28.9.2010
T-HT's third conference Growing through Knowledge was held today in the Hypo Center in Zagreb. This year it also hosted two distinguished, world-renowned thinkers and experts: professor Jeremy Rifkin, economist and social commentator, and Dr. Nicholas Christakis, internist and prominent expert in the area of social network research.
T-HT conference continues the tradition of high quality by hosting prominent persons, experts and scientists who help and contribute to the mankind in a recognizable way with their ideas, actions and engagement, encourage thinking or move to action, which is also confirmed by the lectures delivered by this year's speakers.
The guests of this year's conference also addressed very topical issues: emergence of the emphatic civilization, evolution of the human race, impact of the evolution on our development and how the evolution will eventually affect our survival on Earth. These are the topics which professor Rifkin addressed in detail in the first part of the conference, while in the second part Dr. Christakis drew attention to the fact that social networks affect practically every aspect of our lives - how we feel, who we vote for, how much we earn, who we fall in love with. He said that everything is connected to what others around us are doing, how they think and how they feel.
“Today we are going through the early stages of one more historical convergence between energy and communication or the third industrial revolution. It could extend empathy to the biosphere itself and the entire life on Earth. Distributive Internet revolution is connected with distributed renewable changes – thus enabling sustainable economy. It is globally connected and locally managed. Distribution is the key word in this context.”, said prof. Rifkin to the attendees of T-HT conference.
Dr. Christakis, an expert in the area of social network research, said that he does not only analyze recent social networks, but also social contacts through the centuries. “I study behavior patterns, emotions, contacts... I believe that today's social networks such as Facebook are not as important as they are believed to be. Just as the telephone did not change our behavior one hundred years ago, neither will social networks do so. People that you contact on social networks are most often not our real friends, but the persons with whom you may have a stronger interaction at a given moment. On the other hand, technology can help us realize who our real friends are”, said Dr. Christakis.
Beside the focus on new technologies and contents, the conference is particularly focused on the importance of vision, ideas, innovations and guidelines for the future and it addresses topical and relevant issues.
The President of the Management Board of HT, Ivica Mudrinić, pointed out that Croatia is on a turning point. “We have plunged into a social crisis and this is an opportunity to redefine the future. We can redefine national development in a sustainable way, without contributing to the destruction of the planet. The third industrial revolution, which professor Rifkin talked about, shows how this is possible. Knowledge drives our action and enables transformation and the company I am heading is working on sharing knowledge in the Croatian society”, concluded Mr. Mudrinić.
Apart from the fact that the conference has become a meeting point for representatives of business, political and academic communities in Croatia, as well as T-HT's employees, it also marked the third anniversary of IPO, officially launched on 5 October 2007.