in order to feel empathy one needs to experience frailties, pain and weaknesses.

Rifkin also makes it clear that if we are not able to extend our empathy beyond the human species, we have no future on the planet. He also asks the audience to consider how empathy has changed across history and how it has affected consciousness. And as a species can we shift our consciousness?

View it here

Tomorrow some of the Foresight team heads to Tanzania for a workshop on ECO-RESORTS OF THE FUTURE with our sustainable host Habitaem. Participants will be joining us from as far as San Francisco and as near as down the road in Tanzania. Through the course of our few days in Arusha we will review some of the previous eco-models for resorts and attempt to define a vision for a new sustainable model for resort and tourism in developing regions of the world like Tanzania.

Sometimes clearing up your desk uncovers important facts. Today a March 8th 2006 Independent newspaper was uncovered by a colleague in the Foresight group. The front cover "This Is Your Life (If you are a woman)" was in honour of International Women's Day.

The following statistics (still topical in 2008) were included:
70% of the 1.2 billion people living in poverty are women and children
67% of all illiterate adults are women
85, girls worldwide are unable to attend school compared with 45m boys
In the US 35% of layers are women but just 5% are partners
Women in full-time jobs earn an average 17% less than British men
62% of unpaid family workers are female

The Women and Work Commission released a report almost two years ago in February 2006 to explain why the pay gap is not only bad for women, but also bad for Britain. Some of the key reasons identified for the pay gap include human capital differences (differences in educational levels and work experience), part-time working (the pay gap between men and women's part time hourly earnings and men's full time hourly earnings is large), travel patterns (on average women spend less time commuting than men and this can impact on women's pay), occupational segregation (women's employment is highly concentrated in certain occupations and these occupations are often the lowest paid), workplace segregation (high concentrations of female employees are associated with relatively low pay at the level of individual workplaces). Other reasons included job grading practices, appraisal systems, reward systems and retention measures, wage-setting practices and discrimination. The UK government is currently trying to addres the Pay Gap by improving the skill levels of current workers and by helping companies to optimize their female workforce.

For more stats the original Independent article can be found here.

Today is officially International Project Management Day and World Vegan Day. International Project Management day suggests putting some time aside to recognize the contributions of project managers to organisations, and World Vegan Day tries to raise awareness around the benefits of veganism and its positive relationship to the environment. The WVD website even goes as far as to say that by "2050 the world's livestock will be consuming as much as 4 billion people do... when many were doubting whether such human numbers could be fed at all."

When you consider that human population projections for 2050 are approximately 9.3bn, an extra set of 4bn mouthes to feed is a little disconcerting.

The podcast I did on demographics is now available online. My focus was on population growth, ageing populations and urban migration.

I am starting to wonder whether the increase in religion in the United States has anything to do with the fact that so many Americans live in the suburbs. Does the resulting lack of contact and sense of community drive people to jump into their cars and head to regular Sunday meetings with other humans? It's just a thought. Living in London, I have grown to appreciate the community feel of former London villages, which now serve as high streets populated with retail and amenities. I can't imagine ever living in an isolated suburb. The beauty of the city neighborhood is that you can reach out and connect whenever you want to. One is not forced to use a cup of sugar as a pretext to make contact. Although religious services may not strike some of us as community-feeling, they are definitely community-oriented. What is a church, temple or mosque, but a communal place for people to feel part of something meaningful.

I just heard from Patrick who is manufacturing kites in the urban slums and refugee camps of Chad, and as he writes in his own words "then passing out a good number of them to orphanages and schools where all those HIV orphans need a good dose of loving child psychology." My heart goes out to all those with bigger hearts, restless souls and endless supplies of bravery.

As I told him I can just imagine those little faces light up as the great big blossoming kite hits the sky. Wonderful potential.