RSA Animate – Choice

“Fusing sociology, psychoanalysis and philosophy, Professor Renata Salecl shows that individual choice is rarely based on a simple rational decision with a predictable outcome. Salecl explores the paralysing anxiety and dissatisfaction surrounding limitless choice. Does the freedom to be the architects of our own lives actually hinder rather than help us? Does our preoccupation with choosing and consuming actually obstruct social change?

Celebrating verges

In his book, Hidden History, the historian Daniel J. Boorstin writes a prologue titled “The Fertile Verge”.

“American creativity…has flourished on what I call the Fertile Verge. A verge is a place of encounter between something and something else. America was a land of verges—all sorts of verges, between kinds of landscape or seascape, between stages of civilization, between ways of thought and ways of life…. The creativity, the hope, of the nation was in its verges, in its new mixtures and new confusions….

“On these verges—gifts of our geography, our history, our demography—we find three characteristic ways of thinking and feeling. First, there is our exaggerated self-awareness. On the verge we notice more poignantly who we are, how we are thinking, what we are doing. Second, there is a special openness to novelty and change. When we encounter something different, we become aware that things can be different, our appetite is whetted for novelty and its charms. Third, there is a strong community-consciousness. In the face of the different and the unfamiliar, we, the similars, lean on one another. We seek to reassure one another as we organize our new communities and new forms of community. These three tendencies are all both opportunities and temptations. They are sometimes complementary, sometimes contradictory. Creativity in our United States has been a harvest of these hypertrophied American attitudes stiffed on the Fertile Verge.”

We celebrate these ideas and ideals -- on a global basis -- in the work we do with our partners and clients.

Introduction

Our team has curated articles, presentations and videos – representing a wide range of views – that provide insights into meaningful ideas shaping our world. Also included are reference materials specifically for entrepreneurs and entrepreneurially minded leaders.

We hope that something in this ever-growing collection catches your attention and stimulates discussion and more new ideas…perhaps even a new product or business.

Enjoy.