World Thinking Report 5

A young man in Tunis is unable to find work ends up selling vegetables from a cart. The police confiscate his cart. In despair he burns himself to death. That incident lead to the fall of the government of Tunis and then the fall of the government of Egypt and probably also on Libya together with unrest in Bahrain, Yemen and Syria. All this is due to the power of the Internet and modern media. No other ordinary person in the whole world of history has had such an effect.

The situation in Lybia causes some confused thinking. Colonel Gaddafi is seen as a 'bad guy' because of Lockerbie and other incidents. If he is a bad guy then the revolution is good and must be helped. So there is a no fly zone and air attacks on his tanks etc. This is based on a humanitarian need to protect innocent civilians then they must suffer air attacks.

The situation is one where classic and unusual, recognition thinking is inadequate. This means analysis and an effort to recognise a standard situation - then applying the standard treatment. This is just like a doctor in a clinic faced with a new patient. He takes the history, examines the patient and carries out some tests. When he can diagnose (recognise) a standard situation then he can apply the standard treatment. The whole of education is about this sort of thinking and very nearly all thinking after education is also about recognition thinking.

There is little or no effort to 'design' a way forward.

That is why I am seeking to set up the 'Palace of Thinking' to provide a base for new ideas and design thinking.