I Think Opinions

Time for some reflection

Now that 2024 is nearing its end it may be a good time to reflect on this year.

By Marco C. Janssen, UTInnovation, the Netherlands

In today’s society we are witnessing extreme levels of intolerance and the simple refusal to listen to anything that does not align with our own beliefs.

I have been thinking about what I would be able to write about 2024 and there is one word that summarizes it for me “polarization.” 

With the war in Ukraine, the events in Gaza and Lebanon, the American election, the tensions between North and South Korea, the attacks on ships in the Red Sea, the announcement by the BRICS countries launching a new currency, the floodings in Valencia, Neuralink implanting a ‘brain-reading’ device into a person for the first time, the death of Alexei Navalny, the wave of violence in Haiti, the kidnapping of 300 children in Nigeria, the Oscars for Oppenheimer, Finland being the happiest country for the seventh year in a row, a cargo ship striking a bridge in Baltimore, climate change slowing the rotation of Earth, Taylor Swift’s world tour, the Vietnamese real estate tycoon Truong My Lan being sentenced to death, the Iranian strike on Israel with 300 drones and missiles, Donald Trump’s trials, UAE’s record rainfall in 75 years, NASA repairing and recoding Voyager 1, the election in the UK, the Chinese landing on the far side of the moon, the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landing, antiviral drug showing 100% HIV prevention, the update error grounding flights and shutting down bank and media companies around the world, the hottest days being recorded, the Venezuelan election, the Paris Olympics, the wildfires in Portugal, China setting a world record for the most resistive magnet, at 42.02 Tesla, Tesla unveiling the driverless Robotaxi, and many other positive and negative events happening there is more than enough to write about, but for me the key word that summarizes the year, remains “polarization.” 

The simple fact that it has become virtually impossible to have a normal debate or discussion between people with opposing views without it ending in a fight, since the common belief is that if you disagree with me, you must be my enemy. This attitude is leading to increased tensions around the world as every topic has a tendency to become “controversial” since people have stopped listening to each other and more importantly have stopped talking.

In my opinion the key to positive development of the human race is the sharing of thoughts, experience, knowledge, facts, ideas and opinions. If these are exchanged between people with an open mind, then one plus one becomes exponentially more than two. This has been proven by humanity time and time again. 

Yet, in today’s society we are witnessing extreme levels of intolerance and the simple refusal to listen to anything that does not align with our own beliefs.

So how are we supposed to learn if we no longer listen and share our thoughts? How are we going to avoid making the same, or similar mistakes as our ancestors, if we do not wish to analyze and discuss how to do things better? As it was nicely summarized in Pink Floyd’s song “Keep Talking” – It doesn’t have to be like this. All we need to do is make sure we keep talking.

So, I truly hope that 2025 will be the year of reason where we leave behind the polarization in our society and start discussing and accepting facts again without feeling offended if someone disagrees with us.

I wish you all happy holidays and a wonderful open minded 2025!

Biography:

Marco C. Janssen is the CEO of UTInnovation and the former VP of Operational Excellence at TAQA, Digital Grid Leader for Latin America at EY and Director of the Smart Grid PMO at DEWA. He received his BSc degree in Electrical Engineering from the Polytechnic in Arnhem, Netherlands and has worked for over 33 years in the field of Power and Water O&M, Digital Transformation, Protection, AMI and Distribution and Substation Automation. He was a member of IEC TC57 WG 10, 17, 18, 19, the IEEE PES PSRC and CIGRE B5 and D2 WGs. He was the convenor of D2.35 and editor of the Quality Assurance Program for the Testing Subcommittee of the UCA International Users Group. He holds one patent, is the author of the book titled “Recreating the Power Grid”, has authored more than 53 papers, is co-author of 4 Cigre Technical Brochures and 2 books on SmartGrids and Electrical Power Substations Engineering and is the author of the “I Think” column in the PAC World magazine.