The entire class has returned to Oxford for our final week long capstone course. This course looks at “wicked problems”, which by my own interpretation are problems that require what the Romantic John Keats describes as, “negative capability”.  

 Here’s what Wikipedia says about NC:

Negative capability is a theory of the poet John Keats, expressed in his letter to George and Thomas Keats dated Sunday, 21 December 1817.

I had not a dispute but a disquisition with Dilke, on various subjects; several things dovetailed in my mind, & at once it struck me, what quality went to form a Man of Achievement especially in literature & which Shakespeare possessed so enormously - I mean Negative Capability, that is when man is capable of being in uncertainties, Mysteries, doubts without any irritable reaching after fact & reason.

There fact is that with major challenges like climate change and religious conflict, the idea of a direct, easy solution is ridiculous. 

This year’s capstone focused on climate change. In groups of ten, we picked a client company and designed scenarios in which the client would have to prepare for a situation where they would be most uncomfortable and least prepared. My team’s client was a large oil company, based out of Tejas. The James Martin Institute invited numerous panelists ranging the US chief negociator for the Kyoto Protocol to major investors in solar power. On the final day, my team and I were grilled by a panel of experts regarding our scenarios.

While capstone went on, a number of classmates and I were still shuttling around finishing up job interviews. I finalized my own plans to work for an investment fund in Dubai until end of December. After that time, if the company and I like each other, I might stay on. Otherwise, I have a few other “fish in the fryer” including a speaking circuit in Shanghai. Improving Mandarin has many obvious benefits, but what I’d most look forward to is having deeper and more meaningful conversations with my parents.