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In this Telescope LENS Q&A, we talk with Erika Staël von Holstein, Co-Founder and Chief Executive of Re-Imagine Europa. Drawing from her expertise in neuroscience and narrative strategy, Erika shares insights on how our thinking patterns shape reality, why we need to listen to those we disagree with, and how AI can help us build wiser technology by understanding the limits of our own narratives.
At Re-Imagine Europa, we apply cutting-edge research from neuroscience, psychology, philosophy, sociology, and behavioral science to understanding what is happening in our brains and how our minds and thinking patterns are being weaponized in society. We have an in-house team of narrative scientists, and I'm an expert in depolarizing topics and looking at disinformation.
We were created in recognition that with the arrival of digital technologies, the world drastically changed. This is the third big communication revolution in history. Writing took about 3,000 years to tame. The printing press took around 300 years in Europe. We're still in the middle of the digital revolution, and we're already entering the AI and quantum revolution.
The impact of these technologies is so much more than technological fixes. They reshape how we organize our society, the power structures we have, how our economies work. Giscard d'Estaing used to say one of the reasons our current system isn't working is because it was created for a different world. Time and space are different in an analog world than in a digital world. AI is going to put that on steroids.
This strategy for change is what fascinates us. We don't know how the world is going to change, but we can assume it's going to change a lot in the years to come. This is where I think there's a lot of commonalities with what the Foundation is doing.
The defining emotions in Europe today are fear about the future, anger about today, and nostalgia for the past. Decisions made in fear are usually not the wisest or most long-standing ones.
However, this is where I think AI really has a huge opportunity: how do we create a sense of agency? A lot of people today feel they don't really have an impact on how the world is going. We're currently living through one of the biggest revolutions in history. The decisions we make today are going to define the future. Bizarrely enough, we're actually having more agency today than we would have in different times.
The starting point is that nobody knows what the future will look like. Nobody has the answers about how to organize this. So all ideas are valid, and the more different ideas we bring to the table, the better the new ideas that come out of it.
A little bit controversial, but I always say we really have to listen to the people we disagree with. We have to listen to the extremists if we're centrist, or to the centrist if we're more on the other side. Understanding the limits of our own thinking is going to help us come up with the ideas we desperately need to manage these very powerful technologies.
A lot of the problems today are actually rooted in how we think rather than in reality out there. When there's ontological uncertainty, we revert back to old models. Right now the dominant narrative is that AI will only increase inequality and create worse scarcity.
But Wittgenstein used to say the limit of our language is the limit of our world. I usually paraphrase that: the limit of our narrative is the limit of our horizon. If we're only focusing on old models of thinking, we're going to reach the same conclusions as last time. Last time we were so blinded by excitement that we didn't realize all the side effects happening simultaneously.
What's interesting now is we've already gone through this in our lifetime. We learned from the lessons of the digital revolution. We know what went wrong. So now we can ask: how do we do this the right way?
What AI can do, which digital couldn't, is hyper-personalization. Nature hyper-personalizes everything. Bees look very different even 100 kilometers apart because they adapt to their surroundings. We can do exactly the same with AI. This hyper-localization can avoid some of the more drastic elements we've seen with the digital revolution. I am very hopeful that if we have the right mindset, we can fix many of the problems we created with the first wave.
The Italian economist Enrico Giovannini told me recently, "Erica, today we have the wrong data, the wrong models, and the wrong theories. Of course we're running in the wrong direction."
This links very much to the narrative: if we're focusing in the wrong direction, that's where we're going to go. Our research shows that a growing number of Europeans do not believe GDP growth is a good measure for well-being. So what are better things to count if we want to reach the goals we want to achieve?
Lao Tzu said you have to beware of your thoughts because your thoughts become your words. Beware of your words because your words become your actions. Your actions become your habits, your habits become your character, and your character becomes your destiny. If we get the thinking right, it's a good way to get the action right.
What gives me the most hope are people who are willing to go out and speak to those who think radically different from them, not to convince them they're wrong, but to actually listen. To step out from your group, their group, and start creating bridges.
We're so accustomed today to not wanting to speak to anyone who disagrees with us. This is really very dangerous because fundamentally we're human, so we do agree on most things. If we can just understand what it's about for that other person, we probably will agree with them.
My thing would be: how do we create technology that is wiser and not only smarter?
In this Telescope LENS Q&A, we talk with Erika Staël von Holstein, Co-Founder and Chief Executive of Re-Imagine Europa. Drawing from her expertise in neuroscience and narrative strategy, Erika shares insights on how our thinking patterns shape reality, why we need to listen to those we disagree with, and how AI can help us build wiser technology by understanding the limits of our own narratives.
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In this Telescope LENS Q&A, we talk with Michelle Giuda, CEO of the Krach Institute for Tech Diplomacy at Purdue University. From her perspective as both a former student athlete and a leader in global technology policy, Michelle shares insights on how the United States and its allies can deliberately shape a future of freedom, prosperity, and security, powered by trusted technology and new models of collaboration.
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In this Telescope LENS Q&A, we talk with Kristen Edgreen Kaufman, Senior Vice President of Global Impact Initiatives at the U.S. Council for International Business (USCIB). With extensive experience bridging global public policy and private sector interests, Kristen shares insights on fostering innovation ecosystems, building coalitions across political divides, and ensuring American competitiveness in emerging technologies.
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In this Telescope LENS Q&A, we talk with Chris Massey, founder and CEO of The Brds Nst. Drawing from his diverse experience across government and private sector, Chris shares insights on demystifying government for entrepreneurs, the transformative potential of AI across healthcare and elder care, and how innovation can serve both security and prosperity when we all "row in the same direction."
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In this Telescope LENS Q&A, we talk with Heather Panton, General Counsel at Labrys Technologies. A former national security lawyer in the UK government who transitioned to the startup space two years ago, Heather shares insights on building compliance into innovation from the ground up, bridging the gap between private sector innovation and government needs, and creating technology that serves the public good.
