Nothing signals the start of the creative and cultural season in Kuwait like marking our calendars for an upcoming Nuqat Regional Conference. This year, Nuqat further marks a milestone 10-year anniversary, and while the announcement has the entire region buzzing with excitement, Kuwait’s Nuqat-goers must be wondering how this year’s theme, focused on discussing the ‘State of the Elastic Mind: A New Mindset for Old Barriers’, will bring thinkers, creatives, activists, and policymakers from all over the Arab World to Kuwait.

Founder of the future-facing consultancy focused on the scientific and soulful pursuit of a thriving planet, species and ecosystems, Emotional Particle, Mona Hamdy is a force of nature who is taking the study of ethics to new heights. Founding the consultancy with Zoe Wolff of LVMH, Mona is constantly searching for meaning and truth in an age where fake likes prevail, and AI dictates everything. A Harvard University PhD candidate, she is a teaching fellow of Applied Ethics researching common morality in the data-soaked, sentient-machine age that we live in today. In 2009, Hamdy co-founded the Saudi-based Al Baydha Development Corporation with Her Royal Highness Princess Haifa Al Faisal, which kickstarted her career.

A believer in the power of technology to improve the lives of the globally disadvantaged, Hamdy is working with Microsoft Research and Glen Weyl on modeling radically extended market exchange for future social growth and is the MENA region goodwill ambassador for Sir Richard Branson’s Global Blockchain Business Council. She currently sits on the Bretton Woods Committee, the World Bank SDG1 Special Council, Center for Democracy and Technology and the UN Global Council on Poverty Eradication.

What did you want to be when you were growing up?

Ninja. Ballerina. Princess Peach.

Have you faced any structural, social or personal barriers in your personal or professional journey? If so, what were they?

I think if anyone hasn’t faced any barriers, they aren’t in the right field! Or at least they aren’t doing anything memorable. I’m pretty sure the most detrimental barriers on my journey have been the ones I’ve placed in my own way. Being worried about what other people think. Not staying in the present moment. Impatience. Ego. Insecurity. Lack of confidence. Those internal barriers cost me more than anything someone or something has done to me.

Is there a turning point or an experience in your life that made you change your mindset or practice elastic thinking? If there is—please take us through that process. I.e. what was your initial mindset, what was the experience you were faced with that triggered you to change your mindset and what mindset are you in now?

We talk a lot about reframing in elastic thinking. You can argue that Western capitalist society is increasingly devoid of meaning and it’s quite literally egocentric. But most recorded wisdom from the past four millennia shows that living in community and serving one another are powerful ways of finding inner peace and purpose. Yet for the first time in the history of our species, we believe that we can’t love others until we love ourselves, and love our selfies! The data show that while our society is indeed richer and happier, we feel it is largely devoid of meaning. People feel more addicted, agitated, depressed, lonely and unfulfilled. So my focus now isn’t what makes me happy but what I find to be meaningful.

I think that, as sentient machines become increasingly present in our human lives, we will be more and more drawn to reframe our experience back toward finding purpose in serving others before ourselves… and value meaning over the other virtues in our existence.

Which book changed your life?

Kalila wa Dimna. It’s an 8th century allegory of royal life at court through the lives of animals. I saw the oldest copy in the world during my first visit to the Louvre as a child. I desperately wanted the animals to come to life! Illuminated manuscripts–like comic books today– have been used for thousands of years to communicate essential truths. They’re one of my favorite art forms!

What would you consider to be the starting point of your career?

Founding the Al Baydha project definitely helped me understand the power of positive storytelling in social development. I found myself at the doorstep of Hollywood cinematographers who helped me create a mixed-reality game of our project. Using the worldbuilding toolkit of futurists, we were able to help the local community imagine what their world could look like in the future. I’ve been researching and helping people, governments, and institutions imagine possible futures for our planet and our species ever since. 

What would your superpower be?

I don’t want laser beam eyes or invisibility. But I would very much like to be able to heal people or have the kind of presence that makes everyone around me feel comforted and cherished.

If you could go back in time, where would you go?

I would like to spend a day in 13th century Cairo and meet Shagaret el Dorr. Either that or 1950s Egypt to hear Umm Kalthoum sing in real life and watch my grandfather and grandmother meet.

What single thing would improve the quality of your life?

Patience.

How do you relax?

I’m pretty old school. I tend to find writing with a pen and paper to be very grounding. I exercise, pray, listen to music with 432 MHz frequency, get outdoors.

What item would you put in a time capsule to help the next century understand our current moment?

Plastic Straws. 

What are you looking forward to the most about coming to Kuwait?

Friends! The food! Learning new things! You have such a contemporary aesthetic. I’m really looking forward to it.

Stay updated about Nuqat’s latest on Instagram @nuqat and visit www.nuqat.me for more information. Featured image courtesy of Mona Hamdy. For more Nuqat content, see our dedicated page, bazaar.town/category/nuqat. Featured image by @najpictures Ahmed Najeeb.