Elephants In The Room: Exclusive Event on 12th October

London, UK - 11th October 2011, 10:00 GMT

Dear ATCA Open & Philanthropia Friends

[Please note that the views presented by individual contributors are not necessarily representative of the views of ATCA, which is neutral. ATCA conducts collective Socratic dialogue on global opportunities and threats.]

Which complex global challenges are unfolding simultaneously at present? As Helen Keller said, "The welfare of each is bound up in the welfare of all." This is a short list of the fundamental questions and topics submitted for Socratic dialogue at the ATCA 5000 live session “Elephants In The Room” to be held on 12th October:

Elephants in the room...

1. Population growth and size, the Great Taboo of Environmentalism:

a. Environmental scientists insist we have overshot the Earth's carrying capacity causing pervasive environmental degradation; and
b. Overshoot is followed by population decline. As we have learned from other species, this manifests itself initially with a crash.

2. Fossil Fuel and Interconnectivity with the Global Economy:

a. The whole global economic system is fossil fuel dependent and it is a finite and constrained resource;
b. Even the financial world is an inverted pyramid resting on the fossil fuel energy that powers world growth.

3. The Collapsing Inverted Credit Pyramid, $1+ Quadrillion Derivatives and The Leverage of One:

a. "Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall. Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. All the king's horses and all the king's men, couldn't put Humpty together again!";
b. There are few means, if any, of avoiding the final collapse of a boom brought about by excessive credit -- read debt -- and leverage expansion; and
c. As the quadrillion dollar derivatives collapse, they could trigger trans-national counterparty risks with unintended systemic consequences worldwide.

4. Progress Above The Poverty Line:

a. There is an urgent need to tackle extreme poverty and reduce mass unemployment to avoid social unrest with destabilising consequences; and
b. Sub-standard living conditions for the mass of humanity gravitating towards urban metropolitan areas continues to skew growth.

5. Shift in the Balance of Power:

a. Most significant theme shaping the world economy is the shift in the balance of power from the West to the East;
b. The principal eight actors are: US, China, European Union, India, Japan, Russia, Brazil and South Africa; and
c. This is leading to a new power matrix where soft power and transparency rule.

6. Water shortages caused by Droughts and Floods continue to show a steady rise:

a. The need for the delivery of locally refined water through non-energy-intensive solutions is increasing;
b. "The wars of the [21st] century will be about water." - World Bank

7. Nuclear power exit: Germany and Switzerland recently announced plans to exit nuclear power generation, and photovoltaic installations could fill this gap:

a. There is a problem: solar power users expect modules to last between 25 and 30 years. However, there is little data to support this expectation; and
b. The current standards do not come close to the 25-year benchmark.

8. Der Zeitgeist: Spiritual and Environmental Awakening:

a. Spiritual and environmental awakening at an individual level and stake-holder activism at a group level is becoming much more pronounced; and b. Collective consciousness is rising as people continue to connect with each other around the world in their billions.

As a result of "Tight coupling" the side effects of accidents and incidents spread further, faster and have more damaging consequences over vast distances and across nations. This is also echoed in reflexive modernity, globalisation as a runaway process and the risk society. As a result, we are living in the age of side-effects. “The reality today is that we are all interdependent and have to co-exist on this small planet. Therefore, the only sensible and intelligent way of resolving differences and clashes of interests, whether between individuals or nations, is through dialogue!” - The Dalai Lama.

[STOPS]

Before we finalise the agenda for the ATCA 5000 event on 12th October, do you have any thoughts, observation and views that we ought to take into account?

We are celebrating ten successful years since the formation of ATCA 5000 in October 2001. The private event will be held on 12th October between 6:00pm and 8:00pm at an exclusive “members only” private club in Canary Wharf, London. We will most probably repeat the ATCA 5000 event at the same time on 19th October.

Should you wish to participate, we are grateful to you for your response to the intelligence.unit@mi2g.com in regard to 12th October or 19th October. Thank you.

[ENDS]

Expert Roundtables

Expert roundtables are the newly launched ATCA 24/7 Q&A private exclusive club service. They seek to become the killer application in strategic intelligence by delivering an unprecedented competitive advantage to our distinguished members. They can only be accessed online at https://www.yammer.com/atca

Q1: How to become a privileged member of ATCA 24/7 to participate in the expert roundtables?

A1: i. If you are a distinguished member of ATCA 5000, ATCA Open, The Philanthropia or HQR affiliated groups you may be allowed to become a privileged member of this new and exclusive private club.

ii. If you are pre-invited, visit the private intelligence network -- PIN -- by going to https://www.yammer.com/atca [Note: In https:// 's' is for security and encryption]

iii. If you don't have membership of the PIN yet, email the mi2g Intelligence Unit at intelligence.unit at mi2g dot com for an exclusive invitation.

Q2: How to participate in the expert roundtables and get domain-specific strategic intelligence questions answered?

A2: Access the ATCA 24/7 Private Intelligence Network -- PIN -- online and ask or answer a strategic intelligence question, no matter how complex. Receive expert answers within 24 hours or get pointers from:

i. ATCA 5000 experts who are online;
ii. ATCA Research and Analysis Wing; and
iii. mi2g Intelligence Unit.

Q3: Why is the ATCA 24/7 Q&A Exclusive Club special?

A3: ATCA 24/7 has now created an exclusive private intelligence watering hole and expert roundtable at the highest level where interesting and sophisticated questions are being asked from around the world, and intelligent answers are being provided, almost always by experts who have deep domain-specific knowledge. Come and check out the exclusive club, take it for a strategic test drive, which sign-of-intelligent life are you waiting for?

To learn more about "The Expert Roundtable: ATCA 24/7 Q&A Club" email: intelligence.unit at mi2g.com and if you are already a member visit https://www.yammer.com/atca

We welcome your thoughts, observations and views. To reflect further on this subject and others, please respond within Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn's ATCA Open and related discussion platform of HQR. Should you wish to connect directly with real time Twitter feeds, please click as appropriate:

. ATCA Open

. @G140

. mi2g Intelligence Unit

. Open HQR

. DK Matai

Best wishes