What are we fighting for.... ?

If the last week, indeed even the last year has brought anything into sharper focus it’s just how further divided society has become, entrenched in beliefs driven by fear, anger and a constant focus on short term gain. Instead of taking the step back to see that our similarities are much greater than our differences, we lurch from one news cycle to the next seeking instant gratification and the “win”, even when we aren’t sure what it is we should be fighting for. One side is right, one side is wrong.. Period. 

As we become more divided, partisan, anchored and entrenched in beliefs, it’s truly depressing to see just how much damage we are doing to society today and for the future generations. Instead of looking at how we collectively solve the existential challenges facing us from climate change, to ageing populations, and how we live in a world that will become increasingly digitised ... we focus on short term “tactics” & goals aimed at survival . There is often no vision or purpose only a desire to win, with of course the irony being the more we focus on short term winning to survive the more damage we do to our long term prospects of that being the case.

Take the challenge of an ageing population. Today nearly one in five EU citizens is over 65 years of age, a figure which is only set to grow rapidly over the coming decades. The worlds population of over 60’s has doubled since 1980 to now over one billion people. It will have doubled again by 2050. We are then facing into the existential challenge as to how we enable older people to live healthy, independent lives without health systems becoming overworked and overwhelmed, whilst simultaneously needing to grapple with the reality that economic growth and innovation follow youth. Africa then representing the continent with the lowest median age should by 2050 be the true engine of innovation, growth and progress, and yet despite this still over 600m of the sub-Saharan population live without electricity, more than 40% live on less than $2 a day, and most sobering of all 49% do not have access to clean water. Puts fighting to “win” a trade war and take back control of borders into perspective doesn’t it… 

Despite the fires, floods and plagues there are still those that seek to deny climate change even exists, and worse still there are those that actively seek to undermine the efforts of many trying to make a change today for a better tomorrow. The argument should not even exist. The concentration of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere is the highest it has been in human history, 2019 was the second warmest year on record and almost 11% of the worlds population is currently at risk to droughts, floods, heat waves and sea-level rises. The more polarised we remain over the clear case for decarbonisation the simple reality is we are leaving a world for generations to come in a much worse place than we entered into it in.

Technology, innovation and digitisation can absolutely play a critical role in helping to address the challenges brought by ageing populations and climate change, but must be underpinned by vision, leadership and collaboration. Taken at its best technology can help improve and save lives, but at its worse can sow division, create further inequalities and leave the vulnerable even more so. Viewed from the sole perspectives of a race for technological dominance, protectionism and profits we will only serve to do more harm than good, but through coming together to address the challenges we all collectively face into, technology can the difference maker. 

It often feels that every news cycle is highlighting our divisions, angers and fears but we should not forgot that the true challenges we face are shared. Covid won’t discriminate, Climate change won’t take sides, and all of us whether we like it or not will get older…..