Pie-in-the-sky

a pie-in-the-sky patent

“Halving poverty in 15 years seems like the most pie-in-the-sky goal imaginable,” said Mark Malloch Brown, head of the U.N. Development Program. “But it’s really quite doable. And the people who can do it are right here.

There are also several augmented reality tools, meant for advertising and teaching, and some futuristic surreal experiences that remind me of scenes from Star Trek’s holodeck. Some of the virtual reality demos are very pie-in-the-sky and probably won’t see the real world for some years to come; others are just a few years away.

Hence the trend in many C-suites to shift the conversation away from an imagined trade-off between profits and planet, and towards a discussion about mutual benefit. The key word reverberating around the boardrooms of the world's most progressive companies is 'value' – value for business in the shape of profits, and value for everyone else in the form of a more socially just, more equitable, more environmentally friendly world in which to live. If that sounds all very pie-in-the-sky, then think again. Take B Lab. A US-based certification provider, B Lab has accredited nearly 1,000 companies that publicly commit to "harness the power of business to create public benefit … for all stakeholders, not just shareholders". This isn't whimsical stuff.

If his [Donald Trump's] detailing was productive, it was somewhat undermined by a final, typical Trumpian flourish of pie-in-the-sky rhetoric.

In other words, the usual mix of sound thinking and pie-in-the-sky electioneering promises which convince no one.

“That said, we continue to remain cautious of pie-in-the-sky forecasts that see this hockey stick continuing indefinitely,” Nathanson added[…].