Future Talks – the long-awaited forum initiated by the “Saby” Foundation, took place on April 26. This series of intellectual events brought together world-renowned thinkers, scientists, and visionaries from Kazakhstan and Russia.
On that sunny Saturday, 150 guests gathered at the Central Asian Institute for Environmental Research to join experts in shaping a vision for the future, where human-centeredness, education, and humanitarian values are the key elements of support and development.
What are the context, opportunities, and threats in the fields of economics and education? What should we expect in an era of change, and how can we prepare for those changes that are impossible to predict? These and other crucial topics were discussed during the first, business section of the forum, which included two thematic sections of the plenary session. Among the participants were Tatiana Chernigovskaya, a neuroscientist and director of the Cognitive Studies Institute at St. Petersburg State University, and Alexander Auzan, an institutional economist and dean of the Faculty of Economics at Moscow State University. The discussions were moderated by Asel Tasmagambetova, founder of the “Saby” Foundation, and economist Rakhim Oshakbaev.
Opening the meeting, Asel shared: “I have always had a hunger not just for knowledge, but for meaning. I strongly feel the inner need to create a better future. I hope that we all leave today’s event not just with our intellectual ‘hunger’ satisfied, but with the desire to change something. The future can only be changed by starting from the present. To change others, we must first change ourselves.” The plenary session was followed by numerous questions from the audience, which seemed endless due to the lively interest of the participants.
Afterward, guests were treated to the premiere of the literary-musical evening VODA, specially created for Future Talks. The performance combined various works, from classical world literature plots to excerpts from popular science books and memoirs. The central theme of the performance was water: whether it’s the sea, which excites and attracts, or the flood, which brings a threat. The performance featured star actors: Chingiz Kapin, Aissulu Azimbayeva, Elena Morozova, as well as psychologist and head of the Department of Personality Psychology at the Faculty of Psychology of Moscow State University, Alexander Asmolov.
The forum’s partner was Noôdome, an intellectual community and club in the center of Moscow, whose values resonate with those of the “Saby” Foundation.
