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Recent Discussion Forum Topics
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The topic for June is: The top 10 issues and opportunities of... more
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The topic for May is: Reform UK’s progress and the impact... more
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We are pleased to publish a new version of our... more
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April's topic is:
The intertwined excesses of the media and... more -
The Societal Implications of AI and technological change
While... more
Give it some thought!
Welcome to Probably42
New to the site?
Probably42 is all about developing ideas, both face-to-face and online and is open to anyone who values balanced and considered discussion to participate and contribute.
Our flagship output is our short Manifesto of Ideas for Society in an Artificial Intelligence Future. This is supported by 25 'Considered Proposals'. These contain some 400 ideas overall.
Our discussions focus on the big political issues and opportunities of our time in the UK. Our aim is to influence decision-makers by contributing pragmatic ideas for improving society.
We are an Independent UK Think Tank operating an Ideas Factory nationwide. Probably42 is not aligned to any political party and is made up of ordinary people, with varied business, science, technology, arts, media and education backgrounds across private and public sector.
See About Probably42 to find out more.
You can see certain things without being a member and signing in, but do become a member so you can see all the ideas and be able to comment on them or add your own. It's free and you can delete your membership at any time should you want to.
Announcements
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A Manifesto for Society in the AI Future
We are pleased to publish a new version of our document A Manifesto for Society in the AI Future. This is the 9th major update to what is our flagship document. It puts forward the most transformative ideas from our many discussions. if you want to know what Probably42 is all about then this is the document to focus on.
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Latest Outputs
Media-Adversarial Politics-Impact on Effective Democracy - April 25
AI - The Societal Implications - Mar 25
Artificial Intelligence and Copyright - Feb 25
Free Speech - How free should it be? - Jan 25
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Vision and Ambition for the Future
Our Manifesto for Society in the Artificial Intelligence Future (Summary Version) which is just 5 pages as a strawman input to any of the political parties developing their own Vision and Ambition for the Future.
Recent Discussion Posts
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The topic for June is: The top 10 issues and opportunities of... more -
The output of Probably42 discussions on this topic is now... more
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The topic for May is: Reform UK’s progress and the impact... more
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We are pleased to publish a new version of our... more
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The output from Probably42 discussions on
The Intertwined... more
Probably42 in Brief
Probably42 is an Independent UK Think Tank and Ideas Factory operating nationwide both online and offline.
It sits within the Knowledge Skills and Experience Foundation.
Our discussions focus on the top big political issues and opportunities of our time in the UK. We generate transformative and pragmatic political ideas through a Knowledge Network of ordinary people engaging in well-balanced political debate, harnessing everyone’s Knowledge, Skills and Experience.
Our Manifesto of Ideas focuses on 10 top strategies and political policies with a particular emphasis on ‘Artificial Intelligence impact on Society’, and ‘Digital Democracy’. The impact of AI on society and particularly the work disruption aspect, will be totally pervasive over the next 20 years. Digital Democracy can enable us to be better informed, better consulted and better represented.
Our aim is to be part of that Digital Democracy (or e-democracy) in the UK, by encouraging political debate and discussion groups online and via video-conferencing to address the big political issues in society now and in the future.
Probably42 is a very different Think Tank. It is open to anyone who values balanced and considered discussion to participate and contribute with views from across the political spectrum. Our big ideas groups are very social groups with a relaxed atmosphere and plenty of humour. We very much want to encourage participation by all age groups but if you are looking for retirement ideas and what to do in retirement, getting involved is a great retirement activity and by now you have plenty of Knowledge, Skills and Experience to offer. If you are interested in getting involved in politics in a small but interesting way, Probably42 is for you. You can get involved by commenting in our discussion forums, commenting on our ideas papers or joining one of our Ideas Groups.
Our big ideas groups strive to find solutions to the big political issues in the UK, which we believe will be acceptable to the majority of people in the UK. Underlying everything we do is a set of Values and Principles, which we call Principled Pragmatism. You’ll find an explanation of these Values and Principles in our document A Manifesto for Society in the Artificial Intelligence Future.
Are you familiar with Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy? If so you will probably have realised that the 42 in our name is no accident. We can’t quite claim we are the answer to life, the universe and everything, just probably!
Wondering where to start? Take a look at our Manifesto for Society in the Artificial Intelligence Future (Summary Version) which will give you a view of te areas we tackle and our thinking to date.
All our outputs are open source for use by anyone.
What's New
- # Probably42 created a new document:
This is the combined output of two Probably42 discussion groups.- Jun 5
- # Probably42 created a new document: This document 'The Intertwined Excesses of the Media and Adversarial Politics and their Impact on Effective Democracy' is the output of Probably42 discussion groups Deep Thought and Zero Gravity. In it we revisit previous discussions of the subjec...
- # Probably42 created a new document: This document 'Artificial Intelligence - The Societal Implications' is one of our 'Considered Proposals'. While The UK Government is now fully behind the opportunities for Artificial Intelligence (AI) in both Public and Private Sector, it appears to be in...
- # Probably42 created a new document: This document is the output of the two Probably42 discussion groups Deep Thought and Zero Gravity. The output was fed into the Government Consultation on the subject. Importantly it puts forward an alternative approach which instead of pitting the C...
- # Probably42 created a new document: This document Free Speech - How free should it be? is one of our Probably42 Considered Proposals. This document is based on the premise that we want to put as few constraints on freedom of expression as possible but also enhance our ability to freely dec...
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David Sinclair → Rob Donnelly: Hi Rob. Welcome to P42. I hope you find it stimulating and interesting. - David Sinclair → Andy MacNaughton: Welcome Andy. I hope you enjoy your time with Probably42.
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Rob Donnelly has just signed up. Say hello! - Andy MacNaughton has just signed up. Say hello!
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Kevin Johnson → Doug LITTLEJOHNS: Hello Doug, welcome to this thought provoking space. What a CV! In passing Tom Clancy just happens to probably be my favourite author!-
Hello Kevin. Such a pity he died so early but I have some great memories of late night discussions over his 'sipping whisky'. I look forward to meeting you online next week
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Chris Barnes Happy New Year 2023 to all Probably42ers wherever you may be. -
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Keith Hill → Doug LITTLEJOHNS: Hi Doug, welcome to P42, great to have a member from the south west. Hope you'll be able join some of our on line meetings.
Kind regards
Keith-
Keith, Thank you for contact. Still very much a new boy and trying to reorganise my days to devote time to Probably42. When I have reordered my hectic life I will look into Zero Gravity. Doug
