« Previous post
Next post »

January 24, 2008

Bono Responds To The Davos Question

Michael Arrington

61 comments »

I mentioned the Davos Conversation YouTube site a few days ago, where anyone can create a YouTube video and answer the question “What one thing do you think that countries, companies or individuals must do to make the world a better place in 2008?” and upload it to the Davos Conversation YouTube site.

A few minutes ago Bono answered the question here at the conference. He was surrounded by press, of course, and a couple of bloggers (you’ll notice Robert Scoble (his Qik video) prominently in the video, and I pop my head in as well).

Bono had just left a breakfast talk with Al Gore on the subject of climate change…Scoble and I arrived early and took the best seats up front and center. The access that the conference is giving us is incredible.

  • Sphere It

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 24th, 2008 at 12:50 am and is filed under Events. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

Trackbacks/Pings (Trackback URL)

  1. More Davos namedropping…Bono and Mike Arrington « Scobleizer — Tech geek blogger

    January 24th, 2008 at 1:52 am

  2. The Super-Awesome YouTube Room At Davos

    January 26th, 2008 at 2:54 am

  3. The Super-Awesome YouTube Room At Davos | tips tech blog

    January 27th, 2008 at 3:27 pm

Comments

RSS feed for comments on this post.

  1. Search◊ Engines Web

    January 24th, 2008 at 12:56 am

    NOT Forgetting the past. Not Denying the past. Not Running away from the past!!

    http://searchengines.wordpress.....t-century/

    As if society actually LEARNS from its mistakes. :-(

  2. TechnoQ

    January 24th, 2008 at 1:09 am

    Am looking forward for some more celebrities!!!

    http://technoq.blogspot.com

  3. Shannon Clark

    January 24th, 2008 at 1:12 am

    In twitter I suggested that sometime in the next 3 months someone with a cell phone will capture video that makes news - both what they capture and the video itself. In a small way this post illustrates my point - I watched Scoble’s qik video, now not long after that I can read this post and watch the “official” video via YouTube - all minutes after it happen (or in the case of the Qik video as it happens).

    All in all we live in incredible times - and as I also noted on twitter - I’m jealous of you both for being at Davos, on my very short list of things I really want to do.

    Something I’m curious about - besides the “big” names (Bono, Gore etc) what you are finding from conversations with everyone else - my impression of Davos is that I’m guessing everyone there has an interesting background and does many things - business, political & thought leaders from around the globe. In particular what are you finding people’s thoughts, especially outside of the US, are about the state of the world economy? (especially important given the market & Fed moves already this week)

    Hope you all are having a great time and keep reporting back to those of us back here in the States…

    Shannon

  4. Michael Arrington

    January 24th, 2008 at 1:16 am

    Shannon - I’ll be writing up my thoughts when I actually have time to reflect and breathe a little. Things are moving really fast here, and I’m just trying to keep up. As soon as I’m done skiing this weekend I’ll be posting.

  5. Matt Schlicht

    January 24th, 2008 at 1:21 am

    Man, when do you get back?

    (BTW - I met you at The Crunchies, nice meeting you man. I totally plan on partying at your house in the future.)

    -Matt Schlicht (Minds1anda.com)
    Ustream.tv

  6. Jason

    January 24th, 2008 at 1:26 am

    “sometime in the next 3 months someone with a cell phone will capture video that makes news”

    Really? Hasn’t this happens for years? Don’t you remember the Saddam hanging footage?

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wor.....225337.stm

  7. other

    January 24th, 2008 at 1:30 am

    Is that a picture of him looking at a picture of himself? SPACETIME CONTINUUM IS IN DANGER

  8. Faramarz

    January 24th, 2008 at 1:44 am

    Michael i missed your posts man haha. get back soon! (this requires google jet) :P

  9. Shannon Clark

    January 24th, 2008 at 1:51 am

    Jason, true - I guess I was thinking about how someone now may be able to broadcast news as it happens (though it may still take a while for people to become aware of that video). Recorded videos by individuals have been happening with growing frequency - what I think has now changed is that individuals can also broadcast those videos in near realtime - so the news could break in realtime as well.

  10. Shafqat

    January 24th, 2008 at 2:05 am

    I agree.. looking forward to hearing about real actionable ideas that come out of Davos.

    Mike - where are you skiing? Zermatt is nearby and awesome for skiing.

  11. kayoone

    January 24th, 2008 at 2:26 am

    haha, so funny how Scoble realizes that his finger is on the lens and screwing it up bigtime…

  12. Rajeev

    January 24th, 2008 at 2:27 am

    I think best thing to do would be

    1. Control Population and hense poverty and crime
    2. Shun Strtegic Myopism and Save planet Earth from filthy Corporate pollution
    3. Control Crime against men and women and children
    4. Develop sustainable technology

    http://tekno-world.blogspot.com

  13. techyob

    January 24th, 2008 at 2:33 am

    “Dont change your lightbulb, change your leaders” - Thomas Friedman.

    Snice.

  14. Bono

    January 24th, 2008 at 2:57 am

    OMG !!! Michael Arrington is in Davos !!!
    OMG !!! Scoble is in Davos !!!
    OMG !!! They took the best seats up front and center !!!
    OMG !!! They are SOOO cool !!!

    Grow up kids.

  15. Matt Brian

    January 24th, 2008 at 3:08 am

    At one point it looks like Scoble is playing his N95 like a recorder, the finger action is intense!

    What’s the difference between Bono and God? God doesn’t think he’s Bono.

  16. The Edge

    January 24th, 2008 at 3:09 am

    OMG !!! Bono is in Davos!!!

    Get off that highest of high horses, having just moved U2 Global Corp to Amsterdam for tax reasons AND setting up Elevation Partners- an Investment Company why is anyone going to take you seriously?

  17. Adam

    January 24th, 2008 at 3:27 am

    I can’t believe Bono did that….

  18. Mastur Bating Attentionwhorez

    January 24th, 2008 at 3:39 am

    1. Bono still wearing his ridiculous sun glasses.
    2. Bono repeating a revolutionary sounding sentence of someone else, but not being ready to answer any questions.
    3. Bono watching himself in his video.
    4. Scoble making sure he’s seen with Bono.
    5. Michael Arrington making sure everybody knows he’s there, too.

    Does anybody realize that no problem ever got solved thanks to events like these?

  19. Andy

    January 24th, 2008 at 3:42 am

    Bono who?

    Since when has he been relevant?

  20. candy lopez

    January 24th, 2008 at 3:56 am

    omg!!!!!
    come visit my website for new cool videos!!!!
    no registration require!!!

  21. Robby Hopper

    January 24th, 2008 at 4:30 am

    CAPTAIN PLANNNNNET,and of course his trusty side kick sancho—–I mean bono. Once again they come,in peace,to save a dying world. They will embrace the windmill –not fight it. Ice Core Samples,rational inquirey,ulterior motives——Man/woman,get in touch with your feeeelings !!

  22. Autdit

    January 24th, 2008 at 4:38 am

    None of those journalists will go to Bono next year this time and ask which (if any) of his promises he has kept.
    Because the answer is known.

  23. hhp2k

    January 24th, 2008 at 4:43 am

    unbelivable!
    look at this: http://www.spymac.com/details/?2334927

  24. Scogostology

    January 24th, 2008 at 4:58 am

    Bono is the good guy and he is wise too

  25. Darren

    January 24th, 2008 at 5:01 am

    Extreme poverty, Climate change but where were the details on what web20 companies that Elevation Partners are looking to buy :p

  26. Jim Wales

    January 24th, 2008 at 5:02 am

    I mean, it’s OK to care about nothing else but the $$$.

    But then at least let’s just be honest about it and drop the “let’s save the world” bullsh#t.

  27. ipanema

    January 24th, 2008 at 5:10 am

    i haven’t watched his response. but it shouldn’t be a shocker. it’s the same things over and over again. i have been following Davos through the years and it gets exciting and monotonous at the same time.

    will somebody change the Davos Question please? how many times have we been asking that? i think most students have been asked that. in an Economic Forum such as Davos, does the question weigh much or rather mean something? it is repetition of an old classroom Q&A unless these countries, companies and individuals mean what they say. until then, nothing is solved.

    what are these celebrities have to offer besides glamour in Davos? what’s the aim? i hope Bono didn’t liken Gore to an Irish priest in his soliloquy.

  28. Alaskan Carnivore

    January 24th, 2008 at 5:33 am

    AlGore warms the globe with hot air every day..

    But, thankfully the frozen ground in Davos quickly cools his tracks, and the U.S. economic engine just keeps chugging along..

    With or without the Oscar statues, gold medals etc..

    Slan..

  29. MikeT

    January 24th, 2008 at 5:54 am

    1. Since when is TechCrunch a non-web2.0 blog?
    2. What does Davos have to do with the web and its trends?
    3. Why do I have to watch Bono on TC?
    4. How is this post going to satisfy my needs for information about the web - the stuff I expect to see when I visit TC?
    5. In the future, shall I expect to see stuff about G7, NATO, GreenPeace conventions on TC?
    6. Why would TC spend time on covering such things, instead of spending it on crunching some numbers and offering some analysis on how many new web 2.0 sites are out there, what their valuations are, who leads in what, what new ideas are out there, what are the success factors of behemoths like YouTube-FaceBook-Apple, etc-etc-etc?

  30. Fatboy

    January 24th, 2008 at 6:08 am

    Look at the video with Scoble/Bono again. Is that a fatter version of Hugh Mcleod (Gaping Void) stood next too him or has Hugh just put on more weight.

    As for Scoble, Loic and Arrington at Davos - WTF!? Finally the three egos have landed via the Google Jet.

    Sorry wait a minute I need to pick something up. Oh its just another name that Arrington has dropped.

  31. Marek

    January 24th, 2008 at 6:10 am

    Bono is just keeping himself and his band in the spotlight with this charity gala-dinner extravaganza, while the artistic talent is waning. Coctail parties and public speeches do nothing to save the world. Al Gore is sinking to the same cathegory. Bono would be better off having a coke and a supermodel like most rockstars do at his age…

  32. Erick

    January 24th, 2008 at 6:16 am

    Tell Bono there are volcanos under Antarctica.
    http://www.theaustralian.news......417,00.htm

    Can I keep my incandescent bulbs please?

  33. barbone

    January 24th, 2008 at 6:35 am

    The search result in skreemr is not 100% accurate all the time. Sometimes its very difficult to download songs from this site. So i recommand http://www.woonz.com for searching and downloading song. It’s a complete mp3 search engine. user can listen to online or can download from this site. it’s really amazing. U guyz can give a look in to it. U will love it! woonz.com rocks!

  34. I Am Not Posting To Spam My Blog

    January 24th, 2008 at 6:45 am

    @27: “it’s the same things over and over again.”

    Of course it is. Ever listened to a U2 song? If you have, you’ve listened to them all.

    /yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah
    //yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah

  35. Bono

    January 24th, 2008 at 7:09 am

    Dear Michael Arrington, Robert Scoble and Loïc Lemeur,

    please stop promoting yourselves and do some serious work.

    Bono

  36. The Edge

    January 24th, 2008 at 7:23 am

    at a U2 concert in Scotland, Bono asked the audience to be quiet. He stood in the spotlight untill there was complete silence, he then started to slowly clap his hands. Holding the audience in total silence, he says in to the microphone… “Every time I clap my hands, a child in Africa dies.”

    A voice from near the front pierces the silence… and yells out :

    “Well stop fuckin doing it then ya evil bastard! “

  37. Louis-Eric

    January 24th, 2008 at 7:25 am

    I like Bono, he’s filling a useful and necessary role. But I couldn’t help but find this slip-up funny:

    “Politicians are slipping on their goals to have extreme poverty by 2015″

    Nope, they seem right on track to me.

  38. Michael Hoffman

    January 24th, 2008 at 7:37 am

    If you want to see more on the subject of global development that he is talking about, check out http://www.globaldevelopmentmatters.org It’s a site that puts some meat on the issue for Americans.

  39. ipanema

    January 24th, 2008 at 7:58 am

    @34: it’s his response am talking about.

  40. Sarah Meyers

    January 24th, 2008 at 7:58 am

    @ipanema #27, If you don’t like the question why don’t you ask one of your own. YouTube let’s anyone participate in the questions that get asked. Maybe next year you can come up with an original question.

  41. Richard Branson

    January 24th, 2008 at 8:15 am

    @40, Sarah

    Yeah, you asked the right question: Why the hell should we go into space?

  42. Sailor Moon

    January 24th, 2008 at 8:22 am

    Screw Davos. If you want to make the word a better place, take away the wealth of everyone who attends Davos, take away their position, and bust them down to being homeless bums.

    The distribution of wealth is becoming entirely too skewed. If you’re born into the right family, you can hire people to work full time to stop global problems from being solved. For the 99.99% rest of us, we’ve got to work just to eat.

  43. etavitom

    January 24th, 2008 at 8:24 am

    Profound wisdom from a brilliant man! Thanks for the great post….

  44. Louis-Eric

    January 24th, 2008 at 8:58 am

    Sailkor Moon: Do the math; divide the sum of all the wealth that you think is “excessive” (I don’t think that the product of intelligent contribution is excessive, without innovators we’d still be living in fireless caves or under fiefdoms) by the number of people who need it, and you’ll see how abysmally low a number that is. Best to keep brilliant minds freed from your confines to keep contributing to the world; good for them, good for everyone else too. There are some strategic excesses here and there, just as there are crooks everywhere, but that’s hardly a justification to stop everyone else from contributing.

  45. Matt

    January 24th, 2008 at 9:31 am

    hehehe… mike skis…

    mike, did you sneak into that footage on purpose? hehehe… it almost looks like a big grin is being supressed…

  46. other

    January 24th, 2008 at 9:51 am

    1. Since when is TechCrunch a non-web2.0 blog?

    it’s been a while :(

    2. What does Davos have to do with the web and its trends?

    nothing, I’m genuinely intrigued as to what Mike is doing there (and by that I mean that spot could have been given to someone who would add more value). I can only assume that Scoble’s invitation was a prank that someone forgot to stop before it was mailed out.

    3. Why do I have to watch Bono on TC?

    Bono expects it.

    4. How is this post going to satisfy my needs for information about the web - the stuff I expect to see when I visit TC?

    I’m sorry, web? you must be at the wrong site…

    5. In the future, shall I expect to see stuff about G7, NATO, GreenPeace conventions on TC?

    Count on it!

    6. Why would TC spend time on covering such things, instead of spending it on crunching some numbers and offering some analysis on how many new web 2.0 sites are out there, what their valuations are, who leads in what, what new ideas are out there, what are the success factors of behemoths like YouTube-FaceBook-Apple, etc-etc-etc?

    I dont think TC does that anymore…

  47. F Bono

    January 24th, 2008 at 10:41 am

    Bono is a piece of crap:

    http://allsp.com/l.php?id=e162

  48. Brian

    January 24th, 2008 at 10:45 am

    The most important thing any of us can do is to build a rocket to fire Bono into the sun. It is the only way to be sure.

  49. SG

    January 24th, 2008 at 12:00 pm

    bahh - that video / response were useless

  50. buz

    January 24th, 2008 at 12:03 pm

    bono’s a bit off base with his ideas and methods for change, but i give him credit nonetheless for trying. at the very least he’s bringing some publicity to the issues……however misleading it may be

    Mike, from the qik vid looks like you could use a little shut-eye - up skiing all night, huh ?

    Hey, it would’ve been really interesting to see the livecastr guy there too, and see the 2 of them side by side and compare……as it is scoble’s quality was far superior to livecastr’s

  51. Don Jones

    January 24th, 2008 at 12:20 pm

    Saying something actionable can come out of a conference of professional conference-goers is a bit out there…There are people who do, and people who talk about doing.

  52. bryan

    January 24th, 2008 at 2:12 pm

    I can totally understand Scoble, Arrington, and Loic being there, but WTF is Paul Boutin doing in Davos???

  53. Kenny

    January 24th, 2008 at 2:55 pm

    “Politicians are slipping on their goals to have extreme poverty by 2015″

    That should be halve extreme poverty, and then it makes perfect sense.

  54. George Bush

    January 24th, 2008 at 4:48 pm

    I can totally understand Scoble, Arrington, and Loic being there, but WTF is Putin doing in Davos???

  55. Zimmermann

    January 24th, 2008 at 5:04 pm

    Be seen with “important” people, make people believe you’re important too & use Google’s jet.

    Thank you for effectively helping to save the planet.

  56. Claude Pelletier

    January 25th, 2008 at 11:21 pm

    Up to this day the Davos question results can be summarized to:

    - Collaboration ; getting together
    - Innovation; creativity
    - Communication; listening

    So with the tools we have at hand like the Internet, online Databases, Youtube etc.. we can communicate which helps us being creative. In order to listen efficiently to millions of people at a time we need the use of online databases and visual communication. We have Databases and Youtube we can work something out.

    In order to give a feed back to the mass population from what was gathered in the databases and Youtube, we can make computer animated film of the future we desire to achieve, this form of visual communication will help us visualise our common goals and will help us to be creative in order to achieve these goals in a proper and efficient way.

    In one sentence:

    Computer animated visualisation of ideals in order to promote harmonious and synergetic creativity.

    We have the tools to make this world a better place!

    We just need to communicate properly, find our goals, visualise them and let time bring the answers for the right actions to take.

    For a better understanding you ca view my video on Youtube by entering in the search bar:
    Re: The Davos Question. Sociocyberneering

    http://www.Muuip.com
    ideals databases

  57. Michael Cant

    January 26th, 2008 at 6:15 am

    To all the pot-shotters on this blog run - what are you doing to change things? You all have plenty of negative comments and criticisms to throw at Bono, and a few at Al Gore.

    When was the last time any of you got off your butts and actually tried to make a difference. If you haven’t noticed, thanks to Al Gore and Bono, the global dialogue and movement to addressing severe poverty and climate crisis has risen dramatically with their advocacy.

    Stop hanging out with a pizza beside your computer and start doing something. Until you do something dramatic to raise attention, accountability and action, your perspective is worth nothing as far as many are concerned.

  58. EQ

    February 14th, 2008 at 7:58 am

    @37: I believe he said, “Politicians are slipping on their goals to half extreme poverty by 2015.”

    It does sound pretty funny and close to the other interpretation, but I’m fairly certain that’s the quote.

« Previous post
Next post »