Society

The core reason is the remarkable surge in asset inflation, coupled with low interest rates and QE, which has entirely disrupted a decade's financial landscape. This dynamic favoring those with assets, often at the detriment of the upcoming generation, is at the heart of the crisis.

She corrected me, saying, 'Dad, it's not just about avoiding the negative; I want my investments to contribute positively.' The rise of impact investing is undeniable. This generation seeks a hands-on approach to their wealth deployment. They're astute enough to demand both positive societal impact and good returns.

The defining feature of our era is that the next generation are bona fide digital natives. They're backed by technology, making them tech-empowered. Thanks to social media, they can sway vast audiences in mere moments. They possess a crystal-clear agenda about the environment, justice, equality, and beyond just financial markets, they're reshaping social and political narratives.

We're no longer just measuring ourselves against the 120 members of our local community. Instead, with our devices, we're exposed to global icons like Bill Gates, Oprah, or LeBron James, setting standards for our intelligence, beauty, and self-worth. This expanded comparison can be detrimental.

One major overhead entrepreneurial business often grapple with is the exorbitant rent in cities. Moving to a smaller town offers a significant reduction in these costs and promotes regional economic balance.

Founder and CEO of Zoho Corporation, cloud computing company

Unfortunately, we've become so adept at concealing our problems that we often brush aside reproductive and women's health issues. It's as though discussing them is taboo. Now, it feels like showing strength means not voicing any discomfort or pain. However, there comes a point when silence is no longer an option.

British TV presenter, singer, and classical musician from Pop Idol

Think of it this way: you wouldn't hand someone car keys without briefing them about potential car troubles, right? Yet, with women, it feels like we're just careening through our reproductive experiences, unguided. We have women experiencing miscarriages in A&E, waiting alongside patients with diverse emergencies. In such critical moments, timely intervention with progesterone could potentially save thousands of babies annually.

British TV presenter, singer, and classical musician from Pop Idol

Digital technology and instant news cycles, together with the aggressive marketing of fear-mitigating products and services, are certainly driving fear in contemporary society. Today, fear is closely related to the problem of misinformation and disinformation, and to the erosion of trust in political institutions.

Today, policies are sold to us largely on the basis of fear, or fear mitigation: from immigration to climate change, from health services to defence. It's less about promoting a progressive vision of the future and more about playing to our fears of what might happen if we don't toe a particular line.

Fear isn't just a neurophysiological phenomenon; it's also socio-cultural. We're enculturated to fear; it's something that we inherit, acquire, and learn – which implies that there is possibility of 'unlearning' our fear.

Fear has had a huge impact on human societies throughout history, and as science and archaeology are increasingly suggesting through prehistory, too. But my main interest is in how fear has been used as an instrument of power, wielded by rulers to consolidate their authority, and to manage their populations.

Human beings seem like their default recreation is sedation. For some reason, getting drunk at a bar is the default in what people do for fun, which I find bizarre.

Professional BASE jumper and skydiver known for extreme cliff jumping

In general, 90% of people are overmedicating themselves with either drinking, smoking weed, whatever it is. People do not want to be uncomfortable, they cannot stand discomfort.

Professional BASE jumper and skydiver known for extreme cliff jumping

The more pronounced a group identity is, especially when an identifiable outgroup exists, the more likely individuals are to dehumanize those not in their group.

Fictions grant us a semblance of understanding, a hint of control, and a sense of community during times of solitude. This makes misinformation appealing, as it fulfils these basic human desires: comprehension, control, and community.

The idea of time as something distinct from us, which we are then having to fight and struggle with all the time would simply not have existed to the mediaeval English peasant, who would have existed much more in what anthropologists call 'task orientation'.

Guardian columnist & author on psychology, time management, and happiness