Ideas for our Future
Harnessing our joint Knowledge, Skills and Experience to address the big issues and opportunities of our time
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This is the combined output from two of our Probably42 discussion groups. A look at this subject was prompted by the recent Gordon Brown report on Constitutional Reform for the Labour Party. Another key input, although produced some time ago, was the summary report by the House of Commons Political and Constitutional Reform Committee in March 2015. .. More »
This is a Considered Proposal, version 1.0, on the subject of 'Values and Principles for Future UK Society'. It is based on the earlier discussion output of the same name which can be found at Values and Principles for Future Society.This document largely replaces the discussion document but omits some of the discussion output not considered relevant to the specific proposals. It is one of our formative documents in that it provides an insight into Probably42 view of the Values and Principles that society needs to be successful in the future. It also underpins the Values and Principles section of our flagship document: A Manifesto for Society in the AI Future.. More »
We recently generated this two page document on how we might tackle the UK problem of largely stagnant productivity to help spread visibility of these ideas. It is drawn from our Manifesto of Ideas and other of our 'Considered Proposals'. .. More »
This document consists of comments and proposals related to the proposed Online Safety Bill. .. More »
This document focuses on 3 specific issues and opportunities relating to our future AI Society over the next 20 years that don't currently appear to being addressed, but which are fundamental to a successful future. It was produced as an input to the APPG (All Party Parliamentary Group) on Artificial Intelligence.A much fuller coverage of recommendations relating to the opportunities of AI are covered in our three documents on AI which were written in sequence and each relates to the previous one.Artificial Intelligence - Managing the Future (This introductory document to the topic)Artificial Intelligence - Planning for an AI Society (Detailed Scenario Planning of alternative potential scenarios)Artificial Intelligence Society - Proposals (Additional proposals drawing on the Scenario Planning document).. More »
This document on Elderly Social Care is one in our series of Considered Proposals on the subject. It completely replaces the original discussion documents on the topic... More »
Updated March 2023. This document 'A Manifesto for Society in the Artificial Intelligence Future' version 7.6 is the flagship document of Probably42. It brings together the best transformative and pragmatic proposals of Probably42 in summary form. It is underpinned by the full range of other Considered Proposals and Discussion Documents. It includes Transformative Strategies and Ideas in the following areas: Accelerating Innovation and Ensuring it Contributes Positively Updating the practice of Democracy and Government for the 21st century Addressing the intertwined excesses of adversarial politics and the media Re-balancing the role and responsibilities of business in an AI Society Protect our freedoms while improving our legal protection online and offline Re-thinking national housing and land Creating a national population and land usage plan Creating a 21st Century Health System exploiting transformative technology and AI to the full Making the Elderly Social Care System functional and affordable Underpinning ‘Education for Life’ with Technology Shared Values and Principles The ethos that underlies the manifesto is what we call Principled Pragmatism, which we hope will lead to a new kind of Politics and which is particularly appropriate for an AI Society. The Top 10 Transformative Strategies put forward in this document are based on an ethos of Principled Pragmatism and on a number of Shared Values and Principles, which are included at the end of the document. They permeate the manifesto and all decision-making, to ensure we run the country for the good of all. They come under the broad headings of: Innovation Individual and National Wellbeing Rights and Responsibilities for organisations as well as individuals Improving Democracy and Government, for the long-term as well as the short-term Outward looking, forward looking and leading by example It’s our firm belief that adoption of these Strategies would lead to a fairer, more prosperous nation and greater life satisfaction for all as we evolve to an Artificial Intelligence Society... More »
This document is one in our series of 'Considered Documents'. It is slightly different in that it is a supporting document for other proposals, including in our Manifesto of Ideas, about Wellbeing. It looks at Wellbeing in detail and puts forward a number of proposed Individual and National Measures of Wellbeing... More »
This is the Combined Output from two Probably42 Discussion groups on the topic of:Levelling Up - What is it? Why is it necessary? How should it be done? What counts as success?.. More »
Transforming our Democracy and Political System for the 21st Century Issue 2.6 October 2022. When it comes to democracy our vote is a blunt instrument: we normally have no input on political policies, often have to vote for the least-worst party, or even rely on our perception of the principles and values of a political party. Our vote’s value depends on whether we live in a marginal or safe seat. The adversarial system of Parliament, confrontational politics and constant distortion all polarise opinions and bring politics and politicians into disrepute. The media exacerbate this confrontation and distortion. The focus is on discord rather than solutions. This is one of our cornerstone documents. It looks at existing political issues, the objectives of an improved Digital Democracy and Political System in the 21st century and political strategies and ideas for addressing these. A summary of these policy proposals is given below and explained in the document: Introduce Majority Plus Voting – a new voting system that improves on both ‘First Past the Post’ and Proportional Representation Establish Digital Democracy including Enable Advisory Digital Voting at a policy level to allow our input and inform politicians. Make use of a Digital Identity card for security. Introduce a Digital Ideas System and associated policy development process to allow us to contribute ideas to policy development Trial vUK for developing consensus, learning from vTaiwan Combine Representative Democracy with elements of Direct Democracy clarifying the role of our representatives Improve Policy Development – using digital democracy, an enhanced role for Think Tanks and Manifestos with a standardised format Improve Diversity of Demographic Representation – a system ensuring representatives closer to our own view; who have more diverse work and life experience; are better qualified; better reflect the make-up of people in the country; with an adjusted role for parties and introducing a requirement for ‘chartered politician’ status for cabinet ministers. Enable Trusted Media Sources - which inform and educate rather than exacerbate the distortions of adversarial and confrontational politics Reorganise Government and Parliament including Create a Chamber of the Future focused on the long-term by replacing half the House of Lords to address the short-termism of politics. Establish associated long-term bodies and mechanisms responsible for future Scenario Planning and associated ‘Society Development’ and Contingency/Disaster Planning. Improve Devolved Decision making – more ‘Democracy on the doorstep’ and ‘Managing Bodies’ Establish annual factual progress and ‘state of nation’ reporting so we have a better view of how Government is actually performing underpinned by mirroring existing factual bodies like the ONS (Office of National Statistics) and OBR (Office of Budget Responsibility) to extend across all sectors of policy Introduce more subject expertise into our governing systems by establishing expert bodies (like the Covid SAGE panel) alongside every Government department; outsourcing more areas of responsibility to professionals, similar to the Bank of England; developing; a professional ‘Chartered Politician’ status for MPs as a requirement for ministerial office; addressing MP Diversity with respect to technology and business understanding given the chronic imbalance. Establish a formal channel to and from businesses for developing ideas and opportunities and assisting in tackling issues Address Adversarial Politics through a series of measures which tackle root causes of the excesses of the adversarial system, both in Parliament and in the media Develop and establish a written constitution which expires and is updated and renewed every 20 years in order to bring clarity to the public of our framework over the longer-term Make Governing for all a reality including: Define Governing for all measures - a measurement system to ensure Government for a fairer and better society Track Progress visibly – annual communication of progress and setbacks Create a National Fund and National Dividend Payment to make everyone feel they benefit from growth in the economy Require Employment Dividends - to make a direct connection between the success of a company and employees’ success Incorporate ‘Spirit of the Law’ features across our legal and regulatory systems to address the practice of pushing the ‘Letter of the Law’ to the limit Reform the Civil Service to address the many limitations that have built up and to transform its culture to be appropriate for a 21st Century Society in an Artificial Intelligence Future .. More »