The official themes for the World Economic Forum WEF annual Davos meetings have usually been an accurate reflection of the most pivotal global situation of the time. The 2026 theme is "A spirit of dialogue". While at first glance it may seem an innocuous phrase, closer inspection reveals that it is deeply apposite to an alarming set of trends that have arisen fairly recently. At peril is not only the spirit of dialogue, but the concept of civilised dialogue itself, on which so much of the modern world has been constructed.
In his book Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow the philosopher Yuval Harari wrote that "the greatest scientific discovery was the discovery of ignorance." This meant that thinkers and even institutions were prepared to accept that they did not have all the answers and that they were prepared to change their minds in the light of new information.
We take this for granted today. It is the basis of all scientific research, and in fact of almost all our belief systems - except for religious faith. Before the "discovery of ignorance" people put their faith in series of precepts and many refused to admit that the ideas they had inherited could have been wrong.
