DSA & Q-Lab: 'In an Age of Answers, Questions Matter More Than Ever'

This afternoon I joined an online webinar organised by THE DIGITAL STATECRAFT ACADEMY:

'Gaining understanding by structuring inquiry: 
probing data with one right question after another is almost here'

The art, science, and practice of governing well in the algorithmic age

The Digital Statecraft Academy (DSA) is a global hub for cultivating visionary public leaders ready to navigate the complexities of data, AI, and digital governance. Backed by world-leading academic and policy institutions, DSA equips today’s leaders with the tools, knowledge, connections, and foresight to govern ethically, strategically, and resiliently in a rapidly evolving digital world.

 

There is a manifesto to read and endorse: and Ten Principles of Digital Statecraft

 

Also highlighted was Q-Lab 

About Q-Lab

Questions shape what becomes visible, what is investigated, what is funded, and ultimately what societies come to know. They are fundamental not only to scientific inquiry but to a wide range of sectors and practices—from education and journalism to policymaking, medicine, law, and business, among others.

Despite this foundational role, questions are seldom treated as objects of systematic study. Established fields examine intelligence, knowledge production, and decision-making, yet few, if any, take questions themselves as their subject.

How should we define a good question? Which questions are most likely to serve as stepping stones toward breakthrough insights? Who determines which questions matter most? In short, what do we actually know about questions?

Questions Lab (Q-Lab) is the first multidisciplinary initiative dedicated to establishing questions as a field of study and practice, understanding how questions emerge, how they evolve, which questions make the greatest impact, and how they shape the trajectory of knowledge across disciplines and generations, in order to help individuals and institutions navigate complexity, deliberate more thoughtfully, and set better priorities.

I look forward to more events in future.

 

Previously: Questions in eclipse : 'question'

'From Tree to Sea [5] - The Bare Necessities' c/o BBC R4

My name is not Robinson Crusoe, but I feel privileged to live on an island. The sea has always been close. Liverpool (Scouser) has a history, to celebrate and seek forgiveness for. It was a surprise and yet wasn't from the map in the Bluecoat of the slave ships that plied the route to West Africa, to the West Indies and USA to see the same reflections in the dock area of Nantes in May 2025.

These reflections followed a BBC Radio 4 programme this afternoon (one of a series):

5. From Tree to Sea - The Bare Necessities

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002ztzy

'We are living in turbulent times and it is easy to feel anxious about the state of the world. The pace of change is fast, and the future often seems uncertain and out of our control. Given our reliance on technology, any sort of outage could be catastrophic. Could you survive - and thrive - in a world without global supply chains, the internet and 24-hour energy?

In this series the writer Dan Richards seeks out the tradition bearers and carriers of ancient knowledge who actively choose to live in close connection with the natural world around them. A return to first principles of what it means to be human and the kind of people you would like to be around if things fell apart.

Dan heads to Whithorn in Dumfries and Galloway where he meets Traditional Boat Builder Gail McGarva who is putting the finishing touches to a skiff before its launch. Gail has gathered knowledge of the ancient craft of wooden boat building through her relationship with tradition bearers and mentors, without whom the knowledge would disappear completely. What Dan finds is that this small wooden boat represents not only an evolution of form and process, but soul. The souls of all who have gone before and how they might influence a sustainable future with community at the heart of it.'

In making the skiff there is a marvellous observation about:

 "when the boat hits the water it knows what to do ..".

For students entering a profession or trade (any) that strikes a chord.

Hodges' model: A tool to watch the complications of Care

Individual

|

      INTERPERSONAL    :     SCIENCES               

HUMANISTIC  --------------------------------------  MECHANISTIC      

 SOCIOLOGY  :    POLITICAL 

|

Group

How many complications here?
... here?	"Despite its achievement, Vacheron Constantin has not filed a patent, on the Chinese perpetual calendar, saying it doesn't want to reveal details." p.S9. ... and here too?

Foulkes, N. Inside Vacheron's exclusive cabinet of complications, Watches & Jewellery, Financial Times, 9 April 2024, p.4.

Image and text: https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/introducing-vacheron-constantin-berkley-grand-complication

The Complications, 1 Through 63

"There's likely some part of you that's curious about each of the 63 functions that have totaled a record-breaking level of complication. I'll list the functions below, broken down by type, to simplify things.

Time measurement (9 Total): 1. Regulator-type hours, minutes, and seconds for mean solar time 2. Retrograde second for mean solar time 3. Day and night indication for reference city 4. Visible spherical armillary tourbillon regulator with spherical balance spring 5. Armillary sphere tourbillon 6. World time indication for 24 cities 7. Second time zone hours and minutes (on 12 hours display) 8. Second time zone day and night indication 9. System to display the second time zone for the Northern or Southern hemispheres

Gregorian Perpetual Calendar (7 Total): 10. Gregorian perpetual calendar 11. Gregorian days of the week 12. Gregorian months 13. Gregorian retrograde date 14. Leap-year indication and four-year cycle 15. Number of the day of the week (ISO 8601 calendar) 16. Indication for the number of the week within the year (ISO 8601 calendar).

Chinese Perpetual Calendar (11 Total): 17. Chinese perpetual calendar 18. Chinese number of the day. 19. Chinese name of the month 20. Chinese date indication 21. Chinese zodiac signs 22. 5 elements and 10 celestial stems 23. 6 energies and 12 earthly branches 24. Chinese year state (common or embolismic) 25. Month state (small or large) 26. Indication for the Golden number within the 19-year Metonic cycle 27. Indication for the date of the Chinese New Year in the Gregorian calendar.
Chinese Agricultural Perpetual Calendar (2 Total): 28. Chinese agricultural perpetual calendar. 29. Indications of seasons, equinoxes, and solstices with solar hand.

Astronomic Calendar (9 Total): 30. Sky chart (calibrated for Shanghai) 31. Sidereal hours 32. Sidereal minutes 33. Sunrise time (calibrated for Shanghai) 34. Sunset time (calibrated for Shanghai) 35. Equation of time 36. Length of the day (calibrated for Shanghai) 37. Length of the night (calibrated for Shanghai) 38. Phases and age of the moon, one correction every 1027 years.

Split-seconds Chronograph (4 Total): 39. Fifths of a second chronograph (1 column wheel) 40. Fifths of a second split-second chronograph (1 column wheel) 41. 12-hour counter (1 column wheel) 42. 60-minute counter.

Alarm (7 Total): 43. Progressive alarm with single gong and hammer striking 44. Alarm strike/silence indicator 45. Choice of normal alarm or carillon striking alarm indicator 46. Alarm mechanism coupled to the carillon striking mechanism 47. Alarm striking with choice of grande or petite sonnerie 48. Alarm power-reserve indication 49. System to disengage the alarm barrel when fully wound.

Westminster Carillon (8 Total): 50. Carillon Westminster chiming with 5 gongs and 5 hammers 51. Grande sonnerie passing strike 52. Petite sonnerie passing strike 53. Minute repeating 54. Night silence feature (between 22.00 and 08.00 hours – hours chosen by the owner) 55. System to disengage the striking barrel when fully wound 56. Indication for grande or petite sonnerie modes 57. Indication for silence / striking / night modes.

Additional features (6) 58. Power-reserve indication for the going train 59. Power-reserve indication for the striking train 60. Winding crown position indicator 61. Winding system for the double barrels 62. Hand-setting system with two positions and two directions 63. Concealed flush-fit winding crown for the alarm mechanism."

Also: Naas, R. New and extremely complicated. Watches. The New York Times International Edition, April 9, 2024, p.S9

Craftsmanship. "It took a watchmaker a year to assemble the Complication's 2,877 parts, including 31 hands, nine discs and 245 jewels." p.S9. Plus, quote regards the question of a patent.

Vacheron Constantin

(Just to be clear - this post, as with all others is not paid/sponsored.)