By Hussein Shobokshi
IN our everyday lives we have a number of simple expectations. Like for example, at the traffic lights, we are fully convinced that the red light will turn to green in a few moments. We choose a less crowded street to drive to our destination to reach there on time based on the information stored in our heads; we have the ability to anticipate the weather condition and the direction of the wind and other small signs of expectations that we no longer pay attention to because we are used to it.
There is an ancient proverb, «A single spark can start a prairie fire” and another popular Arab proverb that says, “In the afternoon itself there is an indication of how the Eid festival night is going to be,” citing the activities during the day.
In 1972, Dr. Edward Norton Lorenz, the American meteorological man, best known for the notion of the “butterfly effect,” wrote that a small disturbance like the flapping of a butterfly’s wings can induce enormous consequences. He gave a talk titled “Predictability: Does the Flap of a Butterfly’s Wings in Brazil Set off a Tornado in Texas?” that captured the essence of his ideas. His hint was that big events that take place are sometimes triggered by small incidents, which are far from our expectations.
In the same context, I remember the incident in Tunisia in the year 2010 when young Mohamed Bouazizi, a university degree holder without work, took to selling vegetables without license, set himself on fire when the authorities stopped him from selling his produce which caused an uprising and riots that swept through Tunisia.
And therefore, what I am trying to say here is that humans usually acquire knowledge through learning and experience and they have the ability to improve their expectations by studying the signs and data and accordingly build hypothesis either by human means or with the help of computers. As we all know, computers these days can compete even with chess legends since it can program itself with all the possible moves in the game.
Today in the United States of America, there are more than 20,000 full-time intelligence analysts and their goal is to study all the hypothesis of an attack on an Israeli submarine in the Mediterranean to Greece’s exit from the euro zone to a military coup in Russia and so on.
There has been endless talk about the Vision 2030. I have had several discussions with my friends who aspire to know more about the subject and they came up with questions one after the other. Some had curious questions; some had doubtful queries while others of course had knowledgeable comments.
I said to them that not all visions or strategies are realized immediately and its results are achieved over a period of time. With the ongoing activities, indications and data that are accumulated, one can build a vision based on it, just like a seed, when planted, grows into a huge tree and produces its fruits.
Here I want to focus on one point which some people of different mentality ridicule and make a mockery of the Saudi General Authority for Entertainment.
It is no longer a secret that Saudis are some of the world’s most frequent travelers for holidays and for decent entertainment which they do not find in their own country. They cannot compare the entertainment options available to them outside the country to what is available to them locally. Thus, heightened with a sense of boredom, particularly the young Saudis, who have been deprived of their right to “cultural and intellectual” entertainment because of some people’s frozen mentality and severe aversion to the idea of entertainment, venture out. Now that entertainment industry in the country has become a reality, which is a positive move, will provide the country with liquidity that was spent abroad and will provide job opportunities for the people of the country.
It’s the butterfly movement in Brazil. Just as the pursuit of happiness is the fundamental right of every citizen in the American Constitution, entertainment in Saudi Arabia is now a realistic option.
Recently one European journalist asked me, “how can the Saudis have faith in the young prince’s Vision?” I told him, Vision 2030 is a project of hope and we have faith in him because Saudi Arabia represents 60 percent of young population; they are the future of the country and they have a creative spirit.
