# Did you get to attend Davos? - Durwin Ho

**Published by:** [Durwin](https://paragraph.com/@durwin/)
**Published on:** 2023-02-07
**URL:** https://paragraph.com/@durwin/did-you-get-to-attend-davos-durwin-ho

## Content

The World Economic Forum at Davos has been for years a controversial point for many.No I didn’t get the invite. Perhaps they sent it via pigeon mail and the pigeon that was supposed to deliver the invite to me got attacked by a Peregrine Falcon en route. But 703 very important, very wealthy and very influential people got the invite. I should have listened to my mother and studied harder in school. The theme for Davos 2023 is “Cooperation in a Fragmented World”. Hundreds of prominent and very powerful people gather in subzero temperature at the fairly remote ski town in Switzerland “to reaffirm the value and imperative of dialogue and public-private cooperation, not only to navigate the current cascading crises but, more importantly, to drive tangible, system-positive change for the long term.” Like any important agenda or mission, the elders and key decision makers would gather around to plan and decide the fate of the world. That is how life works.Is WEF an elitist club gala or a fair representation of world leaders there to make tangible, practical changes for the rest of the world?Don’t believe me? See Lord of the Rings, the fellowship consisting of only the most important characters in Middle-earth, would gather and plot to stop the great evil Sauron. Ask the 12 holy knights of the Round Table. Ask Optimus Prime when he gathered all his remaining Autobots and gave a war chant before engaging the Decepticons in battle. See how the top honchos of the largest bank in the world gathered at 4am to discuss how they would offload their worthless stocks to the rest of the world and trigger the 2008 financial crisis. You get the point. So are you wondering how to get an invite? “Membership is by invitation only and a result of a diligent review of selection criteria. Typical Forum Members exceed their industry standards in a variety of metrics, are interested in their role as a global citizen and have a track record of outstanding leadership, setting the bar for business best practices.” I didn’t get to attend Davos but I read about reports and news about what people said at the forum. “BlackRock doesn’t have a mandate to make the planet a better place, just to maximize people’s profits.” That’s Larry Fink, the omnipotent CEO of BlackRock, and arguably one of the most powerful person in the world.Fink’s net worth was estimated at US$1 billion according to Forbes MagazineHe has a net worth of $1B and “was named one of the US’ top “climate villains” by The Guardian due to BlackRock profiting from deforestation.” BlackRock has more than $10 Trillion of assets under management as of 2021. That essentially makes them a country on their own right. So when he attends the World Economic Forum and declares that his company has no need to save the world but make their own shareholders happy with more cash, it makes you wonder. Strictly speaking, he isn’t wrong. And if I was a shareholder hearing him speak this, I would nod my head in agreement too. Larry Fink is on the WEF board by the way. Fun fact: Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Senior Minister, Government of Singapore is on the Board of trustees for the WEF too. Tiny Singapore represent! Then we heard Jamie Dimon, the CEO of JPMorgan, castigate Bitcoin.Does Jamie Dimon love or hate btc? We may never know.Again? Yep, he has been swinging like a pendulum back and forth his love/hate for BTC over the years. He has called it a fraud, scam, “goes to nothing” and also called it “massively undervalued” and allowed their own clients to purchase BTC via JPM. Confuse much? So maybe people go to Davos to strategise real policies to change the world, or to build political points with fellow comrades or just for the entertainment. Either way, I am still waiting on the damn pigeon that was supposed to deliver my WEF invite! - Would you like to attend WEF at Davos next year? - #startups #business #startupx #growth #success #socialmedia #culture #entrepreneurship #strategy #eth #btc #crypto #larryfink #davos #wef #blackrock #NFT #switzerland #worldeconomicforum #world

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