What do you think about Out of the Box conference?

For sure the best event. I really believe that for the day of conferences people come out of their mind, out of content of the mind – without jumping out of those heads we cannot save the problems which we are now facing.  We should be able to fix problems.

We need to go out of the conservative way of thinking.

Where did you hear about Out of the Box conference?

Directly from mr. Danijel Rebolj, rektor of the Maribor University. I was invited to present the main humanitarian crisis, happening mainly in Sudan. Nowhere is there a bigger catastrophy of human right abuses.

What did you like most about the conference?

The cooperation of scientists, different fields, the spirit of »yes, we can do it«, and the juice of so many alternative thinkers of Western culture really working hard, trying to find solutions for all the technological, economical, social crises.

I found the concept, from the very beginning, very challenging, unusual. I wish I could do this – I think it should happen in many other cities, because it is the conference that deals with the world. So far I am very satisfied with the speakers. I hope the people like you are listening. Now that the world is complex, we should try and find simple solutions.

Don’t just save money, it’s not about economics. We have to talk about music, literature, culture.

What did you like the most on the conference so far?

So far I liked most the variety of lecturers, speakers of different knowledge and fields; they touched, from different aspects, the problems, so they came closer to the science. I believe it to be working. It’s interdiciplinary, science is all the parts and pieces.

Was the conference as you expected it?

Yes, it was more than I expected. I organize similar things for the students, and I find that the best part are the discussions after the lectures; they listen, and afterwards engage in discussions. We must learn to discuss.

What did you think about the contents of Out of the Box conference?

It was fantastic, it was exactly what we should do more of. I’ve tried to do something similar on the smaller scale of things myself, but this was really great;  it builds real interactions between different communities.

What did you like most about the conference?

The most intersting thing is meeting people. People change the world, so having them come together and meet is the most important thing. I don’t think one should have a favourite, it’s a corelation.

Actually this conference was more than I expected. When you accept the invitation you don’t know who else is coming, so this was really better than I could have expected. Great organization.

Where did you hear about the conference?

Well I first heard about it from prof. Robnik, one of the organizers of this nice event, already very early, I think last December.

What do you think about the concept of the conference?

I’m surprised at how good it is, because originally I was a bit sceptic, I must confess. It turns out there was a lot of interesting, different thinking and contributions, and it turns out there are things we can’t solve just by being in our own particular sciences, and that, for me, is the whole charm of this conference – that there were so many disciplines. It would have been even nicer if there was more time for discussion.

 I think that most important for me was the interaction and meeting with many people from other fields, exchanging ideas across disciplines.

Was the conference as you expected it to be?

I didn’t expect too much, because from the extracts you couldn’t really be sure. But what one could see was that there is a lot of different people whom I did not know in advance, so I expected to find a lot of intersting partners – that went even better than I thought.

Where did you hear about the Out of the Box conference?

Actually from the organizers, and the staff that kindly invited me.

It’s good to hear people express interest, and also to see young people participating in the audience.

What do you think about the concept of the conference?

I find it very interesting, I enjoyed the presentation this morning – at the end the speaker dumped the boxes, I think that was a really effective way of explaining and telling people that we have to step out of our traditional ways of thinking, and find new, inventive ways of thinking, maybe even find some solutions.

What did you like the most so far in the conference?

Well, I found everything very, very interesting. Presentations this morning were absolutely fascinating, and now I have to re-think some of the things I believed.

Was the conference as you expected it to be?

Yes, and a little bit more, I’ll admit. I’m very pleased when I see young people actively involved.

What attracted you most today?

The great mix of different topics, different areas, very important questions posed by the speakers.

How do you feel about Out of the Box?

I think it’s a wonderful idea. I think it exceeded my expectations. I got great lectures.

Where did you hear about the conference?

Well, I was invited as the speaker, as one of the representatives of the field in which I pursued my research.

What do you think about the concept of the conference?

Indeed I think this is a good idea, different parts of sciences have involved and became very specialized, so the idea is actually to try and bring a way of thinking from different fields and interact.

I think this is a good idea, to sort of gather people from different disciplines.

What did you like the most so far?

Well, I primarily attended the technical lectures from natural sciences, and there were a number of excellent presentations that reached outside their own specialties, and brought the latest perspective from different fields of natural science.

Was the conference as you expcted it to be?

Yeah, I have a very favourable impression of the meeting, and I mostly appreciate the lectures from the natural sciences, which are closest to my interest.

How do you feel about the Out of the Box seminars?

I have been a scientist for 12 years, worked in three different universities, and I know, therefore, what it means to live in an ivory tower, to have only your topic, and to know a lot about very little. And so interdisciplinary talk and exchange of topics is vital. What you want is to advance in general knowledge and its application for a better living quality for everybody – and for that, we have to talk with each other and not just sit in the ivory tower.

What about you, do you like to live Out of the Box?

Yes, I left the box in 1997, because that was when I stopped my academic career. I only went out to change society, live practically and take responsibility.

Where did you hear about Out of the Box conference?

I actually work at the university.

What do you think about the concept of Out of the Box?

There is a mixture of pure, traditional science, with some different approaches.

I think the concept is very good, I would say even that it is excellent.

It’s always a question of »what can be improved?«, so I think I would have expected more students. Maybe even we, the professors, don’t make the sufficient advertisement, so that could be improved.

What did you like the most on the conference?

All the lecturers. I listened to their presentations, they were quite interesting – they were provocative. There was a lack of discussions, though, but with all conferences, there is a time limit. Fortunately there was a break and we discussed then.

Was the conference as you expected it?

So, the conference is still going on, but this morning there was an excellent presentation from my field – information, technology – it was a really good lecture.

Kaj menite o Out of the Box seminarju?

Kul. Mislim, da nam je to manjkalo. Univerzi manjka to, da se spoznamo med sabo; pravzaprav gre za celo kopico fakultet, ki se do zdaj niso poznale med sabo. Tukaj vidiš, da se po nekem takem predavanju najdeta dve sorodni duši, ki najdeta naenkrat celo kopico novih aplikacij. Mislim, da je to nujno potrebno.

Where did you hear about Out of the Box conference?

I’ve been folloowing the development of this conference from the very beginning, so I was very glas when I got the chance to talk here myself.

What did you think about the contents of Out of the Box conference?

I think it’s really impressive, because it brings together some of the world’s greatest thinkers from different fields, different disciplines, and they engage in stimulating discussions. It’s really great to be a part of this.

What did you like most about Out of the Box conference?

I think it’s the exchange of views. I cannot point out a particular topic, a particular idea, it’s just the exchange of ideas, really, to hope we can really achieve something new in the future.

The sparkling of the brain this causes for every participant is really stimulating.

Was Out of the Box as you expected it?

Oh, it was much better than I expected, actually. I knew it was going to be a good event, but when the people come together it’s much more than some of it’s parts, it’s the whole process that was created that is really enlightening and enjoyable.

What do you think about Out of the Box conference?

I think it is a very great way of approaching the talk about this very modern idea of »out of the box«. I think we need to think things through and think of ways to look into the new horizon, coming out of the present problems, social problems, political problems, etc.

We need to come out of our conditioned mind.

What did you like most about Out of the Box conference?

It doesn’t only address a specific issue, but so many other things – science, technology, social systems, economic systems, things like that. So I think we need to think in wider perspectives, to look into the problems that we are currently facing at a global level, so that we can come out of those problems.

Was Out of the Box as you expected it?

I think to develop some new perspectives and to get ideas how to come out of things – maybe we can’t find solutions just through this conference, but step by step we can change our perspectives, and then through those things we can make a difference. Modern civilization has so many downfalls, although that same civilization is highly proclaimed ; we need to look into these downfalls, we cannot, and should not, just run blindly from the modern civilization, but have the guts to look into these downfalls. That way we make corrections and make it better for future generations.

Where did you hear about Out of the Box conference?

Well, I was sent an invitation, and when I saw what you were trying to do I was extremely enhusiastic about it. It’s actually rare for me to stay through the whole conference, because I get so many invitations to give lectures that I often stay only for the day of my presentation, stay for the day and then disappear again. This time I thought, what you’re doing is very relevant to the biggest problems universities and societies face today, which is this: the sense in which people are constricting their minds, we are forced as academics to look for money to do the research, and that encourages same ways of thinking; you have to think in the same way that the ones who are going to judge what you are going to put in as a proposal. If you put in a proposal that is way outside the box you can be pretty certain it will be very hard to get the funding for it – that is a huge problem in the world today, and academic disciplines tend to shift towards the orthodox view. I call the people that think outside the box the »pink diamonds«. The ordinary diamond, we all know what that is; the white or clear diamond that glows and is beautiful. »Pink diamond« is very rare.  I think that is why it’s so important for me to stay through the whole meeting.

What you’re doing is encouraging the thinkers that will become the pink diamonds of the future.

What do you think about the concept of the conference?

The concept is what we need, and it’s terrific that you’ve done what you’ve done. We need something that encourages those who have ‘heretical’ thoughts. We should encourage the heretics, even. Some of them will be wrong, of course, but you have to put up with that. The few who are absolutely right will change the world; the few who show how you get out of one box and move to a different situation, will change the world. Of course you will have people who got, they think, excellent ideas for how you solve the big problems of society – some of them will be crazy ideas, some of them will fail. The difficulty is, you can’t judge in advance.

Initially, what appears to be a heretic, eventually becomes a revolutionary, somebody who changes the world.

So, what you’re doing is exactly what the world needs. The world of universities needs it, and societies need it.

What did you like the most so far in the conference?

Oh, that’s very difficult, because it’s an extraordinary range. First of all, I have been educated, for attending a conference on which there are talks of quantum mechanics and synthetic biology – on those two i don’t know a lot, and I’ve learned a lot. Then you’ve had talks on, for example, language and thought – curiously, that’s very important for scientists, because, as I tried to make clear in my talks at this meeting, sometimes the misuse of language, the misuse of metaphor, keeps people inside the box. They don’t sometimes realize they’re using the metaphor, they say »i’m using this to tell you the truth«; instead what they’re doing is using language to avoid telling the truth. But they don’t know that, they’re trapped – that’s another kind of box, of course. So what I’ve learned, coming to a meeting like this, where there are many talks in areas outside my own field is, I’ve been educated, and of course because you chose those thinkers who are trying to think outside the box it’s an unusual conference, because it’s from those who tend not to give the orthdox story.

We just had a talk on the area of biology – the presenter had presented the ideas that I would regard as ‘out of the box’, because they are not a standard way of dealing with problems.

Was the conference as you expcted it to be?

I didn’t know what to expect, actually, except that I’ve been to Slovenia before, and therefore I think you’re very unusual – you’re very tiny, but you have influence because of the way in which you put on these conferences and encourage academic activity. You have an influence beyond the weight of your population, and that’s great. I think it possibly comes from something else that I like in Slovenia; I can’t speak your language, but over many centuries of very difficult political situations you’ve kept the culture, and I think it’s what keeps you, as a nation, strong and proud. And I think it’s what enables you to do such conferences. It’s a long series of steps between preserving the culture of the nation and encouraging those who are strong enough and feel confident enough to do unusual things, but I think you see the connections.

The Out of the Box concept is, it seems to me, equivalent to the way in which I would put the need for the academic world to look for what I call the pink diamonds.

To look for the very unusual thinkers, and to try to encourage this kind of thinking is what Out of the Box is trying to do.

Kaj mislite o Out of the Box seminarjih?

Mislim, da seminar pokriva različne smeri; seveda je še vedno prostora za izboljšave, za še bolj »izven škatle« radikalne ideje, za morda bolj atraktiven način podajanja teh idej, ampak ne dvomim, da se bo v prihodnje ta seminar še bolj razvil, in pritegnil še več obiskovalcev.

Pravzaprav sem [nad delom ekipe] res zelo prijetno presenečen. Ekipa, ljudje ste tisti, ki ste to potegnili do tega nivoja.

Kako se vi trudite, da živite Out of the Box?

Pravzaprav se k temu niti ni treba truditi. Mislim, da je zelo pomembno biti ozaveščen, ves čas imeti odprte oči, odprt um – ne se pustiti ukalupiti in zgolj voziti po globokih kolesnicah, ampak če vidiš neko rešitev izven kolesnic, preprosto stopiti ven. Da, to včasih zahteva večji napor, a take odločitve nas edine lahko pripeljejo do nekih novih rešitev. To je Out of the Box.

Where did you hear about Out of the Box conference?

I have a very good friend in Maribor, he told me about it. I was invited here to speak.

What do you think about the concept of Out of the Box?

It’s a very important concept, in fact, everybody needs to think out of the box, that’s the only way we need to take, actually, all the time. It’s the only way forward for humanity in general.

Nobody, no organization can afford to remain within the box for long.

For creative solutions we have to think outside the box. Those are my impressions of this.

What did you like the most on the conference?

I like the open thinking and the fantastic ideas that everybody shared with the audience. And, of course, I like the city of Maribor, and  I generally like the layout of the city.

Was the conference as you expected it?

Yeah, sure; I didn’t have many expectations, but I think it turned out really well because there were many people with a very high reputation speaking at this conference, many distinguished persons, so that made for a very good conference.