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    The world we knew does not exist anymore; our daily lives have been deeply transformed. A new way of being is beginning to take shape for Humanity: the first planetary human civilization. How will it be? How do we want it to be?

Throughout human history, countless civilizations have risen, reached their peak, and declined. Current civilizations, while resisting decline, are nonetheless showing signs of fatigue. At the same time, technological advances allow us to glimpse the world to come, the future that is already on our doorstep.

But, how will this world be?

Will it be a mere mechanical projection of our current civilizations?

Will it be a global “free market” in which a few people enjoy economic gains at the expense of the great suffering majorities?

Will it be an apocalyptic videogame or a World War fought with sticks and stones as Einstein predicted?

Will it be a kind of Disneyland where human beings lose the meaning of their existence?

None of these projected scenarios will come true. Humanity finds itself at an historical crossroads where old paradigms no longer provide answers and are no longer of use for orienting one’s actions. Humanity is looking for a new paradigm that will fulfil its aspirations for a new destiny, one that cannot be patched together or rescued from the wreckage of a violent system.

At the World Centre of Humanist Studies, we believe that this new world will be as we build it, and that it is in our hands, and in those of all human beings on this planet. The evidence of this new civilization will be our highest human values in action: solving conflicts through nonviolent means; the absence of discrimination due to physical, economic, or cultural causes; the absence of physical, economical, racial, religious, and gender-based violence; freedom of thought and beliefs; a way of thinking that takes into account interpersonal and intercultural relationships and historical processes; an ecosystem that will be useful for life in general and not only for the uncontrolled consumption of a minority; a spirituality based on a deep experience of the humane. In short, a civilization that places the human being as the highest value.

 

    This new world will not be just a blueprint on paper, but a reality constructed by human intentions and actions. But in order for these intentions to stay on track, we must begin to study this new world, to imagine it, to dream it, and then to start laying the groundwork to make it a reality.


Assuming the spirit of those humanist times and their greatest achievements, the Second World Symposium proposes a dialogue, neither abstract nor institutional, that will seek an agreement on fundamental points, which are: the opening of new paths for research, communication, and collaboration, the building of new bridges among “people of good will” - representatives from different cultures, beliefs, and ideologies - in order to raise the pillars of a new planetary civilization.

Now is the moment to choose and to create, to put our best aspirations and energies to work to build the civilization that we have for so long deeply desired and yearned for: the Universal Human Nation.

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