DAVOS, Switzerland (AFP) - It's not just about sliding stock markets, stagflation and terrorism at the 38th annual World Economic Forum starting Wednesday in the Swiss Alps.
When night falls the planet's rich, powerful, clever and famous can attend sessions on everything from the science of love and "McMuseums" to Facebook and how much happiness the world can take.
On the opening night of the five-day gathering in the Swiss ski resort of Davos, for instance, the 2,500 or so delegates can learn about "Solving the Mysteries of the Mind" with a panel including eminent neurologists, or they can dwell on their own celebrity at a seminar on "Defining Human Greatness."
Or maybe the dilemma of whether to accept or decline an invitation to become their "friend" on social networking sites such as Facebook, Linkedin and Xing may appeal more.
Up for discussion will be whether these sites, which have seen exponential growth in recent years, can be used "beyond socializing as a tool for content creation, testing new concepts, and relationships and brand building," according to the official programme.
Also on the first evening authors will host a session on "The Wisdom of Storytelling: Using Fiction to Attain Truth"; and another will tackle the spread of branded cultural projects such as the Guggenheim Bilbao and the Louvre Abu Dhabi in "McMuseums: Can (High) Culture Be Transferred?"
After breakfast on Thursday the WEF goes romantic with "The Science of Love," a talk by anthropology professor Helen Fisher from Rutgers University in the United States on how neuroscience and anthropology can explain why, how, with whom and when people form attachments, experience passion and fall in love.
The sense of smell is also important in such matters, but another session will explain how the nerve receptors in our noses are in fact largely underused.
On Thursday evening, matters turn religious with "Belief Systems: to What Extent Do They Guide Us?", or high tech with "Cyberspying: A Tangible Threat?"
And if people get hungry they can attend "Food, Culture and Civilization" about humans' relations to what they eat with world-famous chefs such as Hemant Oberoi from the Taj Mahal Palace & Tower Mumbai, India and Alice Waters from the famous Californian eaterie Chez Panisse.
Outside of the official programme, chief executives and policymakers use the occasion to gather privately in hotel rooms, where deals are rumoured to be done and possible mergers discussed. Late-night drinks, known as "Davos night-caps," provide another forum for shmoozing.
Unlike in previous years though, this forum will see less in the way of Hollywood stars like Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. One exception is British actress Emma Thompson.
"I'm interested to know what people mean when they say 'Davos'," the Oscar-winning actress told AFP. "I don't know anybody here. Why would I? There's no actors."
By Friday delegates may well be feeling tired, but if they are worried about the long days and the rich food speeding up the ageing process they can head to a briefing about how science can help slow this down.
If they prefer, an "experimental session" with a German professor to experience how science can lead to a broader understanding of visual arts, poetry and music is on offer and another promises a workshop on the essence of charisma.
And seeing how many decision-makers will be present, a talk on "psychonomics" may also pull in the crowds on Friday evening with Pascal Lamy, head of the World Trade Organisation among others set to chew over the influence of behavioural influences on choosing courses of action.
If they decide not to, however, and if they are worried about how much happiness the world can take, they can swing by the Hotel Meierhof for a talk on how desirable it would be to use mood-improving medicines to bring about a society "immunized from the lows of everyday life."
And another talk will explore taboos -- the costs and benefits of breaking them, whether leaders can use them to further their purposes or if they can be utilised to boost probably the principal aim of people at Davos: economic well-being.
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