Thread by @cesifoti

I just completed my first week at Davos. It was filled with many interesting experiences. Here is my summary (thread) ... 1/N

Davos is quite a surreal place. It is a small town in the Alps that is otherwise uneventful. But during this week, it’s main street, “the promenade,” is filled with the “houses” of many companies and countries. Have you ever seen a physical Facebook store?

The city is a cluster of events. The main event is the World Economic Forum, which takes place mainly in the convention center. The rest of the city is populated by events organized by companies, countries, universities, and industrial associations.

Of course, the most interesting thing about Davos is the people. You constantly meet people that are either accomplished, influential, powerful, wealthy, or some combination of that (and me). Here are a few examples. I’ll start with a selfie with Al Gore on the background.

And continue with this panel organized by ETH including the Chief Editor of Nature, the head of the ERC, and a Nobel Prize winner, all introduced by ETH president.

Here I am with the minister of trade and finance of Cuba, the Mexican delegation, and other well known people. If you are able to suspend your judgement and listen, you can learn things that would be hard to learn elsewhere.

The reason why everyone comes here is everyone else. It is a big coordination game. The coordination works because of the mix of communities. There are people from government, academia, the media & the private sector. People that come for business & people that come for ideas.

One of the big advantages of the week is that, because it is made of many little events, you can actually have conversations with people. You share the room with top people, but since there are only a couple of dozens of people in each room, you get to both listen and say.

There are of course, many things one could be critical about. Many panels say little, and the culture is one more of saying than showing, so it is hard to evaluate the depth and quality of some of the content.

There is also an incentive to say that everything is great all the time, because it is a diplomatic environment. Still, there is a healthy dose of internal criticism and acknowledging of problems or things to improve among many members of the community, especially academics.

There are also some unintentionally “funny” displays, like this UK display saying the UK loves free trade, but using a visualization that connects the UK to the world by bypassing the EU (the antigravity trade model?)

But overall, it is a great experience and community, like that in other WEF events where I’ve participated before. I do think that the coordination that is achieved by having many influential people spend a week in the same place is positive.

The mix of people is very global and involves an immense diversity of cultures and expertise. There are only a few other places that bring together a global community of this sort. I hope to be able to continue contributing.

But the best thing of all, is that I could come here together with my wife, participating together as a loving team. /End_Thread