Oxford Martin School

The "World in 2050" was an evening of provocative debate and engagement with a wide audience by academics from the 21^st Century School. Hosted by Intelligence Squared (the internationally renowned debating forum), and held at the Royal Geographical Society, the panel discussion brought together four academics from the 21^st Century School to give their insights into the kinds of systemic risks and extraordinary opportunities that are possible in the next few decades.

Dr Ian Goldin talked about why we so often get the future wrong and how we can best begin to think about it in more constructive ways.

Dr Malcolm McCulloch gave us two different scenarios for our energy future and showed us why - and how - we need to take action to ensure the more optimistic path is taken.

Professor Julian Savulescu talked about our capacity to change - to intervene in the ageing process, raise our intelligence levels and increase our faculty for happiness - but also revealed some of the darker sides to the biological revolution: biothreats, abuses of power, and deepening inequalities.

Professor Sarah Harper revealed what happens when fertility rates decline and life spans increase - a phenomenon happening all across the world. She described how we can expect to see radical changes in the global movements of people as nations compete for young workers, new kinds of social dynamics among families or in the workplace, and longer life spans as an increasingly dire measure of inequality with those unable to access the healthcare and resources dying young or experiencing long periods of frailty and disease.

Questions from the audience were wide-ranging, and just as provocative as the presentations that preceded them:

• What would most excite a 6 year old about our world in 2050?
• Is representative democracy capable of dealing with the changes ahead?
• How much optimism do you have for the chance of building effective global institutions to manage these challenges?
• Can we develop more genes for generosity?
• What are the ways we can engage the public to better see the future?
• Do we have (or can we generate) the political and economic will to harness scientific advances to give the same life chance to all people in all parts of the world?

You can watch a video of the debate here. Please post your comments here to continue the discussion.