Probably42 Ideas Factory puts forward an Ideas Manifesto for our future society

Probably42 Ideas Factory puts forward an Ideas Manifesto for our future society

Generating Ideas. Probably42 is all about generating new ideas to address some of the big issues of our time. It has now put together a Manifesto of these ideas, not aligned to any political party, to try and widen debate about what we want our future to look like in the 21^st century.

Probably42 sets out to encourage the idea of ‘knowledge networking’. In other words, bringing together our joint, knowledge, skills and experience to generate these ideas.

It does this through two main initiatives:

encouraging the formation of ‘Pie and Pint’ discussion groups

providing an online ‘Ideas Factory’ to capture and develop ideas on the web

The ‘Pie and Pint’ discussion groups are sociable and enjoyable events and Probably42 has developed a way of turning an enjoyable chat in the pub into something of real value, capturing the output on the Probably42 web site.

The web site offers ways of then commenting on and helping develop one another’s ideas, or of inputting completely new ones. The ideas are periodically assembled into the ‘Manifesto of Ideas’. This manifesto is then the centrepiece for making the best ideas visible more widely.

Probably42 is the brain-child of retired Berkshire businessman Tony Clack. Many of the initial ideas have been developed by him and a group of friends in their monthly ‘Pie and Pint’ meetings. Having proved it’s a valuable and enjoyable activity, they now want to invite anyone who cares about developing pragmatic solutions to problems to join them in setting up further ‘Pie and Pint’ groups. Details of how to get involved are on the www.probably42.net web site.

Thoughtful and balanced discussion. Probably42 also sets out to have its own personality. Balanced, Impartial, Factual, Respectful and Encouraging are some of the adjectives that apply to the approach. The idea is to get away from assertion and the confrontational discussions in the media and to ensure any subject is looked at thoughtfully and factually, recognising both pros and cons and respecting other’s opinions.

Focus on improving society, especially for the young and for future generations. Any ideas, on any topic, can be put forward. There is a central focus, however, on the Top 10 issues for the UK and coming up with pragmatic ideas and solutions to address these (which are not aligned to any particular party). This is all with a view to improving society in the long-term as well as short-term i.e. particularly for the younger amongst us, since they have the biggest investment in the future.

Already having an impact. There are already a significant number of ideas on Probably42 ranging from ‘Solving the Housing Crisis’, to ‘Elderly Social Care’ and how we should harness Artificial Intelligence. In fact, Probably42 has already made some of these ideas visible to Government in a submission to the House of Lords Select Committee on Artificial Intelligence.

Manifesto of Ideas for the future. Tony has drawn a number of the wider ideas together in a ‘strawman’ document for discussion ‘An Ideas Manifesto for society in the 21^st century’ which focuses on 10 top strategies and has 66 individual ideas to provide a better future. Imminent scientific and technological developments, such as AI and Robotics, and the opportunities they provide, are at its heart and it looks at the long-term, not just the short-term.

Now is the ideal time to re-examine what we want in the future. Tony says: ‘the change environment as a result of Brexit makes it an ideal time to re-think our future as a country; a time of change is always a time of opportunity. By not being allied to any particular political party and by focusing on the longer term, Probably42 hopes to help develop a menu of ideas that any of those parties can adopt. We hope the manifesto in particular might encourage a wider debate about what we all want our future to look like.’

Notes for Editors

In the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, 42 was the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe and everything.

Probably42 is the first initiative, and a trading name of, the Knowledge, Skills and Experience Foundation, a non-profit making Social Enterprise organisation set up by Tony Clack and colleague Dave Sinclair in their retirement.

Prior to his own retirement at age 69, Tony was the Founder and Managing Director of LaterLife, an organisation that he set up and ran together with Dave Sinclair and which became the leading provider of Retirement Courses all around the UK. (LaterLife was bought by Jelf Group in 2016).

Tony originally graduated from the University of Reading in 1969, having done the first ever Maths and Computer Science course at the University and subsequently did an M.Sc. at London University which included Artificial Intelligence even then. Tony spent 30 years in the IT industry in Senior Management positions, both in the UK and abroad, before fulfilling an ambition to run his own business by setting up LaterLife at the age of 54.

Tony can be contacted on:

Email: tony.clack@probably42.com

Tel: 07879 408339