Shimon Peres offers vision to bloggers at Le Web 3

Shimon Peres paid us a visit today at Le Web 3. It was great to listen as the Nobel Prize winner developed his vision of the future of mankind, declaring that "the world is not a mess. It is pregnant: a new age is coming, marking the end of the stone age". The experience of having Mr Peres here was just great and I will simply give you a few of his most striking declarations here, some of which are pretty radical:

"... we are moving from traditional memory to intellectual imagination. The world is created through what people discover and imagine today, not through the memory of past events. Bloggers and the Internet community has freed the world from the obligation to remember. Everything that needs to be known is available, recorded online, so now we can turn the energy of our minds to the future, to imagination and creation."
"I think young people will stop reading newspapers and watching television. They will use the Internet to access information when and where they want."
"States, countries, borders and governments don't mean that much anymore. They made sense when wealth was derived from the land [...] Past history is written in red ink, in blood [...] Borders do not stop knowledge from flowing, armies cannot conquer knowledge and governments cannot control economies [...]Today to be successful a young person does not need to kill and conquer."
"Wealth is not defined by accumulation of capital, but by penetration. It's not what a company owns that makes its value, but rather the potential it holds to imagine, create and bring to life future business."
"The strength of a country cannot be counted in number of square miles it controls, but rather in number of patents it files."
"Modern economy cannot be run without transparency and decency, since a company's value is its potential to create wealth, the talents of its people."
"Economy cannot be measured by bookkeepers. It needs people with sharp eyes who can identify potential."
"I met China's politburo recently. I was stunned by their current philosophy, which is harmony: harmony between humans, harmony between man and nature, harmony nation to nation [...] It felt like the time I spent in a Kibboutz when I was young!"
"Democracy is the right to be different, the right to make mistakes and the obligation to correct them."
"I am an optimist. Optimists and pessimists die the same way, but they live very differently."
"Religions are opium for the people. You can sell opium, but you can't live on it. Even the Ayatollahs need more than enriched uranium to feed their children."

Extremely inspiring thoughts that actually brought some fresh air in a conference that contains more than a fair share of gadgets, egos, masks and sometimes complete bull-shit (although the content is often very good). When asked what bloggers could do to help solve the problems of the Middle-East, Shimon Peres paused and said "that's an interesting question... Well, you should go there take initiatives, start companies, build schools, open shops and create wealth... Do it on your own, not under the flag of any government. People will welcome you with open arms!"

Quite an invitation!