By Alec Hogg
At one of the Davos dinners last year, musician Peter Gabriel gave us an impromptu and unforgettable “jam session” with cellist Zoe Keating. Equally memorable were his comments about how to stimulate creativity. When his creative juices run dry, said the co-founder of supergroup Genesis, he takes a train ride. Gabriel reckons watching landscape rushing past awakens a primordial section of his brain, digging reminders of how to think fast while running from a prehistoric predator.
Another way of opening the mind is to travel. During our brief stop-over in London en route to this week’s Davos gathering it hit me how deeply ingrained the digital revolution is over here. I rode in my first Uber taxi; navigated public transport with the Citymapper App; went online to secure seats for a West End show; and used Trip Advisor to discover an excellent Korean restaurant.
In advanced economies, the great disruptor has moved past the media sector onto taxis, hotels and exposing bad restaurants. Sharpening competition. A quiet but deeply positive spinoff of how the Information Age changes everything. Even though it takes a little longer to reach some parts of the world.
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