What if diversity, and even fragility, were our greatest strengths? At a time when our technologies, our businesses and even our lives seem to be endlessly striving for performance and optimization, biologist Olivier Hamant reverses the perspective: true robustness is not born of rigidity, but of flexibility, imperfection and variety, he explains.

For the Hub des possibles, it was an obvious choice to invite Olivier Hamant for this new conference in the “2040, j’y vais!” cycle, to be held on Wednesday May 13, 2026, organized with our partners Payot libraire, Théâtre Vidy-Lausanne and the Alumnil network.

During the evening, the author will invite you to discover how living organisms – plants, ecosystems, cells – build resilience not by controlling everything, but by leaving room for chance, variability and relaxation. Inspired by his pioneering work and his books La troisième voie du vivant, philosophie politique de la robustesse and l’entreprise robuste, Olivier Hamant shows how these principles can inform our own choices: management, innovation, politics, education…

Through surprising stories, he shows that an approach inspired by the living can help us reduce systemic risks and imagine more sustainable trajectories. In short, with his characteristic benevolence and clarity, Olivier Hamant introduces loopholes and breathing spaces into our mental schemas to free our imaginations. And if we dared to break out of the logic of performance, which spaces would we give the right to exist? This is the question we invite you to explore with us.

A stimulating meeting full of hope!