ETH at the WEF – life, the universe and everything else
Words, sentences and entire books appeared all over ETH’s exhibition pavilion at this year’s World Economic Forum. In conjunction with the research exhibits on display, they framed the space for the discussion “RETHINKING LIVING”: a search for answers to the really big questions.
With a quote from Albert Einstein – “The important thing is not to stop questioning” – the ETH pavilion guided visitors to the exhibition into a space that followed the words of the man himself. On benches along the walls and on chairs, armchairs and sofas, cushions were printed with questions about life. The pavilion thus established its own kind of “pillow talk” and invited visitors to join in thinking, asking questions and seeking answers.
Shaping the future – or simply living with it?
In view of current events, optimists are having a particularly difficult time. The problems we face right now – from Covid-19 to climate issues and energy – are far from solved, and the next ones are already piling up in eastern Europe. At the “RETHINKING LIVING” event on Tuesday, the debaters tried to establish the qualities that are required not only to live life in the face of these circumstances, but also to help shape it. A little humility would help, or, as described by Michelle Grant, Executive Director of the ETH World Food Systems Center: “You can’t stop the waves, but you can learn to surf.”
Although as a physicist, ETH President Joël Mesot appreciated the image of the wave, he felt it needed to be modified in relation to ETH: “ETH not only has the task of reacting skilfully to incoming waves. With its combined expertise, which is based on excellent education, our university is able to anticipate crises and even to shape them – in order to develop sustainable solutions to the big questions of our time.”
Using the past as a springboard
With a look to the past, ETH Rector Günther Dissertori posed the most elementary of questions the day before: where do we come from? Together with Nobel Prize winner Didier Queloz (Origins of Life) and Olympic gold medallist and physicist Dominique Gisin, he opened the ETH discussions at the WEF. In the search for the origin of life, the following question arose: “Are we special, or not really?” as well as “How do we shape our lives, our society and our future?”
In the talks that followed, speakers from astrophysics, literature, architecture and culture shone a light on questions concerning the core elements of “life”, “society” and “the future” from different perspectives. Is beneficence the key to preserving our species, as Queloz suggests? Is it a matter of changing everyone’s narratives through stories, such as those offered by science fiction author Kim Stanley Robinson? Or do societies, in the sense of Origen Festival founder Giovanni Netzer, ultimately always build on what once was and use their past as a springboard to jump a little higher into the next century?
How do we design the space that influences us?
When it comes to the direction in which a society develops, the spaces – or in a narrower sense, the buildings in which we move – play an important role. The model of the 3D-printed White Tower in Mulegns demonstrates this, as does the small prototype hut from the no1s1 research project. The former will soon rise 23 metres into the sky as the largest 3D-printed building in the world, and with its gingerbread style reminiscent of the blessings of the past, will lead stagnating Engadine valley communities into a hopeful future. (Returning confectioners in the 15th century were responsible for an extraordinary boom in the impoverished Engadine after they had become rich through confectionery in Venice.)
On the other hand, no1s1 completely distances itself from thoughts of long ago and focuses both technologically and sociologically on a utopian future: space, anchored in blockchain, that belongs only to itself, detached from human owners. It is an attempt at a scientific response to a statement with which the WEF triggered an extremely controversial debate: “You’ll own nothing. And you’ll be happy.”
Impressions of the ETH pavilion
(ETH Zurich / Andreas Eggenberger) Dominique Gisin, Didier Queloz and Günther Dissertori on the origin and future of life. (ETH Zurich / Andreas Eggenberger) The chiefs met at the WEF: Ringier CEO Marc Walder (left) and ETH president Joël Mesot. (ETH Zurich / Andreas Eggenberger) Also at the ETH Pavilion: former Federal Councillor Doris Leuthard
(ETH Zurich / Andreas Eggenberger) The focus was on the very big questions. (ETH Zurich / Andreas Eggenberger) Anna Anton from ETH Zurich and Giovanni Netzer want to use the White Tower to remind Graubünden that there is always the possibility of changing the future. (ETH Zurich / Andreas Eggenberger) In "The Ministry for the Future", author Kim Stanley Robinson mixes science and fiction. (ETH Zurich / Andreas Eggenberger)
Climate-neutral presence at the WEF
In line with ETH Zurich’s institutional “net-zero” emissions target, its presence at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum was climate neutral as part of this year’s “ETH meets you in Davos”. To offset climate-relevant greenhouse gases, all aspects that fall under the operational control of ETH Zurich were taken into account, including emissions from infrastructure (e.g. electricity consumption), mobility, logistics, catering, accommodation and event-specific materials and waste. Emissions are offset in international climate protection projects for which myclimate is responsible in developing and emerging countries. The projects meet the highest standards and contribute to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.