Conference: East of West, West of East

There are barriers between East and West that prevent both sides from understanding each other and developing a constructive dialogue. These barriers do not merely reflect cultural differences. They also express the limits of Eastern and Western ways of thinking and different concepts of change. The Western scientific way of thinking, which is expressed and conceptualized in high precision words often ignores the context in which it is framed and has hit a wall in explaining the real world. So does the Eastern way of thinking that is expressed in words that carry ambiguity and have meaning only within a context, carrying richness in interpretation but being subject to lack of precision.

Both ways of thinking can co-exist in a world with a low population and large resources. But in a crowded and interconnected world, where east and west increasingly move into each other’s resource spaces, a synthesis must be found between both modes of thinking, to make sure that problems facing the whole of humanity can be effectively addressed, and that misunderstandings will not escalate into major conflicts.

Instead of framing interactions into geo-political or military differences between two protagonists, a better dialogue must be shaped! This conference intends to contribute to a basis for such a dialogue by delving into the deeper barriers to communication at the intellectual and cultural levels. In doing so it will focus on the way the dialogue has been and is being shaped by our history, our philosophies, our languages, our food, our religions, our medicine and our technologies. We will revisit our history and our different world views to try to understand our current times, and look into the future, and we intend to deal with hidden connections and silent transformations that today’s geopolitical thinking has ignored or underemphasized.

We have chosen East of West, West of East as the theme for the conference, because in between is where we have to find our way. But we will start by finding our way between China and the US, as the combination of their power and cultural differences poses the biggest threat and opportunity for the world.

Sydney Brenner once remarked: “We cannot change the present, but we can change the future, through the young people”. With that in mind our target audience consists of:

• Talented young leaders from government, industry and academia who may become influential in policy and decision making
• Thought leaders in the world, i.e. people that are regularly consulted by policy makers and decision makers in government, business and academia

The setting of the conference is informal. There will be ample time for the audience and the speakers to discuss and meet.

We warmly invite you to actively take part in it.