For the past four years www.edge.org have asked assorted thinkers – scientists, philosophers and so on – to answer a question.  Previous questions have included ‘What do you believe which you can’t prove?’ and ‘What have you changed your mind about?.

The short version of year’s question is ‘What will change everything?’.   For some reason they didn’ t ask me, but that doesn’t matter because Douglas Rushkoff gave the first answer that crossed my mind.  I can’t imagine anything more interesting – or more thought provoking – occuring.

I’ve just, thanks to a very bad cold that’s keeping me awake, posted this to Whitehall Webby Jeremy Gould’s blog.  A couple of references for those who follow the link from the comment.

I suggested that working for government is a Catch 22.  Many of those who (like me) join the civil service eventually end up feeling, like Yossarianm that, in the interests of their sanity, they have to leave.  Thankfully, unlike the US Army Airforce in time of war, people like Jeremy and me have the option of leaving – Yossarian had to stay due to the legally enforcible strange loop that is Catch 22.

I also suggested in my comment that politicans – and their closest civil servants – live in a never land in which things are never as bad as people say they are and there’s never a problem/issue/challenge for which they don’t already have a ready solution.  As our friend Kotter points out, both of these viewpoints are a recipe f0r disaster.

I may well be wrong, of course: if so, all comments welcome!