KEYS TO THE 21ST CENTURY", SUBJECT OF UNESCO TALKS
Paris, June 5 {No.2000-56} - How to meet the challenges of the 21st
century and civilise globalisation was the theme of the14th in the 21st Century
Talks series which, on May 30, brought together UNESCO Director-General
Koïchiro Matsuura, Sonia Mendieta de Badaroux, Chairperson of the Organization’s
Executive Board, and four personalities: Jacques Attali, Thierry Gaudin, Luc
Montagnier and Edgar Morin.
The debate introduced the book, “Les Clés du XXIe
siècle”, (“Keys to the 21st Century”), recently published in French
by UNESCO Publishing and the Editions du Seuil and soon to be published in
English. The book - with a preface by the Director-General and edited by
Jérôme Bindé, director of UNESCO’s Analysis and Forecasting Office - is “a
reasoned travel guide to the heart of the future”, according to Mr Matsuura.
It addresses thirty questions which are crucial for the future and constitutes
the first anthology of the 21st Century Talks and of the 21st Century
Dialogues, a cycle of future-oriented meetings organised by UNESCO since
1997. Eighty leading thinkers from all over the world have contributed to this
work.
Stressing the importance of anticipation and prospection, Ms
Mendieta de Badaroux spoke of the 21st Century Talks as a “series of
meetings [which] brings together some of the best scientists, researchers,
creators, experts and international decision-makers to discuss questions
pertaining to the future which appear to us to be essential for the construction
of peace in the coming century.”
“Without a map, without navigation instruments, how can we
voyage in the cyberspace of the future?” Mr Matsuura asked. He stressed that
the 21st Century Talks - through the diversity of disciplines,
geographic, professional and cultural backgrounds of their participants - “testify
to [the fact] that the challenges of the future are those of humanity in its
entirety. [Humanity] will have to draw on the extremely diverse wealth of its
heritage of ideas, creativity and knowledge, to develop peaceful instruments to
meet them.” The Director-General said that UNESCO must concentrate on a number
of major priorities: ethics, notably the ethics of science and the ethics of the
future; lifelong quality education for all; the preservation of cultural
diversity and of heritage, particularly intangible heritage.”
French Author Jacques Attali, President of PlaNet Finance,
spoke about UNESCO as a forecasting forum par excellence. He said that
UNESCO “cannot be blamed, like the World Bank, for making forecasts without
taking action. It is no doubt particularly frustrating that the world is like a
‘drunken boat’ with ‘entertainers’ - in other words, intellectuals and
creators - as its only remaining prophets.” This is why, he added, culture has
a special role to play in foresight: “However marginal [from an economic point
of view], culture is central to the way in which our societies are formed.”
According to Thierry Gaudin, President of Prospective 2100
and author of 2100, Récit du Prochain Siècle [2100,
Story of the Next Century], the message conveyed by daily news is
none other than that formulated by Guizot in the middle of the 19th century: “Get
rich”. Yet, it does not solve the problem posed by the billions who live in
poverty and exclusion and it is high time that science and technology address
this problem. Solutions are to be found in the development of a knowledge-based
society and of values other than those of materialism: conscience and mutual
recognition of subjects through intercommunication. Finally he asked: “Will
the 21 century be a century of the mind?”
Professor Luc Montagnier, co-discoverer of the AIDS virus and
President of the World Foundation for AIDS Research and Prevention, spoke of two
chasms which threaten humanity today: the chasm of time and the chasm of space.
He highlighted the need to meet the challenges of the 21st century, for a “regulatory
system”. According to him, humanity is facing three major perils: of epidemics
even worse than AIDS, the health and socio-economic problems generated by the
growing life expectancy of humanity, and - especially - the increasing [social]
inequality boosted by the development of the new technologies. Nevertheless,”
he concluded, globalisation can help us acquire a “universal consciousness”
and the faculty of anticipation to enable us also to avoid chaos and evolve
towards better societies.
Edgar Morin spoke of three trends at the dawn of the 21st
century: first, what he described as the emergence of the planet which is the
result of a “double globalisation”. The first globalisation, the one most
often discussed, came in the wake of the violent history of navigation and the
conquest of the Americas [when] different fragments of humanity were brought
into contact with one another through brutality […]. The planetary world is
emerging due to the final stage of the first globalisation which is driven by
the development of computer technologies and the establishment of immediate
communication between all points of the planet. But there is a second
globalisation, less visible as it is not dominant, which started with the idea
of Las Casas that the Indians had a soul, with Montaigne, Montesquieu, the
humanists and the Age of Enlightenment. This second globalisation developed with
the creation of international movements and the growth of non-governmental
organisations such as Amnesty International, Greenpeace and Doctors Without
Borders. “The protagonists of both globalisations,” Morin noted, “met in
Seattle [and] the actors of the second globalisation - that of consciousness -
expressed a simple truth: The world is not a commodity.”
Mr Morin spoke of two other key challenges of the 21st
century: the relation of human beings with technology and the biological
revolution. He pointed to two essential questions in this respect: Will we be
able to harness machines for our own advancement? Or will we be vanquished by
machines because of the development of artificial intelligence? According to Mr
Morin, a “reform of [our] thinking” is more necessary than ever if we wish,
thanks to the emergence of a planetary consciousness, “to save humanity”.
The principle of precaution is necessary, but it must be combined with the “principle of courage”, he concluded.
"Les Clés du XXIe siècle" (Seuil/UNESCO Publishing)
available in French (165 FRF)
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