Humanity in the muzzle flash

01 Jul Humanity in the muzzle flash

Posted at 19:23h in Seismograph by Chris Müller

We are surrounded by dystopias. This is precisely why we need to open up – for a joint effort. At the invitation of Prof. Siegfried Meryn and the Future Health Lab, I had the opportunity to discuss what this could look like with representatives from business and science. We identified 5 points.

Humanity faces the future with the uneasy feeling of a reprieve. With the feeling that a bullet has been fired that has already reached its target in many countries and now seems to have us in its sights. Its trajectory is frightening. And, the shooters, which sometimes include ourselves.

We know the images of torn people and exploded dreams. We hear about the effects on nature and the climate, smell scorched earth and feel the social wounds of entry and exit. The world as a human slaughterhouse, a place of damnation, a burning cradle of civilization.

We are under pressure.

The sheer speed of world events, this barrage of events, will remain with us and will certainly increase. The events of the last 20 years have marked a turning point in the sprinting history of mankind! The pressure of events was enormous. It broke all boundaries and was not a media invention, not a coincidence, neither the devil’s work nor God’s contribution. It was the course of history, accelerated by technology, politics and the dynamics of the markets. The basic problems are still the same: ecological overexploitation, a reckless and uninhibited
global economy and an increasingly powerless and (seemingly) incapable of shaping politics.

Well, these are not lines of trivialization and negation. On the contrary, times are indeed serious. We are under pressure.

Diamonds are born under pressure

The wisdom of the ancients is passed down from generation to generation in the form of oral history – including in my family. This includes, for example, that diamonds are born under pressure. This saying, taken from mining culture, probably expresses the fact that the hardships of life can trigger valuable changes, that strokes of fate and stress can and should ennoble, provide the necessary character polish, promote resilience and thus represent an incentive.

It may be true that this wisdom is a mockery or social media slogan for those who have just been hit and are reeling, for the fragmented and desperate.

Grandma and Mr. Toynbee please

However, I would like to point out that these sentences were spoken at the end of their lives, after they had survived or averted catastrophes through a joint effort. I would also like to call the last great universal historian of the 20th century and philosopher of history, Arnold Joseph Toynbee, to the witness stand.

He says:

“Genuine appreciation, respect and mutual growth arise when you do difficult things together.”

“The true appreciation, respect and mutual growth comes from getting doing hard things together”

Arnold Joseph Toynbee

Collaboration and effort

What have we learned from previous crises and how can we better prepare ourselves and our systems for future crises? One key insight from the COVID crisis, for example, was that we found it easier to cooperate and quickly develop solutions in areas where relationships of trust already existed before the pandemic. In short, collaborations can not only pool expertise and increase adaptability and flexibility, but also generate mutual trust, which strengthens resilience in times of crisis.

Act of Movement

The virtue of cronies is now required. Let us break the crusts of hardened symptoms of fear and sign an Act of Movement for society as a whole in order to turn the tide in a collaborative effort. The future is not determined in the negative, so we should not give it up without a fight.

What it needs now

On that evening, the experiences of the participants were brought together and a joint discussion was held on when cooperation across system boundaries is successful and how contemporary forms of cooperation should be designed. The following criteria proved to be of above-average importance in cross-system cooperation:

1. 1. 1. a common target image;
    2. Pressure to change the status quo;
    3. Courage, optimism and a place to start;
    4. common rules with clear and transparent structures;
    5. a sincere interest in the cooperation partner.