Hubris, Black Swans and the Future of Europe
European Council meetings are seldom exciting. But last week’s virtual gathering showed once again that, despite fears, Europe is moving forward in the most serious crises.
There is no need to peruse the sacred texts to realize that the current pandemic brings man in general, and Western man in particular, face-to-face with his inclination towards hubris. Pride will always come up against the complexity of nature, which surpasses and thwarts human works. I hope that the sorcerer’s apprentices, like certain ideologues of artificial “intelligence”, will find food for thought in this.
Some people have criticized me for calling out governments’ negligence toward the outbreak of COVID-19, because, they say, it was “unforeseeable” — impossible to predict. Perhaps our ideas of predictability are different. In 2015, Bill Gates solemnly sounded the alarm, saying that viruses are a much greater threat to the world than nuclear weapons. Many less famous personalities issued similar warnings.
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Authors
Thierry de MONTBRIAL
Fondateur et Président de l'Ifri - Membre de l’Institut de France (Académie des sciences morales et politiques)
