The Big Learnings From Davos

You come here for 'speed dating' with a high net worth. You come here to find 'capitalist oppressors' and 'Commie conY spirators' in equal measure. You come here to see one per cent-or 0.1%promising to make the world a fairer place... Over the years, the annual summit at Switzerland's picturesque town has been described in many ways.

- Kalli Purie

For me, the best description is an 'ecstasy party of ideas. It's a place where ideas fly freely, unmindful of class, topic, age, hierarchy, or even feasibility. Here are 12 ideas that I picked in my walkthrough in Davos this year.

1 GOVERNMENTS BY LOTTERY

The idea of government by lottery now seems attractive, as political systems with elections around the world are seemingly failing. Elected governments can undermine the inner stuffing of democracy by hollowing out institutions. A time-bound government by lottery may be a way to have successful governments without creating an elite and acrimonious environment. Being time-bound, such governments will focus more on governance than on self-preservation.

2 NEW FUNDAMENTAL RIGHT: RIGHT TO BRAIN PRIVACY

Your mind is your most private and most free space, where no power can intrude. Right? Perhaps not anymore. Most people are okay with wearable devices that track and record their activity. Call it the quantifiable self. Now, new devices are in the offing that can measure brain activity and provide a dashboard of brain metrics. These measure your brain for alertness and productivity. Employers can't wait, but employees are concerned about these new wearables that can track their activity. Little wonder, they have already been termed "bossware".

In this environment of increasing brain-machine interface, cognitive liberty could be under threat and should become a part of the human rights charter. This will ensure that biometrics is a force that liberates, not oppresses.

Neural signatures (a unique pattern of neural activity associated with a particular task, stimulus, or condition) will be the new passwords of the future.

3 STOP COUNTING THE CRISES