What kind of a world do we live in? It is a journey, an adventure going faster and faster. Were we really born to live and to die following the rules of evolution, which is blind and unguided? Is our species truly just not equipped to survive what comes next? Has the time really come for us to take control of our own evolution and leap past our alarming ignorance to plunge deep into the unknown where we will discover our true potential, and will artificial intelligence, as one of the new tools of the future, really provide the key to salvation? Questions like these about the world are not just part of fiction and they resonate loudly.
At the beginning of the New European Renaissance process, a manifesto for a New European Renaissance was created as a guideline for the rebirth of Europe and a message of humanism and Renaissance for today and for our common future. The manifesto in its first sentence reads: The situation in the world today is critical in many ways and calls for a responsible and well thought out response. For perhaps the first time in history, we are witnessing the realization that all human beings are bound to the same destiny on our common planet Earth …
… or as Antonio Gutteres, UN Secretary-General, recently said: In a world of plenty, no one should go hungry, and no one should suffer the horrors of hunger. Literally, 780 million people are suffering from insufficient food. There are conflicts causing record numbers of people to flee their homes, and there are deadly fires, raging floods, extreme temperatures, poverty, inequality, and injustice. There is lack of trust, division, and prejudice. All of this gives us no alternative but to build or create a sustainable era of prosperity and peace for all, or, as the writer Howie Firth says, we see descriptions in literature of feelings of going in a certain direction from which we cannot deviate, and of, almost, no longer being able to make our own decisions. Feeling as though we humans are just tiny fragments of a large computer programme.
But looking back just a bit into our history, we see that in the 14th and 15th centuries, the Renaissance enabled humanity to make a great leap towards realism and an accentuated awareness of the self as a uniquely creative being. It was then that the humanist Giovanni Pico della Mirandola wrote the revolutionary thought that we are not completely powerless and that we have a choice. We can sink into the ‘mud’ without even a struggle, or we can rise like angels. The era was built on the ruins of medieval beliefs. The Renaissance was a movement that allowed the rebirth of classical values and was primarily aimed at reviving the best ideals of the ancient times.
Still, Europe is not only the birthplace of science and technology, but also of democracy, dating back to ancient times and the French Revolution. At the heart of this development is also the development of human rights and dignity, which was particularly reflected in the historic Declaration on the Rights of Man and of the Citizen.
What Europe needs now is inclusiveness and sustainability, and to prepare for the major changes brought about by the green transition, technological evolution and globalisation. It needs to develop a strategic action plan and strengthen its capacity to act autonomously in a way that protects its values and way of life. With this strategic plan, it could also help shape the global future for all of us. Europe is capable of leading the response to global challenges by leading the way in the fight against climate change through the promotion of sustainable development and through the promotion of a distinctive model of cooperation. Today’s global challenges require complex solutions, which is why we need new, excellent knowledge and, above all, courage, which are fundamental values of the Renaissance.
The New European Renaissance is a concept of a new architecture, a high responsibility to address climate change and global energy challenges, a new way of (co-)existence, and the use of new digital technologies that are wise and humane, including artificial intelligence. There is a growing number of experts who believe that developments around the world are calling once again for a new ethical approach at all levels of society. What we need is a humanist vision of Europe and of the world as a whole, and this is where the inspiration of the Renaissance can serve us well.
The ‘Towards a New European Renaissance, It’s About People 2023’ conference took place on 17 March 2023, organized by Alma Mater Europaea, in cooperation with the European Academy of Arts and Sciences in Salzburg. It was moderated by the writer Howie Firth and Peter Volasko. Participants from different academic backgrounds in Europe debated themes related to the key message of the Renaissance as an inspiration for us all, which can be transformed into new emerging social paradigms of today. The three main objectives of the conference were, firstly, to establish an informal network of individuals from both academia and institutions across Europe, secondly, to seek a definition of a new humanist vision based on excellent knowledge and humanist values, and thirdly, to ensure the sustainability of the process in the form of a consortium that will apply for future scientific projects. Two documents were presented; one prepared by Igor Škamperle, and the other, a collection of principles from the Renaissance period, prepared by Paul Richard Blum.
Today marks the beginning of the second conference of the New European Renaissance, and since today we will be discussing the need to develop more sustainable macroeconomic concepts, we may benefit from the thoughts of indigenous activist Xiye Bastida, who explains that economists have forgotten the fact that all wealth comes from our planet Earth. If we continue along the same path that we are on, this natural wealth will one day be depleted. It is in the interest of the entire world population and the global economy to appreciate, respect and remember where we have come from and who we are. And it is precisely this awareness that we need on the path to a sustainable, regenerative and stable future. She believes that ‘sustainable’ is not a broad enough term to describe what we need at this time. We need a stable planet and that is why we need to regenerate it. Our efforts to find solutions through innovation can be an effective tool, but if we do not crush greed, this tool can only exacerbate the injustices that have already occurred in the past.
However, since we are, by all accounts, deep into an era in which artificial intelligence will play a key role in our lives, I would like to conclude with a prediction by the famous philosopher Yuval Noah Harari, whose view of the complexity of AI algorithms and their impact on the financial system is that they tell a very plausible story of how we need to be very careful when choosing a future in case we opt for a path in which humans are no longer at the centre.
What happens to the financial system, and ultimately to the political system, if eventually AI creates entirely new financial creations (machines) which people do not understand? Today, most of the activity in the world’s markets is driven by algorithms alone, and at such a speed and complexity that most people cannot even begin to comprehend them. If we could guess at the percentage of people in the world now who really understand the current dominant financial system, it is likely to be extremely small. In the near future, in a few decades, AI will create algorithms so complex that humans will no longer understand them. When you will vote for a government in this way, you will be voting for people who do not understand the financial system anymore at all. They will rely solely on AI to explain to them what is going on. Is this still democracy, is this still the rule of man in any form?
Andraž Ivšek
Ljubljana, 9 March 2024
Welcome address for the interactive discussion “How to create a more sustainable macro-economic concept for the future European societies – an inspiration from the Renaissance” which was part of The 12th Annual Conference of Europe’s Sciences and Arts Leaders and Scholars “It’s About People 2024 In Service of Sustainability and Dignity”.
In Scientia Veritas 