Video-Interview with Wael Ghonim, Social Entrepreneur and Computer Engineer
By Helmuth Fuchs
Wael Ghonim, Social Entrepreneur and Computer Engineer in the interview
- on the outcome of the Egyptian revolution (0:31)
„Right after the downfall of Mubarak we were hopeful to build a democratic state but the transition to democracy was very short lived. The state of freedom and democracy in Egypt has deteriorated even worse than at the pre-evolution time.“
«Egypt is inevitably going to move into a democratic direction.»
- on what he would do differently, if he could go back in time (3:10)
„The key thing would have been to invest much more in empathizing with my opponents, putting much more effort in bringing people together.“
„Fixing Egypt requires everyone, including the army.“
«The next generation will have a better Egypt.»
- on the value of the Social Media in today’s politics (6:05)
„I believe in humanity. No matter how much we regress instead of progress, things eventually self-correct.“
«I definitely think that polarisation and sensationalism is a bad behaviour.»
- on his new life in America and how he can realize his ideas in that political climate (7:56)
„Many of us believe that what we are experiencing now ist not sustainable. I like to think of it as a bug in the system.“
«The rapid change in technology is making a lot of these political, economical and social systems outdated.»
- on his current and future work (9:56)
„I like to be someone who is always invested in the game of trying to decentralize power.“
«My paper on how to regulate Social Media has heavily being quoted and used by politicians like Elizabeth Warren.»
- on the unresolved problems we pass on to the future generations (11:50)
„I think we are in a much better state than our ancestors. We have been working on solutions which sometimes are very effective and end the problem.“
«Acknowledging the progress is a corner step in advancement.»
- on the chances and conditions for digitization to help create a better society (13:57)
„The information evolution that was introduced by the internet helped decentralize the access to knowledge and wealth.“
„The more you democratize the access to knowledge, the more you democratize the creation of knowledge, the more you are going to see decentralization of power.“
«We are living in an era where the power of the people is becoming greater than the people in power.»
- on his two biggest wishes (16:56)
„I wish the best for the Egyptian people and I wish to be able to contribute to that.“
«I want to be an active player in this game of life in a positive way.»
The interview was conducted with he support of the Digital Festival 2018
