Financial Times Weekend Festival Insights

For the fourth consecutive year, our Year 12 and 13 Economists participated in the Financial Times Weekend Festival, receiving virtual access to over 70 sessions on pressing global issues. From thought-provoking discussions on artificial intelligence to ideas about ethical eating and the nuances of investing, students explored a range of topics relevant to their studies.  One Year 12 student Samira shares on a few of her standout sessions: 

Tim Harford: The unintended consequences of AI 

In his session, Tim Harford explores the overreliance humans can develop as AI improves and the unintended consequences of this dependance. He uses the example of the Boeing Flight 447, demonstrating how AI malfunctioning can cause disasters when we become dependent on the AI’s support. The talk raised questions about our ability to work independently and what effect complacency might have, applied to self-driving cars, brainstorming, or picking candidates for a job interview. He refers to this as ‘falling asleep behind the wheel’ and I wonder how this will affect the world in the following years to come. 

The Ethics of Eating Steak 

Four food industry panelists, including a philosopher and a butcher, discuss the question ‘How can we justify eating steak?’ They argue the pros and cons of eating steak and its production, touching on negatives such as deforestation, intensive farming and carbon the footprint of eating steak, as well as the ethical and moral concerns around eating meat. However, they also consider that high quality beef is not an option for everyone, as some need meat but cannot afford to buy the expensive cuts, forced to opt for lower quality, protein dense meat. Families also eat steak for special occasions in restaurants, bonding and creating warm memories which stay with them for the rest of their lives. There is an argument that people have the right to indulge themselves and enjoy eating steak. The session raised questions about personal choice versus environmental and ethical concerns. 

Patrick Jenkins- When does Investing become Gambling  

Patrick Jenkins explores how younger generations can sometimes blur the lines between investing and gambling and can be confused as to what investing really is, using examples like NFT’s, betting and Cryptocurrency. I find it interesting how society can be driven by internet crazes and lack understanding of how real-world investing works, due to abundant misinformation on social media, and young people are encouraged to chase unrealistic ‘fads’. There seems to be a hunger to ‘get rich quick’ with the ‘easy route’. He urges financial literacy from an early age so people can understand what they are doing with their money. 

Students have been reflecting on these economic and social issues and their implications in their lessons.