Klaus Schwab

I stumbled upon The Great Narrative by Klaus Schwab and Thierry Malleret at our local library's book sale, intrigued enough by the controversies surrounding the author to invest a mere 25 cents. My goal was simple: sift through the noise of right-wing media portrayals of Schwab as a global villain seeking to dismantle capitalism and see for myself whether there was any truth to these claims.

This 2021 work sets forth Schwab and Malleret's vision for a collective future. The authors argue for a global dialogue to navigate technological shifts, climate change, and economic inequality. They advocate for a united approach to redesign "societal frameworks" to create a more "sustainable" and "inclusive" world.

To combat these challenges, I expected world-ending plans.

I found nothing of the sort.

In fact, the book generally suggests practical, actionable ideas rather than revolutionary overhauls. I actually found nothing surprising here. Most of what the author's suggest has been imbued in US policy -- under both Democrat and Republican administrations -- for decades. I've summarized my take on the five themes that the authors keep returning to below:

Sustainability:

• Encourage the use of technology and innovation to protect natural resources.
  
• Enhance energy efficiency and reduce waste.
  
• Foster public-private partnerships to accelerate the adoption of new technologies (which would benefit both the environment and the economy).

Technology:

• Use technology to improve quality of life and foster economic growth.
  
• Protect privacy and ensure security in the digital age.
  
• Encourage technological education that prepares the workforce for the future.

Global Cooperation:

• Work together on common challenges (e.g., public health, environment) to achieve global outcomes.
  
• Enhance global stability and peace through diplomatic and economic collaboration.
  
• Share scientific research and technology to help solve global issues (see sustainability above, but also to combat food insecurity, provide clean water, etc.).

Economic Restructuring:

• Enhance economic resilience and growth by diversifying sources of income and reducing dependence on single industries or markets.*
  
• Encourage policies that support job creation by private industry (especially in technology or other innovative industries).
  
• Encourage entrepreneurial ventures and innovations by reducing regulation and other governmental interference.

Social Contracts:

• Create opportunities for all to achieve their potential through access to education and healthcare.**
  
• Promote policies that protect all workers and ensure that economic growth benefits everyone.***
  
• Foster long-term economic security through pension reforms and savings incentives, to help people thrive in their retirement years.

Schwab’s proposals are far from the cataclysmic or communistic fears often voiced in extreme political rhetoric. Instead, they advocate for a sensible evolution of existing systems to address today’s complex problems. The book seems to reflect a pragmatic approach to enhancing human well-being through sustainability and technological integration, relying on the engines of capitalism, like those driven by figures such as Elon Musk, to foster positive change.

The real question is this: How do we do all of this without excessive capital expenditure or onerous tax policies?

Unfortunately, the book doesn't really provide any good answers to this key question, but it does provide a place to start a discussion.

So, in the end, The Great Narrative is not the manifesto for societal destruction as some might claim. Instead, it seems to be a reasoned call for adaptation to a rapidly changing world. It proposes using the strengths of capitalism, technological advancements, and global cooperation to tackle pressing issues. For someone like myself, an objectivist with no particular political allegiance (but a straightforward desire to see practical solutions to today's problems), Schwab’s book offers a valuable perspective that contrasts sharply with the hyperbole often used to describe his intentions.

A worthy read? Sure, if you have a few spare hours. If not, just review the key points above. You will learn everything you need to know.

Addendum

After I wrote the first draft of this, my wife decided I needed some additional explanations for some of the themes. Instead of gumming up my pretty bullets above, I wrote the following:

* Enhancing Economic Resilience: This is not about controlling the means of production or creation of a central bank digital currency. This theme implies the promotion of a variety of sectors and supporting innovation to both create jobs and stimulate economic activity. It involves ensuring that economies are flexible enough to adapt to global changes and challenges, such as technological advancements or international trade shifts, without causing major disruptions to employment and livelihoods.

** Achieving Potential: Access to education empowers individuals with the knowledge and skills needed to participate effectively in the economy and society. It opens doors to better job opportunities, higher earnings, and the ability to contribute to technological and scientific innovation. Healthcare access is equally crucial as it ensures individuals remain healthy and productive. Together, education and healthcare are foundational for enabling people to reach their potential, leading to a more competent and competitive workforce which drives economic growth and stability.

*** Promoting Worker-friendly Policies: This involves implementing labor laws that ensure fair wages, safe working conditions, and equitable treatment in the workplace. Protecting workers also means supporting labor unions and their right to collective bargaining, ensuring that the economic growth resulting from worker productivity leads to benefits that are fairly distributed among those who contributed to it. Such policies not only protect workers but also help in creating a more stable and motivated workforce, which is essential for sustainable economic growth.… (mer)

NOT ONE TASTY BUG RECIPE!

The book reads like someone got really into NLP in the 80s and desperately wants you to repeat "The Fourth Industrial Revolution" in your sleep. While the negative externalities from the near future (widespread joblessness, inequality, political upheaval) are made very concrete, the benefits and the solutions to the problems, appear only as vague handwaving and the kind of meaningless fluff words business management people take courses in to swindle investors with.
Also 20% of the book is just an appendix with a series of random summaries about various promising technologies or products that exist, the future of which are then hypothesized about. Did you know we didn't used to have computers and the internet, and now we do? Can you imagine what happens when everyone has an iPhone and Apple Watch? Access to education! Participation in the global economy! Expanded market size and e-commerce! Hype and buzzwords masquerading as information.… (mer)

This book is partly about current and future trends and partly about Mr. Schwab's social and political vision for the future. For anybody interested in technology trends this book is important; forewarned is forearmed and this book, despite its rambling nature at times, does a good job of laying out trends.

My Schwab elicits a lot of strong reactions from people, but this book should be viewed on its own - at least in regard to fundamental trends. Going through it I found a two-fold layer. 1.) Here are the trends and technologies in developments. This is followed by 2.) Here is how I, Klaus Schwab, and other like-minded individuals and groups would like to see these trends utilized; this is especially the case when talking about governmental and regulatory framework.

Although I personally don't subscribe to the views of Mr. Schwab, in that I favor bottom-up approaches that preserve individual liberty, the trend is the trend and what was predicted in 2018 and codified in "Shaping the Future of the Fourth Industrial Revolution" is already coming to pass in 2022.

This book will be of interest to investors, business minded individuals, and those just wanting to know the mindset of Mr Schwab and the World Economic Forum.… (mer)