CHAPTER 8: THE KNOWLEDGE SOCIETYA NEGATIVE SCENARIO

In the previous chapter, we examined the positive scenario of the knowledge society in
detail. We also showed that there are important indices indicating that this scenario is silently
emerging in the present-day world. But, there is yet another column in Error: eference source
not found, a!ove. "he rightmost column of that ta!le represents a negative scenario. In this
chapter, I will show how the scenario is already developing and is present worldwide.
"his negative scenario is really very easy to understand. It starts from the idea that there
is no paradigm change # that everything continues as !efore$ %!usiness as usual& in the
world$ that the world maintains, in !usinesses and in society, the vision and the !ehaviour of
the industrial society and economy.
In short, the negative scenario arises from the case in which there is no transition toward
the knowledge society. "he industrial society simply continues with new, more-powerful tools,
many of them electronic tools, called Information and 'ommunication "echnology (I'"). "hus,
industrial strategies hold their places as the most common strategies employed in the world.
*ore capital and more technology, protected !y patents, continue to !e needed. "he competitive
nature of !usiness is strongly reaffirmed as a necessity and no %futurists& talking a!out networks
and colla!oration are listened to. +ew concepts, such as that of the knowledge society, are
considered ha,y, even dangerous, !ecause they might endanger the structures of competition and
industrial competitiveness. (-nd it is true that some network colla!oration practices endanger the
industrial strategies.)
What do to about the environment?
In the world as descri!ed a!ove, it is neither necessary nor urgent to occupy oneself with
concerns for the environment. .irst, since one/s competitors don/t worry a!out such concerns,
doing so will result in a loss of advantage in comparison with them. 0econd, to care for
sustaina!ility is considered !y %industrial& economists as a cost to !e subtracted from profit.
"hus, there is competition !etween the demands of competitiveness and those of environmental
respect. "he environment loses out in terms of investment. (In technical terms, this is called a
%trade- off,& and no one thinks in terms of a win-win scenario#only a win-lose scenario).
In !rief, one is content merely with great statements a!out the environment#rather than
action#!ecause one does not want to do much more. -ll this is perfectly logical to those in the
modern, patriarchal society and in the industrial society.
"his way of thinking, which is comprehensi!le, has already influenced the revision of the
1is!on strategy on the knowledge society (233342353). It was also the way of thinking
em!odied in the 6.0./s re7ection (in 8une 2335) of the 9yoto :rotocol, which the new president,
;eorge W. Bush declared to !e %fatally flawed.&
The Lisbon II strategya return to the industrial society?
"he scenario descri!ed a!ove is not that far from us. <n the contrary, it is all around us in
our everyday life. - concrete example could !e the revision of the 1is!on strategy. Indeed, one
may ask whether the strategy of 1is!on II, the revision of the 1is!on strategy, which took place
in the European 'ommission after the report of the =utch politician Wim 9ok, is not a return to
the industrial strategy. -nd it is understanda!le that this might !e the case. "he 1is!on strategy
was a very audacious choice. It inferred a paradigm change, a real 7ump into a new way of
thinking, like .inland was o!liged to do in 5>?> and did with great success.
But leadership failed on the 1is!on strategy plan. It was never made clear#not within the
European administration, nor in the mem!er 0tates, except perhaps in .inland and in 0weden#
that we were changing society and economy. "here are no !ooks and no explanations on this
topic. It is, therefore, understanda!le that this return to the industrial-society model occurred.
But it is a pity, especially, when one sees the disappearance of all the 6nits, which, in the
'ommission (=g Infoso), really were at the front edge of research and creation of knowledge
networks. It is disheartening.
What to do with humans?
"he ma7or pro!lem that one faces in this new type of %industrial& scenario is pro!a!ly the
manner !y which human !eings will !e considered and treated. -s I showed a!ove, humans are
crucial for the creation of new knowledge, which is the new heart of the creation of value. "he
classical %industrial& approach will tend to prioritise machine over man as it has done for
centuries. In this final phase of the industrial society, man is not so much an asset as a cost to !e
minimi,ed and, if and when possi!le, to !e replaced !y ro!ots. "hus, in this new context, the
industrial society and modern mentality will continue prioriti,ing the machine. It also will try to
do without humans. "his is deeply ingrained in its logic, and it seems that there are two ways in
which it will manifest.
5. "he first way is to replace humans with machines.
0ince a computer !eat the world chess champion ;ary 9asparov, many scientists
!elieve that the computer will, one day, !e a!le to replace the human !rain in all its
functions, even the most intimate ones. -nd they massively invest in more and more
powerful and performing computers to !e a!le, some day, to get rid of man. "hus, one
could some day progressively reach a society without a human dimension. 1ike it or not,
this seems to these scientists rational, unavoida!le, and perhaps most distur!ingly,
ethically accepta!le. "his is the result of a %modern& vision in which the scientific and
rational approach is, !y itself, a!ove ethics, since the use of reason and the scientific
method is a direct and warranted way toward o!7ective truth. .rom this point of view, it is
perfectly logical and accepta!le to replace humans with machines.
2. "he second way, in my opinion, is even more dangerous#that is, to manipulate the
human brain.
Indeed, !y remaining in the industrial and rational paradigm, and as much as the
human !rain cannot !e replaced !y computers, the most %rational& way to employ it is to
manipulate the human !rain to produce the knowledge that we want as much, when and
how, we want it.
A meeting of the European Commission on scientific policy
In 0eptem!er 233@, I was invited to an interesting meeting at the European 'ommission
in Brussels. It was organised !y the 0cientific and "echnology .oresight 6nit of European
'ommission. "he su!7ect was %converging technologies.&
What is it a!outA With the spectacular advances of nanotechnologies
5
and also of the
cognitive, !iological, and informational sciences, one witnesses in the 6.0., the European 6nion
and the rest of the world a phenomenon of convergence of technologies and scientific
approaches. In fact, when the scientist is working at the level of the very small#that is, at the
cellular level, it is difficult to distinguish if one works with chemistry, !iology, physics,
informational sciences$ or nanosciences. In fact, they might well !e working with all
disciplines at once. Indeed, the traditional distinctions !etween the scientific disciplines, as we
once knew them, are dissolving at the cellular si,e.
0cience is rapidly changing, and some speak of a new scientific paradigm. -t the
technological and research level, a similar 7unctionBfusion is occurring !etween !iology,
cognitive, and informational technologies and the nanotechnologies.
"his convergence !etween sciences and technologies at the %nano% level implies a
different approach of all the educational systems, and of student preparation. .rom the first day,
students will need to !e educated in a transdisciplinary way and to !e a!le to switch from one
discipline to another, or even to navigate in a new one which may !e a synthesis of a few
traditionally separated disciplines.
-ll this also means that the nanosciences now have access to the !uilding !locks that are
the essence of life itself. -s =orothee Benoit Browaeys, 7ournalist in :aris, and founder of the
pro7ect %1iving& o!served
2
, &If one can o!serve, manipulate, simulate the !ricks of the living,
one also can invent new structures. "his is the field which has !een opened namely !y the
nanotechnologies.& We are emerging on possi!ilities that were unsuspected a few years ago, !ut
which pose formida!le Cuestions.
-t the !eginning of the 'onference, the European 'ommission mentioned the existence
of an important report presented to the president of the 6.0., ;eorge W. Bush in 2332. "he
'ommission pointed out that the vision of the 6.0. %raises Cuestions& and suggested another
approach to the %converging technologies.& 1et us review the 6.0. report
D
and make clear the
5
"he nanotechnologies are technologies which work at the level of the cell si,e or the nanometre ( one millionth of
a millimetre or one meter divided !y 5333 millions). <ne is attending at a new change of scientific paradigm,
!ecause, at the level of the cell, it is difficult to distinguish what relates to physics, !iology or chemistry. "his is
another world where the classic distinctions !etween the modern sciences are relative.
2
0ee http:BBwww.vivantinfo.comBindex.phpAidE525
D
%Converging Technologies for improving uman performance ! +ational 0cience .oundation, -rlington 2332,
+ational Board of 'ommerce, 60-. http:BBwww.technology.govBreportsB2332B+BI'B:art5.pdf
implicit concept of the science and the technology which are at the !asis of this report. "his will
!e later very useful.
It is worthwhile at least to read the summary of the 6.0. report. "here is a Cuiet and
serene description of the two scenarios we 7ust mentioned#the progressive replacement of man
!y more and more intelligent machines, which reproduce themselves on their own and, on the
other hand, the manipulation of the human !rain modestly called %improvement of human
performance.% 0cience is also mentioned in totally %modern& terms. I would even say in much
more purely modern terms than European modernity. .ollowing is this eloCuent text
F
:
"#cience must offer society new visions of what is possible to achieve$ The society
depends upon scientists for authoritative %nowledge and professional &udgment to maintain
and gradually improve the well being of citi'ens( but scientists must also become visionaries
who can imagine possibilities beyond anything currently e)perienced in the world$ In science
the intrinsic human need for intellectual advancement finds its most powerful e)pression$ At
times( scientists should ta%e great intellectual ris%s( e)ploring unusual and even
unreasonable ideas( because the scientific method for testing theories empirically can
ultimately distinguish the good ideas from the bad ones$ Across all of the sciences( individual
scientists and teams should be supported in their *uest for %nowledge$ Then interdisciplinary
efforts can harvest discoveries across the boundaries of many fields( and engineers will
harness them to accomplish technological progress$+
"hus, in this report, the scientific approach !ecomes the altar of o!7ectivity and truth. It is
almost revered as divine since its method distinguishes the true from the false (the %good& from
the %!ad&), and, thus, leads humankind toward the truth. "he pu!lic can only %depend& on
scientists and must !e educated, !ecause if it opposes the progress of science, it means that it is
in the darkness of ignorance. In !rief, it is a marvellous homage to science, corresponding to the
%modern& vision of the 5?33s in Europe.
-s 8eremy ifkin
@
admira!ly says, the 6.0. for historic reasons has imported a %modern&
vision of science which !ecame fro,en in 5?33. "his vision of science did not change, !ecause it
was cemented in the -merican dream together with the protestant :uritanism. In addition, this
gave !irth to the powerful -merican dream that strongly !elieves in progress generated !y
F
0ee %60 report& p. F3: %*otivation and outlook: "heme 0ummary of :anel !y 60 representative of
;overnmental agencies.&
@
8eremy I.9I+ : , The European -ream ! when Europe.s vision of the future is *uietly eclipsing the American
dream$ "archer :enguin 233F. 0ee the !rilliant chapter 5@:&- second enlightenment&: :ages D5@-D@G.
science and technology !ut, at the same time, !y the divine !lessing which can manifest itself !y
the economic success of each citi,en having the courage and the will to work hard and !e honest.
-ccording to ifkin, the vision of science has not changed in the 6.0. precisely !ecause it
was sacralised in the -merican dream that no one dares to touch or decry. It has remained %deep
fro,en& since 5?33.
"his %modernB5?33& vision of the 6.0. eport a!out the convergent technologies !rings
up frightful Cuestions. "his %practically infalli!le& vision of science permits to totally short-
change the ethical de!ate. 0o that the report clearly shows that the political and scientific
leadership of the 6.0. gave the green light, without inner thought, on the one hand, for the
development of intelligent ro!ots, capa!le to replace man, and, on the other hand, they do not
hesitate to contemplate calmly the manipulation of the human !rain to increase its potential.
I encourage the reader to go to the Internet to read at least the summary of the report,
!ecause I cannot go further in depth here. But I shall here present two reactions of well-known
scientists who sound the alarm.
"he first is the very famous article !y Bill 8oy, the creator of the 8ava and other programs
at 0un *icrosystems
H
. Bill 8oy wrote in 2333, in the fashiona!le technology maga,ine, Wired, an
article that sounds the alarm and tries to launch a de!ate on the future of technology in the 6.0.
Iere are significant extracts:
"/irst let us postulate that the computer scientists succeed in developing intelligent
machines that can do all things better than human beings can do them$ In that case
presumably all wor% will be done by vast( highly organi'ed systems of machines and no
human effort will be necessary$ Either of two cases might occur$ The machines might be
permitted to ma%e all of their own decisions without human oversight( or else human control
over the machines might be retained$
If the machines are permitted to ma%e all their own decisions( we can0t ma%e any
con&ectures as to the results( because it is impossible to guess how such machines might
behave$ We only point out that the fate of the human race would be at the mercy of the
machines$ It might be argued that the human race would never be foolish enough to hand
over all the power to the machines$ 1ut we are suggesting neither that the human race would
voluntarily turn power over to the machines nor that the machines would wilfully sei'e
H
Bill 8<J: 0ee his original article in %Wired& http:BBwww.wired.comBwiredBarchiveB?.3FB7oy.htmlK5. Ie Cuotes here
a passage from 9ur,weil who Cuotes from 9ac,ynskiLs 6na!om!er *anifesto
power$ What we do suggest is that the human race might easily permit itself to drift into a
position of such dependence on the machines that it would have no practical choice but to
accept all of the machines0 decisions$ As society and the problems that face it become more
and more comple) and machines become more and more intelligent( people will let machines
ma%e more of their decisions for them( simply because machine2made decisions will bring
better results than man2made ones$ Eventually a stage may be reached at which the decisions
necessary to %eep the system running will be so comple) that human beings will be incapable
of ma%ing them intelligently$ At that stage the machines will be in effective control$ 3eople
won0t be able to &ust turn the machines off( because they will be so dependent on them that
turning them off would amount to suicide$
4n the other hand it is possible that human control over the machines may be retained$
In that case the average man may have control over certain private machines of his own(
such as his car or his personal computer( but control over large systems of machines will be
in the hands of a tiny elite&ust as it is today( but with two differences$ -ue to improved
techni*ues the elite will have greater control over the masses5 and because human wor% will
no longer be necessary the masses will be superfluous( a useless burden on the system$ If the
elite is ruthless it may simply decide to e)terminate the mass of humanity$ If they are humane
they may use propaganda or other psychological or biological techni*ues to reduce the birth
rate until the mass of humanity becomes e)tinct( leaving the world to the elite$ 4r( if the elite
consists of soft2hearted liberals( it may decide to play the role of good shepherd to the rest of
the human race$ They will see to it that everyone0s physical needs are satisfied( that all
children are raised under psychologically hygienic conditions( that everyone has a
wholesome hobby to %eep him busy( and that anyone who may become dissatisfied undergoes
6treatment6 to cure his 6problem$6 4f course( life will be so purposeless that people will have
to be biologically or psychologically engineered either to remove their need for the power
process or ma%e them 6sublimate6 their drive for power into some harmless hobby$ These
engineered human beings may be happy in such a society( but they will most certainly not be
free$ They will have been reduced to the status of domestic animals$+
.ollowing is another extract leading in the same direction.
"In a completely free mar%etplace( superior robots would surely affect humans as 7orth
American placentals affected #outh American marsupials 8and as humans have affected
countless species9$ :obotic industries would compete vigorously among themselves for
matter( energy( and space( incidentally driving their price beyond human reach$ ;nable to
afford the necessities of life( biological humans would be s*uee'ed out of e)istence$+ There is
probably some breathing room( because we do not live in a completely free mar%etplace$
<overnment coerces nonmar%et behaviour( especially by collecting ta)es$ =udiciously
applied( governmental coercion could support human populations in high style on the fruits
of robot labour( perhaps for a long while$+
>
It is most interesting to o!serve that the report of the 6.0. +ational 0cience .oundation
?

replies to Bill 8oy on page >@, thus.
"1ill =oy has raised such issues with the public( presenting scenarios that imply that
nanoscale science and engineering may bring a new form of life( and that their confluence
with biotechnology and the information revolution could even place in danger the human
species$ In our opinion( raising this general issue is very important$ 1ut several of =oy.s
scenarios are speculative and contain unproven assumptions 8see comments from #malley
?@@@9 and e)trapolations$ owever( one has to treat these concerns responsibly$ /or this
reason we have done studies and tas%ed coordinating offices at the national level to trac%
and respond to une)pected developments( including public health and legal aspects$ #o far(
we all agree that while all possible ris%s should be considered( the need for economic and
technological progress must be counted in the balance$ We underscore that the main aim of
our national research initiatives is to develop the %nowledge base and to create an
institutional infrastructure to bring about broader benefits for society in the long term$ To
this end( it is essential to involve the entire community from the start( including social
scientists( to maintain a broad and balanced vision$+
We see that all the importance is given to %the need of economic and technological
progress%. We still are in the %modernB5?33& paradigm, !uilt and !ased on the concept of
Cuantitative scientific economic and technological progress which is not Cuestioned. It is given a
priority over ethical preoccupations (humankind/s future) which must !e %handled in a
responsi!le way,& !ut without giving them a decisive priority.
G
Extract from the !ook of Ians *<-ME': :obot! Aere machines to transcend the human mind 'ited !y Bill 8oy.
?
Converging Technologies for Improving uman performance$ 8une 2332. -rlington 60-:
http:BBwww.technology.govBreportsB2332B+BI'B:art5.pdf 0ee p. >@.
Engineering of the human brain?
1et us now consider the second way to treat humans in this new technological
%industrial& vision. Either machines replace humans, or humans are manipulated to continue to
adapt themselves to the logic of the machines which remain preponderant. Iere one talks of
%engineering of the human !rain.%
"he +ational 0cience .oundation mentioned a!ove suggests that this is only a matter of
increasing the human potential, nothing more. 1et us take an example that was called upon
during the Brussels pu!lic meeting of 233F:
"We are in ?@BC$ The school principal summons the parents and tells them( DEour child is
having difficulties in our school$ Eou are totally free5 however( I suggest that you give him a
small in&ection( at school e)penses of course( of a mi) of nanocomputers the si'e of a cell$ We
have observed that often the children increase their performance and become *uieter$ 1ut( if
you do not accept( and I repeat that you are totally free( I regret that the school no longer
can assume the responsibility of your child.s education$+
"his is a possi!le scenario. *oreover, it indicates the second danger of the negative
scenario#manipulation of human mind, !eginning with the weak and defenceless.
Is this the direction in which we want to take our world civili,ationA -re we ready to
su!7ect our children or grandchildren to these types of %experimentations&A "his certainly merits
discussion. "he pu!lic must !e informed as !est as possi!le to !e a!le to fully participate in the
de!ate.
-fter Bill 8oy, let us go to one of the highest world authority in astronomy#0ir *artin
ees
>
, professor at the 6niversity of 'am!ridge. In 233D, he pu!lished a !ook that is a serious
warning a!out the actual evolution of science and technology. Ie is much referred to !y 8eremy
ifkin in the %European =ream% (p. D5@). -ccording to him, %the odds are no better than fifty2
fifty that our present civili'ation on Earth will survive until the end of the present century.& ees
warns against the construction of small nanoro!ots that replicate like viruses and that race out of
control, devouring matter and turning the Earth/ surface to a %gray goo&
53
. ees worries also
a!out similar threats posed !y genetic engineering and computer technology#especially as
technology in the high-tech field spreads rapidly.
>
0ir *artin EE0:& 4ur final century+ andom Iouse 233D,69, pu!lished in 60 with the title: "4ur /inal our&,
!y Basic Books 233D
53
0ir *artin EE0: i!idem. :.5D2.
-ccording to ees, it is urgent to organise a glo!al discussion on scientific research.
*any scientists reply that if the same warnings existed when man discovered the fire, we would
have remained primitives. But ees replies that the ma7or difference is that the prior discoveries
only had a limited and local impact, whereas the progress of the converging technologies may
have a glo!al and lasting impact.
"here also is, in Washington =.'., the International 'enter for "echnology -ssessment
http:BBwww.icta.orgBnanotechBindex.cfm which is again very critical a!out some nanotechnology
development. Iere is a Cuote from -ndrew 9im!rell
55
, founder of this 'enter:
"Corporations( academics( and researchers came to reali'e( albeit slowly( that current
technology is not compatible with lifeF To deal with this historic dilemma( the techno2
utopians and their corporate sponsors outline a breathta%ing initiative$ This initiative was
not to change technology so that it better fits the needs of the living things( as we were so
eagerly advocating$ 7o( they had and have a very different and stunningly self2serving
approach$ They decided to engineer life( indeed reality itself( so that it better fit the
technological system. It is in this chilling conte)t that the enormous significance of the
current revolutions in technology can be fully appreciated$ ere we have the %ey to the
otherwise bewildering high2tech headlines and to much of our social malaise$+
-s I will show !elow, the difficulty is precisely the paradigm, the underlying vision.
-ccording to the vision of part of the +orth -merican esta!lishment and its present government,
they consider themselves %in the truth and o!7ectivity& and are not ready to change, !ecause there
are no reasons to change if you are in "he "ruth. "his is, fortunately, not the position of millions
of 6.0. intellectuals, who are totally conscious of the dangers of not shifting paradigm with this
new tool of production.
0o that ifkin concludes (p.D23):
"The divergence in views on science and technology between Americans and Europeans
is growing and is now coming to the fore in a myriad of public policy debates( threatening a
schism as significant as the divide over our different sense of how best to pursue foreign
policy and domestic security$+
55
-ndrew 9I*BE11: %Technotopia+ In %EE#( a &ournal of positive futures+ +N5>, .all 2335, p.5F. *r 9im!rell
is :resident of I'"- : %International 'entre for "echnology -ssessment&, HHH, :ennsylvania -venue, 0.E. 0uite
D32, Washington =.'. 2333D. :hone: 232B @FG->D@>. www.icta.org
It is time now to go to the European position represented !y the European 'ommission.
"his leads us into another atmosphere, another vision of the world, another scientific and
technologic paradigm. We make a !ound from 5?33 to 233F.
Innovative and critical position of the European Commission
<ne must acknowledge the European 'ommission and specifically *r. :araskevas
'aracostas and his think tank on 0cientific and "echnological .oresight in the ;eneral =irection
of 0ciences, who initiated a high Cuality reflection on these crucial Cuestions. "hey asked a
group of experts to provide a report on the converging technologies. "his intelligent and in-depth
report
52
was pu!lished in 0eptem!er 233F in Brussels. It includes the following items.
5. It clearly warns against any danger of manipulation of the human !rain.
%0ome proponents of 'onverging "echnologies advocate engineering of the mind and
of the !ody. ("he text has pro!a!ly the 6.0. +ational 0cience .oundation in mind,
without to say it explicitly). Electronic implants and physical modifications are to
enhance our current human capacities. "he expert group proposes that 'onverging
"echnology research should focus on engineering for the mind and for the !ody. 'hanges
to the cognitive environment or medical self-monitoring can improve decision-making
and health. -nd the 'ommission warns against a real danger of surrendering our freedom
to the machines: %Either way, humans may end up surrendering more and more of their
freedom and responsi!ility to a mechanical world that acts for them.O
-s we can see, the report proposes a strategy which is very different from that of the
6.0. Instead of engineering of human !rain, they advocate engineering for the !rain and
for the !ody. We are in a completely different vision, in which, the human person is in the
centre now and not the machine. We Europeans, feel much more at ease in this new
vision and new paradigm.
2. Involvement of citi,ens since the first day as a new strategy.
"he report details different aspects and challenges of these converging technologies,
and it strongly advises to involve the European citi,ens !y organi,ing centres of
discussion, which they call %widening circles of convergence&. It insists in the idea that,
OConverging technologies 8CT9 converge toward a common goal$ CTs always involve an
52
%+ano-Bio-'ogno-0ocio--nthro-:hilo. Iigh 1evel European ;roup .oresighting the +ew "echnology Wave:
'onverging "echnologies 4 0haping the .uture European 0ocieties. Brussels, European 'ommission 233F.
http:BBwww.ntu.noB2323Bfinal.
element of agenda2setting$ 1ecause of this( converging technologies are particularly
open to the deliberate inclusion of public and policy concerns$ -eliberate agenda2setting
for CTs can therefore be used to advance strategic ob&ectives such as the Lisbon Agenda$O
*oreover, the report advises that the political goal should !e that of the 1is!on
strategy which recommends that the 6nion !ecome competitive in the knowledge
economy, !ut in a sustaina!le and socially inclusive manner.
D. Ethics is completely integrated inside the creative development process, and scientists
shall !e educated in ethics.
"he report indeed insists on ethics, philosophical reflection and human science/s
contri!ution
5D
%CTEG# agenda2setting is not top2down but integrated into the creative
technology development process$+
F. In everyday language, this means that usually everything is prepared and the
decisions taken !efore %consulting the pu!lic& and politely asking it to accept a well
prepared package. But the report says: +o: the pu!lic must decide with the scientists( and
from the beginning what these technologies will !e used for. "oward which society are we
going togetherA What is the real agendaA We are in a completely different vision of the
role of science and scientists in society. -nd the text continues, &1eginning with scientific
interest and technological e)pertise it wor%s from the inside out in close collaboration
with the social and human sciences and multiple sta%eholders through the proposed
WiCC initiative 8"Widening the Circles of Convergence+9$ /or the same reason( ethical
and social considerations are not e)ternal and purely reactive but through the proposed
Euro#pecs process( bring awareness to CT research and development.& "hus, ethics is
not an appendix that is added a posteriori without prior consultations. +o, ethics is at the
heart of the process of the agenda creation. It is at the heart of the reflection. -nd one also
foresees a continued education of scientists in the field of ethics.
@. - new contract !etween society and science.
"he end of the report mentions %the new contract between society and science$+ "he
pu!lic is no longer an o!stacle to the development of science, !ut it is an indispensa!le
resource allowing society to choose !etween the scientific applications which are positive
for the future of humankind and those which are not.
5D
0ee the European :eport :age F:
We no longer are in the modern paradigm. "he vision of science and society is
transmodern. "he paradigm is different.
Conclusions from Chapter H
Without entering into the technological details of these interesting +orth -merican and
European reports, I have descri!ed a negative scenario for the future and the o!7ective evidence
of its existence. I conclude with the most important messages here.
5. "he negative scenario exists.
It is powerful and alive. Indeed, there are huge political, economic, and financial
forces which have firmly decided to activate it. .or instance, the +ational 0cience
.oundation of the 6.0. and all the important forces gravitating around it. In addition, this
is going on since 2332. 1et us have no illusions.
2. "he main danger is the implicit vision, the paradigm.
"he simple ideas that I would like to present here are that:
"he danger exists to lose human freedom.
"his danger is not linked to such or such a person or group of persons that might !e
!ad or ill-disposed. Indeed, there are always mafias, !ut I am not here concerned with
that sector for the moment. "he danger is not linked with persons.
"he danger is not linked to a particular technology. "his de!ate is +<" a
technological de!ateP
The danger lies in the II#I47( the way of seeing and unconsciously acting which I
call the modern2rational vision of science$ The danger is to %eep the obsolete
paradigm with the new tools$ "he value scale is no longer appropriate for the new era
that we entering. We are, in part, reproducing the same errors as at the end of the
*iddle -ges, when we tried to manage the first industrial tools with medieval
agrarian tools and concepts.
D. <ur working hypothesis is that some leading elites in the 6.0., !ut also elsewhere in the
world, still are totally in the modern paradigm, and even in a modernity fro,en around
5?33, for many reasons.
F. "he danger lies in this o!solete vision or paradigm that pretends to solve the pro!lems of
tomorrow with the mentality of yesterday. "his 6.0. report of 2332 on the converging
technologies is an excellent example of a modern concept of science. -nd in that vision,
science is:
4b&ective and capa!le of reaching and achieving the "ruth !y itself, thanks to its
%o!7ective experimental methodology.&
Independent from the public$ It is unnecessary to consult pu!lic opinion, which is
considered as an o!stacle to go around or to educate.
4riented toward "supply economy$+ "he vision is that anything that science produces
(supplies) is excellent for Iumanity, and must thus !e put on the market. :u!lic
opinion will have to !e %convinced& to !uy all that science and technology produces.
@. In the actual context, what seems to us particularly dangerous is to maintain this
%modern& concept and vision of an independent science, deified on an altar and separated
from the human and from the historical context.
:rigogine and 0tengers wrote splendid and enlightening pages on this unconscious
deification of science during the centuries: %#cience( laicised( remains the prophetic
announcement of a world described as it is contemplated from a divine or demonic
perspective! the science of 7ewton( this new Aoses to whom the world truth came into
sight( is a science revealed( definitive( foreign to the social and historic conte)t which
identifies it as a human activity$ This type of prophetic and inspired discourse can be
found all along the history of physicsF&
5F
-s Ilya :rigogine, +o!el price of physics (5>GG), remarks very well, the pro!lem of
the scientific %modern& paradigm is that %modern %science is foreign to the social and
historic context which gives it its human character. 0ince it sees itself as %divine,&
inspired, and o!7ective, it is really in danger of !ecoming demonic.
"he serious danger on the hori,on is that science and technology are indefinitely
allowed to !lindly progress and dehumanise our civili,ation, without even reali,ing it. In
the end, we are in a logic of death, una!le to !e stopped. Indeed, in the %modern& context
dominated !y the almighty reason, there are no possi!le protective railings. "he
impression is that an unavoida!le development is heading us toward a catastrophe that we
5F
Ilya :I;<;I+E and Isa!elle 0"E+;E0 ! +4rder out of Chaos! Aen.s new dialogue with nature$& .onatana
!ooks, 5>?@.
prefer not to see. "his is the warning of :rofessor =upuy
5@
who teaches in :aris and at
0tanford 6niversity, 'alifornia.
H. "he European vision is more transmodern.
<ne can feel that the tone of the European document is in a different paradigm and
vision. "his is !ecause the underlying vision is transmodern, without saying it. "he vision
of science and its relation to truth and society is very different.
#cience is more critical toward itself$ It does not consider that any scientific discovery
!y itself is useful to the citi,ens. "he position is more critical and warns against real
dangers.
#cience is functioning as a new "-emand economy$+ In a turnaround, one moves
from a supply economy where techno-science continues to produce and to %supply&
new products that people are supposed to !uy, to a %demand economy& where science
tries to answer to implicit or explicit demands from society, nota!ly on sustaina!ility
and social cohesion.
#cience is lin%ed with its historical and social conte)t$ "he E6 report situates itself
differently with regards to science. 0cience is here inserted in a historical and societal
context. It is not a!ove societyQ therefore, it dialogues with the other human sciences
and with the citi,ens.
#cience proposes a new pact with society$ - %new science pact& with the citi,ens is
proposed and put in place.
I will end this chapter with an important Cuote of 8eremy ifkin from his well-known
!ook, The European -ream
5H
.
"It is too early to say for sure whether Europe is leading the world into a second
Enlightenment$ Certainly its multilateral agreements( its internal treaties and directives( and
its bold cutting2edge initiatives suggest a radical re2evaluation in the way science and
technology are approached and e)ecuted$ The increased reliance on the precautionary
principle and systems thin%ing put Europe out in front of the ;nited #tates and other
countries in re2envisioning science and technology issues in a globally connected world$ #till
5@
Moir :ar exemple http:BBfr.wikiedia.orgBwikiB8ean-:ierreR=upuy
5H
8eremy I.9I+:/ "he European =ream: when Europe Ss vision of the future is Cuietly eclipsing the -merican
dream& "archer :enguin 233F, page D@H-G.
a word of caution is in order$ The old power2driven Enlightenment science remains the
dominant approach in the research( development( and mar%et introduction of most new
technologies( products( and services in Europe( America( and elsewhere in the world$
Whether the E; government can effectively apply new2science thin%ing in its regulatory
regime to old2science commercial applications in the mar%etplace remains to be seen$ In the
long run( a successful transition to a new scientific era will depend on whether industry itself
can begin to internalise the precautionary principle and systems thin%ing into its :J- plans(
creating new technologies( products( and services that are( from the get2go( ecologically
sensitive and sustainable$+
Iowever, this leads us naturally to the following chapter, which analyses the relationship
!etween the knowledge society and the transmodern and planetary paradigm.
CHAPTER 9: THE KNOWLEDGE SOCIETYTRANSMODERN AND
PLANETARY
In this chapter, I shall show that the knowledge society is necessarily a transmodern
society, and that if it does not function well it can even function very !adly, it may even lead to
catastrophe and to death. I will first define the four dominant paradigms (see "a!le 5, !elow)#
the pre-modern (agrarian) paradigm, the modern or industrial paradigm, the post-modern, and the
transmodern or planetary paradigm, and I shall add the matrifocal paradigm from @333 years
ago, which forever relativises the patriarchy, as we have seen.
"a!le 5 provides a synthetic view of the paradigms and their differences in various fields.
"his is the plan that I shall follow for the presentation of this chapter. We discover more and
more that we are like an amalgam of four different paradigms. Iowever, the modern paradigm is
losing its preponderance. In addition, we are entering the transmodern period after rapidly
passing through the postmodern period.
"a!le 5: "he four paradigms of our roots
*atrifocal
Before D@33 B.'.E.
:re-modern
D@33 B.'.E to 5G33
-.=.
*odern
5G33 to 5>?3 -.=.
:ostmodern
5>?3 to 2333 -.=.
"ransmodern
Beyond 2333 -.=.
"I*E T 0:-'E 0acred circular time
0acred limited space
1inear sacred
irreversi!le time.
0ym!olic space icon
1inear time, history.
eversi!le time.
0pace: perspective
Idem Irreversi!le time
0pace is full
'onsciousness precedes
matter.
+ew sacred.
:<WE structure ;oddess *other is
life-giving power.
Woman is sacred.
+o armies.
+on-violent values
;od the .ather on top
of :yramids.
Women inferior 0in
-rmies dominate
Miolent values
eason of top of
:yramids of power
Women !etter, !ut..
Miolent values
:ulling down all
pyramids$
But nothing else$
Women: same
thing
Miolent values
+etworks of sharing
9nowledge :yramids in crisis
Women are excellent
+on-violent values
'1E;J ;reat :riestess
Women manage the
sacred
'lergy male only
knows what ;od
thinks P
+ew male clergy E
technocrats T
economists.
0harp critic of
%specialists&
'iti,ens do not accept any
%sacred& intermediaries.
*-I+ <''6:-"I<+ 0hepherds and fruits
pickers. +o private
ownership
-griculture
:rivate <wnership
.ight for land
Women is %owned&
Industry
.ight for ownership of
means of product.
-utonomy of human
intelligence.
Industrial paradigm
Intolerance toward
any %system&
9nowledge economy E post
capitalist T post industrial
paradigm
"6"I
(epistemology)
"olerance respect.
1ife is sacred
Intolerance. 'lergy
imposes laws in ;od/s
name. <!scurantism.
Intolerance of all non-
modern cultures
WE have the truth E
civili,ation PP
+egative definition
of "ruth.
ather weak.
adical tolerance.
"a!le hollowed in the centre.
+ew definition of "ruth
*E"I<=0 Intuitive and smooth =ominated !y the
sacred and theology
-nalysis of nature E
sacrilege P
-nalytical method.
=escartes, +ewton.
Weak synthesis. +o
glo!al vision.
-nalysis until its
ultimate limits.
+ot any
reconstruction.
Iolistic approach
E each part reflects the whole.
;lo!al vision is important.
*atrifocal
Before D@33 B.'.E.
:re-modern
D@33 B.'.E to 5G33
-.=.
*odern
5G33 to 5>?3 -.=.
:ostmodern
5>?3 to 2333 -.=.
"ransmodern
Beyond 2333 -.=.
0'IE+'E
T "E'I+<1<;J
Mery few
technological
creations. +o
writing
0hepherds economy
=ominated and
controlled !y clergy.
+ature is sacred.
-grarian economy
-utonomy of science T
technol. E true. T +o
ethical concerns.
0upply-economy
0ame scientific
paradigm
+< Ethical
concerns
0upply-economy
*an is not a!ove !ut I+
nature.
+ew science paradigm.
Ethics.
%=emand-economy&
MI<1E+'E MEJ 1ittle *uch more violence.
=ominance of the
*atrifocal people.
+on-violence inside the
0tate.
War is %.oreign :olicy&
*uch Miolence
Idem
+on-violence !etween 0tates.
"errorism up.
+ew women-men conflicts.
W<*E+ T *E+ Women carries the
sacred E 1ife
*en not despised
:atriarchy E Women
despised
Women/s li!eration, !ut
structures remain
patriarchal
:atriarchy
+o changes
:ost-patriarchal values. +ew
values cocktail, less violent
0piritual aspiration in pu!lic Jes toward
;oddess-*other
Jes toward ;od the
.ather on all
continents
+<. eligions are
private and
disappearing
+< JE0. =istinction !ut not
separation !etween sacred
and profane.
1I.E -."E =E-"I Jes, evident. Blood
of life on the deads.
Jes, evident. eward
after 7udgement.
+<. Evident
+othing after death.
+< JE0, rediscovery of the
forgotten dimension
"IE B<=J T 0-'E= Body T sex are
temples of the
sacred.
Body T sex are totally
desacralised
=esacralisation
continues. -!straction
of !ody. *ental.
=esacralisation
'ontinues
esacralisation
of Body T sex.
+ew harmony of !ody, mind,
heart, sex,soul.
1E." B-I+ < I;I"
B-I+
ight !rain very
active
ight !rain somewhat
active
1eft !rain dominates
and %kills& right !rain
1eft !rain
dominates
eturn of the right !rain.
Iarmony !etween the two
!rains
U*arc 1uyckx ;hisi 233?
The matrifocal before the patriarchal
I shall come !ack to details later on the matrifocal society and the stakes for the
knowledge society. Iowever, it seems to me important to point out already here the matrifocal
paradigm. It is evident that this antiCue vision represents a very different fundamental view#
another image of the divine( of the sacred and of life( death( circular time( and space$
+evertheless, as we have seen, since the patriarchal narrations appear everywhere as the
primordial narrations, they succeeded in o!scuring almost perfectly the civili,ations that
preceded them. "his is another dimension of the intolerance of the pre-moderns !ecause they are
clearly patriarchal. "hus, it is fundamental to have the matrifocal view rise again from the non-
existence where (patriarchal) history engulfed it.
3re2modernity( agrarian period"The Angelus+ by Aillet
"he sym!ol of pre-modernity for me is a painting called &"he -ngelus& !y the .rench
painter, 8ean-.rancois *illet (5?5G45?G@). It depicts a man and a woman facing each other. "hey
have stopped working. "he man has removed his hat. Ie !ows his head and recites the -ve
*aria of the -ngelus, facing his spouse who does the same. In the !ackground, the church
steeple can !e seen in the twilight.
:re-modernity is still lived !y several !illion people who make their living !y farming.
Indeed, when one makes one/s living from farming, the underlying vision is completely different
from the industrial modernity, !ecause the farmer is dependent on the divine forces that !ring the
rain and the sun at the right time$or not. Ie a!solutely cannot influence the growth of the crop.
Ie can only plant. +ature does the rest. "hus, his world is poetic and sacred, whatever his
religion. "ime is sacred. Iis values are sta!le and immuta!le. "he prover! that descri!es well
this paradigm is the one of Iorace: %There is nothing new under the sun$&
"he glo!al hori,on of pre-modernity is precisely that meaning is stable and given by the
divine( from eternity$ "here has always !een a divine and a human dimension in life. In addition,
this eternal truth does not and should not change. 0o that the transmission of values to the next
generation is not a pro!lem, since the !asic values are sta!le. <ne can say, like *ax We!er, the
;erman sociologist, that pre-modernity is sacred and enchanted, whereas modernity
%disenchanted& the world.
- very important component of pre-modernity is the respect of +ature. +ature must !e
respected !ecause ;od gives it to us. 7ature does not belong to man$ It is not at his service. It is
sacred !ecause it is ;od/s creation.
"his vision certainly is common to pre-moderns and transmoderns, as we shall see. "he
fact that +ature does not !elong to us, !ut on the contrary, that we !elong to it, is !eing
rediscovered today, in transmodern times. In some ways, we are rediscovering a %sacred&
reconnection with the divine or cosmic forces. *oreover, those forces are no longer called in the
same manner, and they function differently. "here is a rediscovery of the sacred, !ut it no longer
is a vertical sacred, in a vertical space. "ransmodern sacred is a hori,ontal sacred of
%reconnection with +ature and the cosmos,& in networks. "his new sacred is rooted in the !ody
and in the present.
"his sense of the sacred is perhaps what will make the transition from the pre-modern
paradigm to the transmodern one, while leaping over the modern paradigm. Indeed, in
modernity, at least in Europe, one would sound stupid for talking a!out %sacred& in pu!lic.
Except perhaps in the 6.0. where, as we have seen, the -merican dream com!ines an ultra-
modern and secular vision with a sacred :uritan faith.
In transmodernity, this view of the sacred will take a different shape. In pre-modernity,
the sacred was sym!olically tied to verticality and, thus, to separation. ;od is a!ove us in the
sky. 'athedrals like 'hartres and +otre =ame de :aris lift the souls toward the heavens. "hey are
spaces of %vertical sacredness.& In the pre-modern vision of the sacred, one had to leave the
world and to separate from it in order to !e a!le to approach the sacred and the divine. <ne
needed to go to a monastery and part ways with sexuality and from every day life$to search the
divine in seclusion.
In transmodernity, the sacred challenge for everyone is to %reconnect& with the divine
forces of the cosmos, since we are not a!ove +ature !ut part of it. In addition, this !roken
connection has !rought us is the dangerous unsustaina!le situation Iumanity is in.
<n the other hand, this sacred and sta!le pre-modern world faces some difficult pro!lems
in today/s world !ecause it has a pyramidal and patriarchal2li%e structure. -ll values proceed
from the =ivine and are transmitted again !y the male power of the clergies of the different
religions, at least for the three %religions of the !ook.& "hese pyramidal and patriarchal
structures, which exclude the women from the sacred, do not match very well with our
contemporary mentality. "his might !e the part of pre-modernity which will not !e included in
transmodernity or planetarism.
"he other aspect of pre-modernity that is not accepta!le today is its strict intolerance,
even its missionary dimension. "his is intolerance is normal, since society is entirely structured
around the <+E =ivine, which gives meaning to everything. "here is no possi!ility to accept
another definition of the -!solute, of the sole and only ;od the .oundation of the system.
Indeed, to accept the possi!ility of another foundation is to relativise the a!solute and thus
destroy the !asics of the religious faith and vision. "herefore, no !argain is possi!le on dialogue
with other .aiths. "his is one of the most difficult aspects to accept !y transmoderns and, of
course, !y the moderns. In a glo!al world, every!ody understands that this paradigm is non
operational.
What is modernity?
*odernity is a powerful and courageous pro7ect of autonomisation and, thus, of li!eration
of human intelligence with regards to all o!scurantisms. "his li!eration movement occurred !y
changing the vision of the world, !y changing the ultimate value at the hori,on. -s is happening
today with the transition to transmodernity, the first moderns changed their visions and their
Iori,on.
<ne has to go !ack in the context of the end of the *iddle -ges to understand the terri!le
level of human stupidity and wickedness in the repression of human intelligence !y the
InCuisition and its tri!unals, which did not tolerate any scientific autonomous research. Indeed,
only a few isolated people started to think and act differently from the norm#*ichelangelo and
the audacious Italian artists, =escartes, ;alileo, and also out of Italy, 'opernicus, 8ean Iuss,
1uther, etc. 0ome perished at the stake. "hey were not conscious of the fact that they were the
founders of the enaissance and modern times. "hey thought of themselves as isolated thinkers
who were marginal and threatened !y the InCuisition.
+ew ideas of space with perspective and geometry
It was thrilling in the enaissance to open up the hori,on, to create a new vision, and give
life a new meaning. When, for example, =onatello, 6cello, and :iero della .rancesca !egin to
introduce perspective in their paintings, they are not conscious that they tilting Europe toward
modernity !y completely transforming the perception of space. By introducing perspective, they
transform the medieval space into a modern space. Aodern space( indeed, is geometric and
defined !y scientific criteria. It is not anymore a sym!olic and flat space, like icons, for instance.
+ew mechanical time#the clock
- small machine came to slowly structure time#the clock. In the monasteries, the days
for the monks were shorter in the winter and longer in the summer. In addition, every!ody
followed the churches !ells. "he monks themselves invented the clock and, henceforth, held their
prayers according to it and no longer !y following the sun and other cues from +ature. "hus,
they anticipated %modern& time, measured !y machine. "he far-reaching conseCuence of this
mutation is the reform of efficiency invented !y "aylor which made it possi!le to time down the
motions of chain workers to increase their output. "ime has !een completely mechanised !y the
industrial modernity.
It is most surprising that the modern vision took !ack, may!e unwillingly and
unknowingly, the pyramidal power structure, exactly like in the pre-modern vision that they
criticised. Iowever, they replaced ;od with the goddess of eason.
*oreover, most surprising also is that modernity transposed the clerical structure.
*odernity gave itself a new, invisi!le clergy#the economists. -nd this clergy has its cardinals
and the Ioly InCuisition, which calls to order the economists or the 'hiefs of 0tate who deviate
from the orthodoxy of the &free market.& Indeed, the free-market economy functions as a rational
and scientific religion. "his is normal !ecause the rational truth, as :rigogine notes well, was
improperly elevated to the rank of implicit divinity. Without this faith, it is impossi!le to reach
important positions, for instance in central !anks and national governments.
"he change of vision and paradigm was accelerated and reinforced !y the fact that the
European society passed progressively from agriculture to industry. When making o!7ects in a
factory, there is no need anymore to go in procession to pray for the divinity/s help. Iumans
have !ecome completely autonomous in the process of value creation. With reason, one
functions perfectly well. +o need for anything else. <ne !ecomes rational, !ecause rationality is
enough to live well. "here is no need for anything else. In addition, the idea is that pro!a!ly
religion was a pure invention of human mind. <ne can understand why modernity has !ecome
sceptical concerning the inner dimension of humans.
-s I have already mentioned, :rigogine and 0tengers were the first to emphasise this
point. *odernity, in fact, unconsciously, gave science an almost divine role$ WhyA Because
modernity kept the pyramid and replaced ;od with eason. 0ince science is rational, it leads us(
therefore directly to the Truth( which is the %divine& apex of the pyramid. -nd this, without us
having the need for churches and clergies. 0cience succeeded in its complete autonomisation
with regard to religions and o!scurantisms, !ut it acCuires an exceptional, almost divine, status.
It is a!ove ethics, it is a!ove responsi!ilities since it is good and true. "o criticise it is to !e
ignorant.
-s I showed in the last chapter, this is one of the ma7or dangers of the current glo!al
situation we are in. We are tackling technologies that concern life and our survival as a species,
!ut we tend to use the modern vision of science and technology, which are not adapted to the
gigantic planetary stakes that are present. "he ma7or danger is to have a vision and a hori,on that
are maladapted to the stakes of our era.
Technology also, in this modern world, functions on the model of a supply economy. "his
is normal since technoscience is considered true and, thus, good. It is normal, therefore, that
everything it supplies is a !enefit for humankind and, thus, must !e !ought. "his leads us straight
to the consumer society. We realise very well that we cannot, through the 25
st
century, continue
to consume in an unsustaina!le fashion.
1et us now approach the famous scientific method. It, too, is considered to !e a direct
track to the truth, since it is rational. By the mere fact that it is %rigorous& and %o!7ective,& it
must !e considered as leading directly to the "ruth. "hus, it is unassaila!le, in the modern vision.
+evertheless, it is very important to note that our entire scientific, !ut also administrative,
and even political operation functions along the same analytical method proposed !y =escartes
#that is, when facing a difficult pro!lem, cut it into pieces and resolve the parts of the pro!lem.
"his has !een done for centuries. "his analytical method has given wonderful results, !ut it is
naturally incapa!le of providing synthetic results to glo!al Cuestions such as that on the future of
humankind. "his is the reason why it has lost its legitimacy as the uni*ue method. It remains
only one of the possi!le methods, !esides other more holistic approaches. "hus, we must
a!andon the supremacy and domination of the %modern-scientific& method as the only possi!le
method of approaching the future. In spite of all its Cualities, it does not help us find today a
solution to the pro!lem of our continuing survival.
<ne should not underestimate the great 7ump that modernity allowed humankind to
achieve with regard to violence between persons. Indeed, one of the 0tate functions, a modern
creation, has !een to completely suppress violence !etween individuals. "he law in the modern
0tate now makes violence illegal. evenge, even against the killer or the rapist of one/s daughter
is not allowed. It must !e reported to the police and to a 7udge. "his system appears o!vious to us
today, !ut centuries were needed to get there. Even royal princes had to !e imprisoned !efore
they came to understand that duels were no longer allowed. In the transmodern paradigm, this
non-violent component will !e maintained and expanded outside the national !orders, !etween
0tates.
-t the national level, modernity invented national armies, national arms factories,
national military service (ala +apoleon). It created the concept of national war. Before +apoleon
Bonaparte, those concepts were a!sent on Earth. <n the other hand, 'lausewit,
5G
and *achavelli
held that war is the continuation of foreign policies through other means. "hus, in modernity, war
is institutionalised and a national (and glo!al) event which coins national unity %!y the !lood of
the !raves poured on the earth& and is part of foreign policy.
"hus, modernity integrated violence and war !etween 0tates as something entirely
natural. "here was no alternative. If a 0tate was not satisfied through negotiations, it was
a!solutely normal and understanda!le to go to war, if there was a possi!ility to win it. "his
attitude is held today in ;eorge W. Bush. It should not shock us, however#it is what we have
done for centuries.
0o why are we shocked !y Bush/s policies, which are totally %modern&A Because our
hori,on has changed and we, the glo!al pu!lic opinion, are no longer in the modern paradigm,
even if we are not always aware of it. Bush helps us, the citi,ens of the world, to !ecome aware
that we are not anymore in his vision. Ie is like a revelatory catalyst of our transformation. Ie
helps us to !ecome conscious that we are changing worldwide.
In this regard, we must say, %"hank you, *r. Bush. Jou make us all understand that it is
urgent in this glo!al world to invent a new framework, a new (transmodern) paradigm of non2
violence between #tates$ It helps us all to go Cuicker !eyond modernity.&
5G
'arl :hilip ;ottfried (or ;ottlie! ) von '1-60EWI"V is !orn on 8une 5, 5G?3 in *agde!urg and died on
+ovem!er 5H, 5?D5 in Breslau. Ie was a :russian officer and is recogni,ed today as :resident Bush military
theorist. <ne of his most cele!rated sentences is that % War is only the extension of politics through other means.
'ertainly, modernity has advanced the cause of women. "he suffragettes and the feminist
movement and, for instance, the writings of 0imone de Beauvoir, in .rance, are modern
movements. Iowever, for women, the pro!lems are far from !eing resolved. Indeed, women
continue to !e su!7ected to discrimination, or harassment at the workplace. "oday, in many
places, women still need twice the competence to reach the same level of responsi!ilities as men.
"hen, there is the %glass ceiling& in many !usinesses and administrations that prevents women to
exceed a certain level of responsi!ilities. "here has !een undenia!le progress with regards to
persons and mentalities, !ut the structure remains too often pyramidal with the last steps
inaccessi!le to the %weaker sex.& In addition, are the salaries eCual for eCual workA "his does not
appear to !e the case everywhere in the European 6nion.
5?
P "hus, the modern structures still are
strongly patriarchal, in most of the cases.
*odernity also completely separated the practice of a religion from the public domain$ It
consigned religion to the sacristy$ It is not allowed to mention religious motivations in pu!lic. In
.rance, this separation is the strongest. Indeed, numerous countries which, in other respects, are
very modern, like the 6.0. and the 6nited 9ingdom still have their presidents swear on the Bi!le.
*odernity went even further. It spread the word that religions were due to disappear
someday, since they were not rational. <nly the rational is real. 0ome spoke of a %religion of the
secularity& which tended to spread this vision of the end of religions as a new &missionary
religion.& Indeed, in Europe, we have associations of atheists, which preach atheism and are
openly anti-religious. *odernity has not !een a!le to maintain a real openness to the inner
dimension of humans. It has !ecome very materialistic.
When one reads 8ung and the great thinkers of the human psyche, we see that they did
emphasise the importance of the inner dimension in human !eings, and of the human soul. In
this, 8ung prefigures transmodernity. Whereas, .reud and 1acan seem more rationalist and
materialist and not very open to this inner dimension of human psyche, at least much less than
8ung. In this sense they are more modern, and, thus, more representative of the 23
th
century.
"his !rings us to the !elief of life after death$ I think that when the history of the 23
th

century and modernity in general will !e written, one of the most negative points of its
evaluation will !e that this century succeeded in totally suppressing, in pu!lic opinion, the
5?
0ee the %service for the eCuality !etween men and women& at the European
'ommission :http!KKcc$europa$euKemployment socialKgender insttuteKinde)Lfr$htlmM
conviction that life continues after death. "his vision of life after death has always !een affirmed
!y all the world civili,ations for thousands of years even if that afterlife was expressed very
differently. "he modern official vision is that there is a!solutely nothing after death, and that we
return to naught. In so saying, modernity generated a generalised anguish of death which
manifests itself as a desperate, and vane, search for security. Iere is what Willis Iarman was
writing in the nineties. Ie is one of those who !est explains the current change:
"Aodern #ociety has a peculiar characteristic( namely( that it teaches fear of death( and
that fear underlies many other fears$ If in fact we fundamentally evolved by mechanistic
processes out of a material universe( and if life is regulated by coded messages in the -7A(
then when those processes stop we die( and that is the end of us as physical organisms$ If our
consciousness( our cherished understandings and values( our individuality( our personhood(
are simply creations of those processes( then when those processes stop we are no more$ That
is surely a fate to be feared( and( indeed( the fear of death permeates our society( disguised in
a multitude of ways in which we see% .security$.+
"hus, modernity generated an enormous collective regression at the level of the
individual and collective consciousness. We came to completely forget and negate life after
death. "his is a!solutely !ar!arous and regressive. -nd it has infiltrated our world society with
deep fear of death that we disguise in a lot of research for security. Iowever, this modern vision
is perhaps not the last world on the Cuestion. Willis Iarman continues:
"1ut the Dperennial wisdomD of the world.s spiritual traditions has disagreed( has
asserted that we are in an essentially meaningful universe in which the death of the physical
body is bur a prelude to something else$ The mystical and contemplative traditions have
often gone on to give more details$+
Willis goes even further and speaks a!out scientific evidence of life after death.
+#erious attempts have been made to e)plore the concept of the continuation of
personhood after physical death( and the evidence gathered has been disturbing to both
positivist scientists and convinced religionists( because it fails to conform their
preconceptions$ owever( if that evidence is e)plored with humility and open2mindedness( it
seems to point to features of an emerging Dnew storyD *uite different from the prevailing
worldview$+
MN

What Willis is suggesting here is that we are all so modern, rational, so right-!rained, that
we are una!le to accept evidences proving the existence of life after death. In order to accept
those experiments and discoveries, one has to shift worldview, or paradigm
23
. I invite the reader
to go and read the whole of the 'hapter @ of Willis/ !ook. Ie is a very great thinker.
1et us now see what modernity has done to our bodies. "hey have !een completely
disarticulated, desacralised, and atomised. Indeed, the famous analytical method has patiently
taught us to leave out our emotions, our sexuality, our !odily needs, and our feelings to
concentrate on the efficiency and the yield of the industrial production, which moves faster and
faster. 0o that our lives are atomised, separated into different !oxes which contain parts of us. We
have a hard time finding ourselves again and reconnecting the !oxes in an integrated whole.
*oreover, the desacralising process generated !y modernity has invaded our !ody, our sexuality,
the woman, and our relation to nature and life itself. We see that this desacralising process of
women, the !ody and sexuality was already well under way with the pre-modern patriarchs. We
live next to ourselves, next to our lives. We have !ecome &mutants& which for the -ustralian
a!origines are no longer true men
25
.
*eanwhile, the num!er of people who do not find a meaning to their life and, even more,
youth suicide is alarming. "hese youth suicides, which most of the time are kept Cuiet in our
%developed& countries, are a measure of the flagrant inadeCuacy of our declining industrial
society to the implicit expectations of the young generation. - drama which the following
testimony, out of an excellent 'anadian inCuiry, measures the horror.
+ I did everywhere what I had to do$ I did not bother anybody$ owever( deep inside me(
it was totally blac%$ I was li%e a roving dog but it was hidden in me$ I %ept face$ I felt very
soon that my parents did not %now what to do( what to say when I told them that I was losing
it( that I had problems( that it was crying inside me$ They panic%ed( and so I did not tal%
5>
Willis I-*-+: <lobal Aind Change ( the promise of the last years of the twentieth Century$ Institute of
+oetic 0ciences ( 0ausalito, 'a. www.noetic.org) . - second edition of this !ook is pu!lished !y Berret and 9oehler,
0an .rancisco, 5>>?. 0econd edition, :age ?F
23
<ne has to know that Willis has redefined science and thus for him %scientific evidence& includes other
approaches than purely rationalistic.
25
*arlo *<;-+: Mutant Message Down Under. Kindle edition !99" P#$e%&#'( )**"+ I am very conscious
of all the critics against this !ook, who appears no to !e approved !y a!original community at all. +evertheless, the
!ook in itself contains a very challenging message, which is what interests me here.
about it againF$ I am ?B years old( I have a normal life( but I feel myself empty( emptied(
without motivation( without inner breath and without any inner direction$ I find the world
incredibly meaningless and tasteless$+
??
"hese words demonstrate the lack of meaning of our modern civili,ation in crisis.
.inally, to top it off, we have !een taught to function only with our left brain. We have
!ecome handicapped with regard to the right !rain. We almost no longer use it, except when
suddenly the knowledge society asks us to !e creative and to have our right !rain run at a smart
pace.
3ostmodernity( the last avatar of modernity
In "a!le 5, a!ove, I included a column to descri!e postmodernity !ecause, in our
conferences, the Cuestion of postmodernity is recurrent. I would here like to thank the
postmodern thinkers, like =errida, who had the courage and the tenacity to disassem!le the
intellectual fortress of modernity. Because, indeed, this fortress is very solid. Iowever, one
should also o!viously note that this disassem!ling is provisional.
+evertheless, the position of this !ook is precisely to capitalise on this useful
deconstruction. Jes, the modern narrative, the modern vision had to !e deconstructed, in order to
allow intellectuals to go further. "hank you, postmodern thinkers. +ow, we have to !uild a new
narrative, a new vision of the world and of our future, where the young generation will !e a!le to
find hope and energy to !uild a real sustaina!le future.
In order to go further we need a new narrative, a new story a new vision. "hat is my
intent in writing this !ook#to !egin where postmodernity finishes.
8eremy ifkin says it perfectly well
2D
:
"The postmodernists engaged in an all2out assault on the ideological foundations of
modernity( even denying the idea of history as a redemptive saga$ What we end up with at the
end of the postmodern deconstruction process are modernity reduced to intellectual rubble
22
8acCues ;-+=*-I0<+: &1e dWfi des gWnWrations: en7eux sociaux et religieux du XuW!ec d/au7ourd/hui. .ides,
XuW!ec, 5>>@, pp D5D-D5F.
2D
8eremy I.9I+:/ "he European =ream: when Europe Ss vision of the future is Cuietly eclipsing the -merican
dream& "archer :enguin 233F, page @.
and an anarchic world where everyone.s story is e*ually compelling and valid and worthy of
recognition$
If the postmodernists ra'ed the ideological walls of modernity and freed the prisoners(
they left them with no particular place to go$ We became e)istential nomads( wandering
through a boundary2less world full of inchoate longings in a desperate search for something
to be attached to and believe in$ While the human spirit was freed up from old categories of
thought( we are each forced to find our own path in a chaotic and fragmented world that is
even more dangerous than the all2encompassing one left behind$+
It is impossi!le to stop at deconstruction while our planetary survival is seriously
threatened. We need to go further. It does not provide a way to !uild a new narrative, a new
political paradigm with a vision.
:ostmodernism today, is !eing surpassed. It was the last avatar of modernity !ecause the
postmodern method is also purely rational. It is the same as the modern method !ut turned
around itself. In addition, this avatar played its roleQ therefore, "C.est fini$O+ (0ee more on
postmodernity in -ppendix 2.)
What is the transmodern vision?
What is transmodernityA Is it the end of rationality and of scienceA -re we moving
toward a worldwide glo!al %new age% and toward totally irrational ways of thinkingA -re we
going !ack toward medieval o!scurantismA "his seems to !e the fear of some intellectuals at
least in Europe.
Jes, we are in a mutation. Jes, we are leaving modernity. -nd, as we leave the room,
there is a !ack door that frightens us all, the return to past o!scurantism, to religious wars, to
%fundamentalisms&(which often are pre-modern) of all sorts.
Iowever, and this is the master idea of this !ook, there also is a front door which is less
evident !ecause we have to create it. -nd, the knowledge society can really take off only if it
7oins the transmodern view, if it departs modernity !y the correct door. "his new door is more
difficult to find !ecause the way to it does not yet exist. We must create it. We have to invent it
together.
What is this new doorA What is this new transmodern synthesisA <ne takes the !est of
modernity, and the !est of pre-modernity and goes farther, invents a new orientation, a new
vision, and a new %politic of 1ife& for humankind. "hus, we shall recuperate the good things of
the scientific method. We will capitalise on the wonderful achievements of science and
technology. We will rediscover the harmony with nature and the cosmos, and the spiritual depth
of the pre-moderns. Iowever, these tools will !e directed anew toward the reali,ation of a
completely sustaina!le and socially inclusive civili,ation. 0cience and technology will not !e
Cuestioned !ut well their fundamental orientation, their !asic axioms, and their link with
humankind/s goals which will !e fundamentally defined again.
Gnowledge society is transmodern
1et us review the different topics (rows) of information shown in "a!le 5.
"ime, space, matter and consciousness
"he first row in the ta!le concerns time, space, matter, and consciousness. :rigogine and
0tengers
2F
show that modernity esta!lished and sanctioned the reversi!le time invented !y
+ewton. When the latter measured the interval for the apple to fall from the tree, he could do the
same experiment again, ad infinitum, and the results will always !e the same. "he experiment is,
!y the definition itself of a scientific experiment, reproduci!le ad infinitum. <ne may go forward
in time and do the experiment again. "hus, the %scientific& time of +ewton is reversi!le. -ll
physics and classical science are !ased on this reversi!le time, which is the condition for a
possi!le %scientific method& since it is !ased upon the %reproduci!ility of the experiment.&
"oday, the studies of :rigogine show that +ewton/s physics constitute an exception with
regards to physics altogether. .or instance, when one considers the %dissipative structures,& the
study of which won him the +o!el price, time in the analysis of these dissipative structures is no
longer reversi!le, since if I measure a dissipative structure at time t5, I shall not o!tain the same
result if I measure it at time t2. "hus, one comes !ack to the same time as that of poetry and daily
life, which o!viously is not reversi!le. 'onseCuently, the reversi!le time of +ewton is okay only
for a small part of physics. <ne understands that these changes induce some confusion in the
2F
Ilya :I;<;I+E and Isa!elle 0"E+;E0 ! +4rder out of Chaos! Aen.s new dialogue with nature$& .onatana
!ooks, 5>?@.
scientific circles. Indeed, this is the very keystone of the scientific method which crum!les
downP
:rigogine told me in a private conversation !efore his death that he was still receiving
everyday letters of insult, accusing him to have demolished the very foundations of the scientific
method. .ortunately, there were some other letters of congratulations and awarding him many
honours.
In the vision of +ewton and =escartes, which still dominate the modern paradigm, the
space in !etween the stars and in the atom is an empty space, and matter is considered as inert.
+ow science proposes a new, somewhat different, vision#that is, of a space that represents an
important energy reserve and which, until now, was not exploited !y our technologies
2@
.
"eilhard de 'hardin suggested intuitively that matter is endowed with consciousness.
Einstein was the first to show a link !etween matter and energy. In his famous theory of %general
relativity,& he demonstrated that matter was like condensed energy. Ie proposed and
demonstrated the eCuation linking energy (E), mass (m), and the speed of light (c) in E E mc
2
.
"hus, there is a direct relation !etween mass and energy. Indeed, we are in another vision of
reality. *oreover, curiously, one realises today that some ichis of India already were saying
similar things a!out matter thousands of years ago.
Iowever, let us go farther in the relation !etween matter and consciousness. -ccording to
Willis Iarman, matter even proceeds from consciousness. Iis studies
2H
are my references on this
su!7ect !ecause, to my knowledge, they are the most advanced and, at the same time, the easiest
to read and understand. -ccording to him, we are on the !rink of a second %'opernican
revolution.& Because it is the philosophical understanding of the universe (paradigm) which
topples under our eyes, without us realising it. Indeed, a type AM metaphysics clears the way for
type AB metaphysics$ Which are these three types of metaphysicsA What is matterA
In metaphysics *5, the !asis of everything is matter com!ined with energy. "o study
reality, one should start from the measura!le world. *easure what is measura!le as the only
2@
"here is a whole literature on the %energy of the vacuum&. "here even are engine prototypes already functioning
with cosmic energy. But, were that technology really develop, it would !e the collapse of a solid part of our
energetic empires. *ankind does not seem ready for such a type of energetic revolution
http:BBfindarticles.comBpBarticlesBmiRm55DFBis 5 552Bai >G5GF2>2
2H
Willis I-*-+: <lobal Aind Change ( the promise of the last years of the twentieth Century$ Institute of
+oetic 0ciences ( 0ausalito, 'a. www.noetic.org) . - second edition of this !ook is pu!lished !y Berret-9oehler,
0an .rancisco, 5>>?.
scientific way to know. 'onsciousness issues from matter. It is even located in certain cells of the
!rain. -ll that we know a!out consciousness is to !e related to the functioning of certain cells of
the human !rain.
Whereas metaphysics *D starts from consciousness#it considers that the foundation of
the whole universe is consciousness$ In !rief, in this new vision (*D), spirit and consciousness
are first, whereas the matter-energy proceeds, so to speak, from consciousness. "he metaphysics
that we are accustomed to is, there!y, turned !ack like a sock. If one deals with Cuantum physics,
one realises that the most recent research precisely move in the direction anticipated !y Willis.
*etaphysics *2 is dual in that it places side-!y-side two foundations of the universe#
matter-energy as first and consciousness as first. *2 is a mix of *5 and *D. It is like the
transition !etween *5 and *D.
Is *D a shocking hypothesisA Jes, it is. It is like a hurricane coming to us in silence and
threatening to change completely the very nature of intellectual reasoning. It could change
completely the way we will work in our universities and in the approach to science and
technology. It could change also the way humans relate to reality. We are here like in the eye of
the hurricane of change, in which we are entering in complete silence, !ecause it changes
completely our vision of life. In announcing this change, Willis goes further than :rigogine and
many others. Ie has !een one of the most advanced pioneers of this paradigm shift.
Who is Willis IarmanA Is he seriousA 'an we trust himA Well he is one of the great
thinkers !ehind the 0ilicon Malley pro7ect. Ie was at that time an eminent mem!er of the
0tanford esearch Institute. Ie also is the co-founder of the World Business -cademy. Ie also
was the =irector of the Institute of +oetic 0ciences. Jes, Willis, who passed away in 5>>G was
some!ody serious. "herefore, his reflections, even though they are very advanced, cannot !e set
aside with a !ackhanded stroke. <n the contrary, his hypothesis might well !ecome one of the
nodes of the new paradigm( as much as the discovery of 'opernicus and ;alileo !ecame the
essence, the cornerstone of the modern paradigm.
When working in networks in the knowledge society, one rapidly faces phenomena of
collective consciousness within the network. Indeed, the communication inside the network can
!ecome more than only good communication. 0ometimes it is almost like telepathy, intuitive
communication, linking people in new ways that are !eyond rational explanation. "he works of
0heldrake
2G
stand out concretely and even operationally. Ie talks of a morphogenetic field that
links not only humans to humans !ut also dogs to their masters, instantaneously, whatever the
distance. "his morphogenetic field operates as metaphysics *D. "he management in networks
may have to consider this very seriously.
*y feeling is that our understanding of time, space, and matter is changing
fundamentally. -t the high scientific levels, those Cuestions are already seriously discussed, !ut
this discussion does not yet trickle down to the pu!lic. "his is one of the !asic challenges of the
knowledge society, !ecause it can only function within these new concepts of time( space( and
consciousness$ 6nfortunately, we try and retry to make it function in the old, industrial frame.
In parallel, one also sees at a rapid and profound evolution of the sacred sense among
generations. We as we have already seen, for the generation !orn !efore 5>33, the sacred is
linked to the ascetic path. "his path to the divine presupposes the humans to take distance from
sexuality, the !ody and material life, in order to the a!le to ascend toward the divine which is
located %a!ove& (vertical sacred).
<ne now sees a complete turnaround of the notion of the sacred.
2?
.or the younger
generation, it seems that the sacred is linked to a %reconnection& with nature and the cosmos
(hori,ontal space). "he sacred is next to us and in us. "herefore, I speak of hori'ontal sacred$
<ne needs to reconnect because we are part of the cosmos and, in any case, we cannot consider
ourselves %superior& or %a!ove& or dominant. "his new sacred is linked to the danger of
collective death#we are o!liged to reconnect with nature if we want to survive. "he younger
generation understands that, if we do not reconnect to the cosmos, if we do not adopt a less
:romethean attitude, extinction of the human species is at risk. "his is their implicit sacred, an
implicit sacred !ut a very strong one. (I will come !ack to this su!7ect in 'hapter 52.)
=isposition of power in networks
Iere, things are clear#it is impossi!le to create knowledge in a pyramid. It does not
work. "he pyramid of power increased industrialBmodern efficiency, !ut here it is malad7usted.
<n the contrary, the network !ecomes the indispensa!le tool allowing exchange and thus
2G
upert 0IE1=-9E: %0even Experiments "hat 'ould 'hange the World: - =o-It-Jourself ;uide to
evolutionary 0cience& :ark 0treet :ress 69, 2332.
2?
<ne should find interesting to read the collective work edited !y Basara! +I'<1E0'6:&Le sacrP au&ourd.hui+
Editions du ocher, :aris 233D. "his high level reflection includes !elievers and un!elievers. .rom a working group
linked to 6+E0'<. "hey witness the new directions of the sacred in he 25st century.
creation of knowledge. With regard to power, this is very su!versive since there is no way to
control power in a network, and there is a strict eCuality !etween mem!ers. We saw this in the
previous chapter.
+evertheless, what is important to note is that, for the first time in millennia, the
disposition of power seems to move toward non2violent schemes. "his is very important if
confirmed within the positive scenario at least. It might indicate that humankind is#finally#
rising to a new level of consciousness.
"he future of %clergies&
I showed a!ove that modernity has transposed, without knowing it, the pyramidal
structures and the clericalism#which is always extremely long-lived#as a form of control of
the economists !etween themselves, for instance, !ut also of the economists/ position with
regards to the government, the medias, and the society. Economists continue to %preach& the true
and, very often, the false without !eing distur!ed or even the least !it Cuestioned. "his is
astounding#somewhat like the theologians who continued impertur!a!ly to dissert a!out the
sex of the angels in the midst of the religious wars.
In the knowledge society, every!ody has access to knowledge on the Internet. -nd the
new generation, which works in network in this new society seeks e)perience, or perhaps
guidance, in their spiritual advance, !ut certainly not an intermediary who %knows& what the
divine thinks and who provide orders. In fact, the notion of %intermediary& or even %expert& is
pro!a!ly in crisis.
"he main occupation#the knowledge economy
"his is the theme of this !ook#that we are changing production and, therefore, the world
vision, the %Weltanschauung&, the paradigm. "he main occupation is not any longer agrarianBpre-
modern or modernBindustrial. "hey continue to exist !ut are not the main activities anymore.
"he concept of "ruth
"his is another very important point. Indeed, the pre-moderns and the moderns !oth have
an intolerant concept of the truth. In a glo!al world, this is a ma7or pro!lem. "his is the feeling
one gets when one reads the famous article of professor 0amuel Iuntington from Iarvard on the
%clash of civili,ations&
2>
(5>>D). "he mentality and the vision underlying this article are modern
and intolerant. "his is the same intolerance that one finds in the -merican foreign policy which,
!esides, seems to have adopted the vision of the article#the clash with Islam no matter the cost.
"he new epistemology, the new definition of the truth that is slowly coming to the fore, is
totally different. Iere, we touch a very important element of transmodernity. "he image that I
suggest is that of the %hollow-centred ta!le.&
When I worked in the .orward 0tudies 6nit of the European 'ommission, we had our
weekly meetings around the ta!le that had !een !uilt for the first reunions of the 'ommission.
1egend has it that 8ean *onnet himself designed it. "he ta!le is composed of triangles like slices
of a tart that fit together, !ut the centre of the ta!le is a circular hole.
.or me this idea of the hollow ta!le is the most potent sym!ol of transmodern and
planetary paradigm (see .igure 5).
2>
0amuel I6+"I+;"<+ : , The clash of civili'ations Q in .oreign -ffairs, summer 5>>D.
.igure 5: "ransmodern truth#radical tolerance
The centre is hollow, !ut also full of life and light. +o one possesses the ultimate truth.
Every!ody is invited to proceed toward the centre, !ut no one is a!le to own or possess the
ultimate truth (the divine). It also is the way witnessed !y the mystics#whether 8ews, *uslims,
'hristians, Buddhists, or atheists. "he more one proceeds toward the centre, the more one lives
out powerful experiences that are !eyond words, and the less one is a!le to speak and to %know&
the less one wants to formulate the truth in theological terms, and the less one remains attached
to his own theological formulation.
All the slices of the tart are e*ual. "his means that in this new vision, every culture of the
world is eCual in value to the others, every culture contains part of the truth, and no one culture
contains it all. -nd finally, every culture is invited to contri!ute to the solution of the world
pro!lems of survival from its own creativity and richness, on an eCual footing.
-t the same time, the more one moves toward the centre( the less he %nows( the less he
"possesses+ the truth( and the less he tries to impose it to others. "his is the concept of truth that
one finds again with the mystics of all world religions. "hey all witness the same vision of truth
in their deepest inner experience. It seems also that the new generation finds itself much at ease
with this new vision of truth, !ecause they are much more transmodern than us.
<ne can also apply this vision of the "ruth to the political governance of European 6nion.
<ne can say that each partner, each 0tate is sitting on eCual footing around the ta!le of the
'ouncil of European ministers, in Brussels. "he countries of the 6nion are eCual, whatever their
si,e, even 1uxem!urg. +o country is allowed to dominate the others. In addition, this is what I
o!served#that the more government officials !ecome used to working with each other at this
European level, the more they acCuire a new level of political consciousness. "he more they
!ecome conscious of the glo!al responsi!ilities of the E6 in a world in crisis. "he more they
!ecome conscious that what they sign in Brussels is of a different level than what they sign at
home, in Berlin, 1is!on, or Warsaw.
It is evident that we are far !eyond the postmodern conception which, !y decomposing
the truths, ends up dissolving the possi!ility of truth and leads us toward relativism.
-ny new civili,ation that grows up around this knowledge society is a civili,ation that is
intrinsically non-violent and tolerant, !ut not relativist. "ruth exists, !ut no!ody controls it. "he
current political leaders have not gotten used to the idea. "he European 6nion is getting closer to
the idea !ut does not explain it well to its citi,ens.
"he struggle !etween tolerance and intolerance is always hard and difficult to manage.
Iow to counter in a non-violent manner people who are violent and intolerantA Indeed, what to
do as a tolerant transmodern in a conflict with an intolerant %modern %or %pre-modern&A "he
transatlantic dialogue, in fact, is a dialogue !etween the modernB5?33 (6.0.) and the transmodern
paradigm (E6) which does not dare give its name.
"he scientific method
In the knowledge society, we are not going to get rid of scientific analysis, !ut in a glo!al
world in 7eopardy, one can no longer !e content merely with such analysis. -s I mentioned
a!ove, the !asis itself of the legitimacy of the scientific method disappears with the advent of a
new concept of irreversi!le time. In addition, we a!solutely need a synthesis that allows us
efficient action. <ne even goes !eyond the synthesis, toward the holistic approach, where each
part reflects the whole or is an image of the whole.
We also must mourn the !eautiful image of %o!7ective& science, wherein the o!server is
completely independent (outside) of the experiment %scientifically& o!served, and the
experiment is, therefore, indefinitely reproduci!le, and thus, true. "his is the modern vision, and
it does not stand up against the criticisms of the thinkers of the new physics, such as :rigogine
and all those who came after him#for instance, those who work in the convergence of
technologies around nanotechnologies. 0o the scientific approach !ecomes again a poetic
approach of nature as :rigogine says so well at the end of his !eautiful !ook, 4rder 4ut of
Chaos
D3
. <!viously, there still are ferocious !attles ahead. -nd many are those who do not even
realise that they are conducting rear-guard fighting.
"he future of science and technology in the knowledge society
It is o!viously out of the Cuestion to a!andon science and technology or all the !right
conCuests of modernity. What is changing in our world is the hori,on # the goal of our research.
"he change is !oth small and enormous. "he goal is no longer the one of emancipation, of
autonomisation of science and technology from any o!scurantism, where it is perfectly free to
D3
Ilya :I;<;I+E and Isa!elle 0"E+;E0 ! +4rder out of Chaos! Aen.s new dialogue with nature$& .onatana
!ooks, 5>?@. 1ast page.
develop in all-possi!le directions since it is intrinsically good and true (the philosophy of the
supply economy). "he new goal arises from the realisation that we are now in a crisis, confronted
with the Cuestion of the survival of humankind. "hus, one must redirect this marvellous and
potent scientific tool toward the realisation of a sustaina!le world and a future for our offspring
(the philosophy of the demand economy).
I saw this new goal profiled for science and technology in a report at a meeting of the
European 'ommission in 233@.
D5
"he report indicated to us a fundamental orientation change
toward a desire for a much more sustaina!le world. "his was an indication that, once more, the
E6 is at the forefront at the glo!al level.
But, evidently, there are other powers, and potent ones, that are moving in the opposite
direction. "he dinosaurs were very strong. .ortunately, they disappeared in a few years.
:ersonal and structural violence
I have shown that modernity created a space of non-violence, the national soil, thanks to
its creation of the structures of the 0tate, namely the separation of powers (*ontesCuieu).
"oday/s difficulty is that terrorism is !ringing violence !ack to the 0tate. "hus, it is necessary to
approach structural violence and economic 7ustice !etween the 0tates.
"his is indispensa!le !ecause everything is linked.
"he trend for us is o!vious. In a glo!al world, we must extend non-violence at the
relations level !etween 0tates. "o this end, we must set up a world economic system that is
genuinely inclusive and 7ust. 0uch a system does not currently exist. <ur world system is neither
sustaina!le nor inclusive. We saw earlier that presently there is no longer any rapturous vision,
no ultimate goal for the great ma7ority of humankind. "his is extremely dangerous. -s the Bi!le
says, &When there is no vision, people are unrestrained& (:rover!s 2>:5?). -nd if we do not
rapidly act in that sense, we shall experience an enormous increase in terrorism from all over.
=espair leads indeed to violence.
<n the other hand, with regards to war 7ustification, we would attend the emergence of a
"peace culture(& according to .rederico *ayor, past general =irector of 6+E0'<
D2
. Ie argues
D5
Iere is the link to the documents of this excellent meeting of the =; 0cience of the European 'ommission, on the
future of science and technology.
http:BBcordis.europa.euBforesightBconference233@.htm
D2
.rederico *-J<: La nouvelle page Editons du ocher, 6nesco, 5>>F.
that in fifty years the &!urden of proof& (that is, the need of 7ustification), has shifted from the
pacifist to the warrior. "oday, to resort to war, the warrior must first really demonstrate to the
pu!lic that there is no other solution. In the past, the pacifist had to 7ustify why he refused war. In
this regard, our world really has really toppled, even and foremost if one considers the
campaigns of ;eorge W. Bush.
-nd the knowledge society keeps stressing the pressure toward political non-violence.
Indeed, we feel more and more that we are working in a glo!al network where every!ody is on
an eCual footing, and that the more the interaction is creative, the more every!ody is enriched
with a new knowledge. "he knowledge society represents a great movement toward a non-
violent society.
<nce again, in this sphere, the E6 is a precursor, !ut how !adly it sells its goodsP "he E6
is the first alliance of strict non2violence between #tates$ It is the first transmodern structure in
the world$ 6nfortunately, too often the political actors and the governments of the *em!er 0tates
of the 6nion present the 6nion as 7ust a %mar%et$+ "o do is to take the means for the ends. "he
market is simply one of the means to reach the true end, which is the total sta!ilisation of our
continent in on-violence !etween 0tates.
I shall discuss in detail the relations !etween men and women in the following chapter.
1et us now consider the spiritual aspiration in pu!lic in our modern 0tates.
0piritual dimension in pu!lic#religions and society
"he transmodern and planetary knowledge society discovers again that spiritual yearning,
whatever its form, is deeply part of human nature. 8ung recalled this to us almost a century ago.
*odernity, therefore, erred importantly and dangerously !y separating the human from its inner
dimension. In this, modernity was a regression at the level of wisdom and universal
consciousness. -nd this secularisation
DD
has !een more radical in Europe, for example .rance,
than in the 6.0.
We now o!serve a resurgence of the religious in all its forms. "here is an effervescence, a
!u!!ling up, an excitement, !ut also a mix of the !est and the worst. "his is normal in the re-
emergence of something that was suppressed for too long.
DD
0ecularisation means total separation of religion and politics. It is not any more possi!le for religion to !e
manifested pu!licly. eligion of spiritual aspiration are considered as purely private. 0ome say that this %private
ha!it& will disappear one day.
Where are we goingA :ro!a!ly toward a new acceptance !y the political structures of the
existence of this inner dimension. We pro!a!ly shall conclude that a total separation is not
possi!le !ecause one cannot cut off one of the dimensions of man. But one must maintain a
distinction. -s my old philosophy professor was fond of saying, in 1atin, "distinctio sed non
separatio&#that is, %we have to distinguish without separating.% It is o!vious that the religious
leaders of a country should never !e also the political leaders, and vice versa. "he Iranian
example is an excellent one of what the future should not !e. It is not possi!le to completely
exclude the religious component from politics. We drove it away through the door !ut it comes
!ack to us through the window and the cellar.
1ife after death
-nother characteristic of the transmodern civili,ation will !e a different vision of life
after death. Iumankind will awake from a nightmare in which he was controlled !y a deep and
hidden anguish of death, !ecause life after death was completely negated and re7ected. 0uddenly,
the new generations will rediscover (and this is already silently occurring) that which the world/s
wise men and women have always said#that life continues after death and that everyone/s road
extends toward light in a more or less circuitous way. "hat which was considered o!vious for
thousands of years will come !ack. "he level of humankind/s consciousness is rising. +o!ody
will stop this phenomenon.
"he sacredness of the !ody
"he knowledge society is good news for our !odies, which were desacralised and
marginalised set aside from our own lives. "he movement is already giving !ack a sacred
dimension to the !ody. .or instance, the rediscovery of the sacred character of the !ody !y some
movements, like "ai 'hi, and !y meditation. "he practices are nothing newQ all this has !een in
the 'hinese culture for ?333 years. But millions of 'hinese are rediscovering it today$
0uch examples are plentiful, as I shall show in 'hapter 53. "he rediscovery of the sacred
character of our !odies is under way. .or too long, we have forgotten this dimension of our lives.
0uddenly, it is as if an enormous awakening was occurring. 'ertainly with excesses, !ut this is
normal. "he human !ody shakes itself as it is awakening.
"ransmodernity is thus a path of personal and collective re-enchantment.
"he return of the right !rain#!alance
"he knowledge society will !e a society that will re-esta!lish the no!ility of the right
!rain. .or centuries, the industrial society has asked us to work almost exclusively with the left-
!rain#so much so that, finally, the educational system resolved itself to it and, while
a!andoning its humanist aims, it !egan to emphasise more and more the working and use of our
left !rains and pushed aside the impulses of the right !rain.
-nd then, suddenly, the gurus of the knowledge society reCuest from us creativity in
order to create knowledge in networks. "here is, then, panic !ecause creativity was completely
choked.
But now a few visionaries are setting in place formations and trainings that reactivate the
right !rain. "his is a!solutely necessary and urgent. <!viously, the goal is to arrive at a new
!alance !etween the two !rains. "his is what we all are hungry for$without knowing it.
Conclusions from Chapter N
"he issues discussed in this chapter are among the most difficult to understand for the
modern mentality, !ecause what is Cuestioned is the framewor% itself( the manner how modern
mentality reasons and works. It is very difficult for sincere %moderns& to understand what is
happening in the world, !ecause they live !eyond and a!ove criticisms, since they think of
themselves as !eing %perfectly o!7ective& and thus unassaila!le. =ialogue is, therefore, almost
impossi!le, !ecause they accuse any %other& approach of !eing %ideological& (as opposed to
completely o!7ective, which is how they see themselves). -nd any critical approach is
implaca!ly re7ected in the %o!scurantisms& camp.
"his is easily understood. "hey maintain the strategy that was successful for them from
the !eginning of the enaissance until the 23
th
century.
<n the other hand, for those who, among the pu!lic opinion, already fall in some manner
in a different vision or paradigm, this same chapter may deeply resound in them. By putting
words to their uneasiness (malaise), I hope to allow them to think aloud what they have !een
thinking silently. In this chapter, I hope to help them in their reflection. "hat is my only wish.
.inally, this chapter is capital in the architecture of this !ook, !ecause it shows the
possi!le alternate interpretations, the different paradigms currently availa!le. It shows how much
the knowledge society is a different society if one integrates the important and vast changes that
have taken place in almost all spheres and that will come to maturity in one generation.
Jes, we are changing society and we already have availa!le the new economic and
political tools of tomorrow if we take the trou!le to use them correctly. But I repeat here, in
conclusion, that it is dangerous, even suicidal, to manage the knowledge (transmodern) society
with the modern tools. "o do so is understanda!le !ut dangerously irresponsi!le.
CHAPTER !*: THE KNOWLEDGE SOCIETY IS POST,PATRIARCHAL
Every time I lecture, especially when talking to Iuman esources (I) people, I realise
that the audience is most often made of women. -nd this is so whether I am speaking in
Belgrade, 0ofia, 17u!l7ana, Vagre!, 0kop7e, a!at, .Ys, 0avonlinna, Brussels, or 0tockholm. -s I
talk, I can see in the women/s eyes a growing understanding even as the ga,e of many men in the
audience !ecomes more empty and pu,,led.
WhyA It is very simple to explain. "he actual values of his new society no longer are
%command, control, and conCuest&#that is, the patriarchal values. I discussed this in detail in the
chapter on the knowledge economy. "he implicit values of the knowledge society are post-
patriarchal. "hey are more feminine, more %yin.& "his characteristic of the knowledge society is
Cuite clear, !ut no!ody says so out loud. -nd the heads of most !usinesses rush into this new
economy with an industrial and patriarchal mentality.
"hey must !ewareP "he machine is no longer the central production tool and, therefore,
man/s creativity must !e nourished and people must !e cared for so that they can !ecome and
remain creative. Iumans must work in teams.
"his kind of attitude is foreign to many men !ut not to women, !ecause they face such
pro!lems in their everyday lives#for example, when raising their children. "hey team up in
networks, often intuitively and naturally. "hey are not holders of command-and-control values.
+etworking is not a ma7or issue for themQ neither is leaving the power pyramid. Jes, it seems
that >3Z of women understand the need to depart from patriarchy#!ut a few (53Z) are still
deeply patriarchal.
.or most men, it is more difficult to accept that we no longer are in the industrial society.
.irst they are unhappy !ecause no!ody explains to them what is going on. +ext, no!ody tells
them that the patriarchal values are o!solete in the knowledge society. (+o!ody clearly sees it.)
-nd, foremost, no!ody dares to say it !ecause no one has the mandate to do so. "hus, every!ody
remains silent.
-nd why is this shift away from patriarchy happening 7ust nowA "his system has !een
going on so long#so why is it happening today, if it is happening at allA
.or most men, these Cuestions are pu,,ling.
In !rief, for men, there is an uneasiness (malaise) which is kept silent, !ut which is felt in
'ongresses and 'onferences. I feel it in myself and in the pu!lic everywhere.
Indeed, for men, to work in networks and share knowledge so that they can enhance it in
each other$ is really a new and radical !ehaviour. "his hurts the primitive hunter in each of us.
It takes us !ack @333 years to when we were fruit pickers and shepherds, when *other-;oddess
reigned, and when the dominant concept was that of collective property.
"hese ideas and !ehaviours grate against our !asic male intuition.
-nd, even if we agree intellectually, after an intelligent presentation on the knowledge
society, we still need to work hard to adapt ourselves and invent new !ehaviours. Indeed, for
men, there is necessarily a deconstruction phase, for we intuitively work in patriarchal and
pyramidal systems. We have !een nurtured for centuries in the patriarchal pyramids, and they
and the idea of %command, control, and conCuest& have !ecome second nature to us#imprinted
deep in our !odies and our unconscious !ehaviours.
"hus, one should not underestimate the difficulty that our leaders face. -nd one should
not underestimate the difficulty in reinventing !ehaviours in a professional or !usinessman.
Conclusions from Chapter M@
"he values of the knowledge society skew more toward feminine values than toward
masculine values. "his skewing is simply a conseCuence of the society itselfQ these new values
are adapted to the new production tool#the human.
Is the knowledge society %against& menA +o, clearly not. But it invites every man to
reconsider himself and his !ehaviours in a post-patriarchal society. It is !oth a challenge and a
way of li!eration, a change of consciousness level.
"hus, I will repeat what I said !efore#the principal danger in the mutation we are in lies
in attempting to manage the new economy and the new society with the old modern, industrial,
and patriarchal values. "he danger is to %pour the new wine in the old goatskin !ottles&
DF
as the
;ospel says. It is the constant theme of this !ook. "he danger is not the change, !ut the way we
handle it.
*oreover, the policy of %!usiness as usual&, which now dominates, is dangerous, even
suicidal.
DF
;ospel -ccording to *ark 2:22
CHAPTER !!: KNOWLEDGE,SOCIETY VAL-ES ARE ALREADY
EVERYWHERE
In this chapter, I have excellent news to report. "he values of the knowledge society
appear everywhere already in the worldP
Indeed, several hundreds of million people throughout the world are changing values and
!ehaviours each day. "hey !ecome more sensitive to ecology, to family values, and to their
neigh!ourhood community. "hey are more open to an inner dimension of their life, and open to
other cultures and languages, and to exotic culinary arts. "hey are very suspicious of politics and
politicians. Iowever, they are conscious that humankind must change its vision of politics and
economy if it wants to survive. -t least fifty million of these people live in the 6nited 0tates, one
hundred million in Europe, two hundred million in the midst of the *uslim culture, !ut also on
the other continents#'hina, 8apan, India, and 1atin -merica.
*oreover, RRS of these "cultural creatives+ are women$
Iere, we touch now the deep root of the silent enaissance which is developing under
our noses. By changing their vision of the world, people are preparing themselves in silence for
the great oncoming mutation. What is coming is a mutation toward a new glo!al consciousness
of our %planetary& responsi!ilities with regards to the future of us all. -s so well-said !y Willis
Iarman:
+We are living through one of the most fundamental shifts in history! a change in the
actual belief structure of the Western society$ 7o economics( political or military power can
compare with the power of a change of mind$ 1y deliberately changing their image of reality(
people are changing the world$+
+o political power is capa!le to counter such a change of vision and of values. -nd to put
it positively, it is at this almost su!conscious level that the energy resides that will help us all
plunge into this mutation and make it succeed.
The subconscious refusal of death is the real engine of change
"his inCuiry unveils an unexpected dimension#like the hidden face of the atmosphere of
death that we descri!ed in :art <ne#an extremely powerful and omnipresent impulse of 1ife.
"his impulse is a very powerful engine which already runs at full throttle. 6nfortunately, one
does not see it, !ecause it lies deep within us, at a su!conscious or !arely percepti!le depth. "he
engine of the ongoing change is the subconscious refusal of the collective death of human%ind by
the world citi'ens$
*oreover, people who feel the impulse are numerous, a!normally so for an ordinary
mutation. Indeed, -rnold "oyn!ee, the historian of civili,ations explains to us that, for important
mutations, a!out @Z of people silently prepare the values of the oncoming era. +ow here we are
a group five times larger than usual, according to "oyn!ee. "hus, the mutation may !e five times
more important and vast since the collective unconsciousness is five times stronger.
"hus, in this chapter, I show that humankind has already decided that is does not want to
die. It does not want to die and, therefore, it is in the process of reprogramming at full speed
millions of individuals around the glo!e toward the life-affirming values.
<ne might say with my friend upert 0heldrake, whom I met for the first time in 0an
.rancisco
D@
at the 0tate of the World .orum
DH
that a new (morphogenetic) field of consciousness
D@
upert 0IE1=-9E T *athew .<[:& The 3hysics of the Angels! E)ploring the :ealm Where #cience and
#pirit Aeet, Iarper, 0an .rancisco, :aper!ack, 5>>H. 0ee also:
upert 0IE1=-9E:& "he 0ense of Being 0tared at: -nd <ther -spects of the Extended *ind, 233@.
DH
"he "#tate of the World /orum " was created !y 8im ;arrison, and patroni,ed !y *ikhail ;or!atchev. In a large
hotel of S+o! Iill %(the hill of the smart) in 0an .rancisco, 8im had the genius to !ring together one thousand people
from the 6nites 0tates, !ut also from F@ other countries. -ll these people were interested in the ongoing cultural
is appearing and silently infiltrating our su!conscious. "his field !ears potent and rapid
transformation of the !asic values, the !asic paradigm, in each individual.
<ne also might compare the collective su!conscious of Iumankind to animal species,
which increase or decrease female fecundity !y a su!conscious reprogramming, according to
whether there is scarcity or plethora of the species.
1et us recall that the values of death are expressed as unconsciousness with regards to the
future and our o!ligations toward the generations to come. "his unconsciousness may take the
shape of:
;eneral unconcern and indifference
%War on +ature&#war on life values
0hort-sighted vision and the desire for instant gratification
"he %!usiness as usual% approach
<n the other hand, the life-enhancing values express themselves as:
-nxiety over our collective future and that of our children
econnection with the cosmos
Iigher level of consciousness (consciousness of the fate of the earth)
-cceptance that we have to change and that it is no!ody/s fault
"hus, humankind seems to reprogram itself to organise its survival. "his reprogramming
manifests as changes in values and !ehaviours of people the world over. "his %happens& in the
deepest part of each person/s personality and, even, in the deepest part of each one/s !ody.
The law of "comple)ity consciousness"
"he genial 8esuit :ierre "eilhard de 'hardin, was !orn in .rance and died in +ew Jork.
Ie explains his famous %law of complexity-consciousness& in his visionary writings. "he more
complexity on earth increases, the more there will !e leaps in the level of humankind
changes, or in the paradigm change. "here I understood that I was not an isolated eccentric, !ut a mem!er of a world
community of reflection a!out the profound change and paradigm shift we are in. 6nfortunately, this experience
lasted only five years !etween 5>>H and 2335
consciousness. -ccording to him, at the !eginning of this new millennium, we might attend the
tipping over of humankind toward a fundamental directional change. Instead of always moving
toward more complexity, we suddenly might reach a trend reversal, a tipping over toward a
progressive !ringing together of people, which he calls %omegatisation.& -fter a period of
maximal divergence, humankind would move in progressive convergence, toward a point omega,
which is the 'osmic 'hrist. It suddenly would move toward more love, more consciousness,
since the cosmic 'hrist is a source of light, and infinite and divine love.
0ri -uro!indo and the *other, his vision sister and spiritual partner, announce the
progressive descent into each of us of the %0upraconscious& and of the 0upramental. "he
0upraconscious is a much higher spiritual energy. In simple terms, it is a progressive divinisation
of humans. -nd this divinisation is part of the human evolution on earth. -ccording to them, and
to "eilhard, as well, human evolution is not terminated and it actually is in the process of
%7umping& into an important period.
-nd this process has already entered a decisive stage. "his process of the 0upraconscious
descent is influential on our !odies and our cells. "he *other has written !ooks and testimonials
on what she experienced herself in her !ody. 0he felt a transformation from the inside of the cells
of her !ody, sometimes very painful. 0he called this phenomenon an enlargement of the %cells
consciousness.&
"his inside transformation was their remarka!le and astonishing secret fight. -ccording
to their witnesses, -uro!indo and the *other foreshadowed in their !odies the consciousness
mutation which is ongoing glo!ally.
"hus, the people of the world are changing without exactly knowing why or how.
Iumankind changes, !ut this change is still invisi!le !ecause it infiltrates itself through our
personal lives and our !asic values which move, through new Cuestions which come into our
view, through our !odies which change and through our vision of life which moves full speed !ut
silently.
"he change to the knowledge society is likely to take place in two stages. "he first stage
(which we see now) is the change deep inside millions of citi,ens. "he second will manifest as
important political and economic crises.
-ccording to my own contacts and information sources throughout the world, the
mutation is ongoing with an unsuspected strength and depth on all continents. Iumankind is
preparing itself to live in the 25
st
century.
-nd, thus in the deepest, secret, seldom-visited part of our collective su!conscious, we
have discovered a discreet and potent engine that silently pushes the transformation of our
civili,ation with an unsuspected strength. It is somewhat like the %;ulf 0tream& which is potent
and that no one can stop nor deviate, !ut which is deep and invisi!le. In any case, this
transformation engine is running full throttle and is changing us all inside on all continents. "his
movement also starts from the coldest waters. It will take time to come to the surface. 8acCues
=elors often said in private during the visit of world philosophic or religious personalities that it
was necessary, in this time of mutation, not to concentrate on the waves of the sea, !ut on the
undercurrents in depth.
But let us look at this phenomenon in detail. I !ase the following o!servations on the
inCuiry of :aul I. ay in the 6.0. and later also in Europe.
The in*uiry on the "cultural creatives+
By extending to the whole of -merican society his methods of market and customer
analysis, :aul I. ay was surprised to discover, next to the epu!licans and the =emocrats (the
latter of which are more or less like the European left) a new family of citi,ens#the %cultural
creatives.& "hese are women and men who create new values and who, without knowing it, are
activating the 25
st
century paradigm. "hey are fifty million -merican citi,ens who are %invisi!le&
in the system !ecause, most of the time, they do not vote and do not read the traditional
newspaper. "hey are %invisi!le& also for the media, which do not talk a!out them since they do
not know that they exist.
"his family of citi,ens is %neither right, nor left, !ut ahead.& It wants something else. It
mainly wants to integrate and com!ine the !est elements, actual or !eCueathed !y !oth
traditional political families. In !rief, it wants to reconcile that which was analytically
fragmented !y modernity.
HHZ are women#they silently lead the change
"he ma7ority of these new citi,ens are women#HHZ in this emerging group. It is thus
understanda!le that, in this group, new life-enhancing feminine values are rising and asserting
themselves. We have found this trend again all along in this second part of this !ook. Everywhere
in the wings of what is changing or getting ready to change, there are women anticipating and
already Cuietly going to work in another way. 1ittle !y little, they are sewing !ack our torn
Iumankind. - num!er of women already are on the last curve of Error: eference source not
found and are astonished when they are asked a!out it. "hey find this entirely natural.
"he values of the cultural creatives
In his research, :aul I. ay
DG
provides some very enlightening statistics. "he first
num!ers reported hereunder express the percentages registered among the group of 2FZ of
cultural creatives. In the following list, the italicised num!ers in parentheses represent the
percentage of positive answers in the -merican population as a whole.
Mery interested !y &voluntary simplicity&#G>Z (RBS)
Work at reintegration and reconstruction of the social link in their local, regional and
worldwide communities#>2Z (HRS)
econnections with nature and reintegration of ecology in the economy#?@Z (>BS)
eady to !ear more taxes to end pollution and the warming of the atmosphere#?DZ
(RTS)
ediscovery of sacred character of nature#?@Z (>BS)
evaluation of the sacred dimension and the spirituality in their livesQ they want to
re!uild themselves from the inside#@2Z (BRS)
'onsider important the a!ility to develop their own professional creativity and they are
willing to earn less to that end#DDZ (?HS)
DG
:aul I. -J: %The integral Culture #urvey! A study of subcultures and the use of alternative ealth care in
America$ - report to the .et,er Institute (9alama,oo, *ichigan ) and the Institute if +oetic 0ciences (0an
.rancisco, 0ausalito), 5>>@. www.noetic.org
0ee also :aul I. -JT 0herry -+=E0<+: The cultural creatives! ow C@ million people are changing the
world$ Iarmony Books, +ew Jork, 2333.
econciliation !etween the religions and synthesis of what is !est in the great Western
and Eastern traditionsQ they rediscover meditation and spiritual experience#@DZ (B@S)
"end to !elieve in paranormal phenomena, reincarnation, life after death, the importance
of divine love, conceive ;od as immanent#@DZ (B@S)
econciliation also of science and spirituality, of medicine with a more holistic vision of
!ody and soulQ use alternative medicine#@2Z
<verstepping the too rigid frames of traditional psychoanalytic approaches with
transpersonal psychology#F3Z (BMS)
-ltruistic, involved in voluntary commitment#D@Z (?>S)
"heir inner progress work does not remove them from their social engagement, on the
contrary#F@Z (BTS)
"hey like to travel, are xenophilic and love foreigners#?DZ (>@S)
"hey have a sense of responsi!ility for ;aia, our little !lue planet, which is in danger#
?@Z (>BS)
"hings they are suspicious or afraid of include:
;rowth at all costs, of polluting industrials, of !ig !usiness in general#GHZ
Miolence, particularly toward women and children#?GZ (H@S)
.inally, as any group, they also define themselves !y re7ecting some values:
"hey refuse the consumer/s society and the model of hedonistic happiness it proposes#
>3Z
"hey refuse the disenchantment of those who live day after day, without an ultimate goal
#?5Z
"hey are against those who, in the !usiness world and on the right, deny decisions and
measures favoura!le to the environment#G>Z
"hey refuse the winner/s ideology, competition ay all cost, the run after money#G3Z
"hey fear losing their employment an that their partner loses his#H2Z
"hey refuse materialism and the endless search of material and financial goods#F?Z
"hey refuse fundamentalisms of all nature and intolerance, namely with regards to
a!ortion#FHZ
"hey refuse the cynicism which makes fun of social solidarity and the care of the other#
F3Z (?>S)
"he behaviours of the cultural creatives
"he characteristic !ehaviours of this group of -merican citi,ens are also interesting.
"hey are those who read the most, listen to the radio the most, and watch television the
least. "hey really do not appreciate the content of the programs, and they are active in
protecting their children against television advertisements.
"hey are voracious consumers of culture$ "hey paint, carve, create art, and visit exhi!its.
"hey read and write articles and attend work groups where !ooks are discussed.
"hey are critical consumers who want exact and precise information on the origin of
!ought articles. "hey hate deceitful pu!licity, car salesmen, or the superficial press.
"hey want to !uy cars and houses that last a long time, that do not pollute or pollute little
and are made of healthy and dura!le materials. "hey choose genuineness against artificial
food.
"hey are experienced gastronomes who appreciate the culinary art of other countries.
"hey like to talk gastronomy and exchange recipes.
"hey hate the typical middle class house which is praised in advertisements. "hey
individualise their house to the maximum with what they !ring !ack in their travel from
the four corners of the world.
"hey travel the most and the most intelligently, among others through organi,ations that
promote educational and spiritual trips, the eco-tourism, the safaris-photos. "hey are open
to the true discovery of other cultures.
"hey are the principal consumers of sessions and conferences on spirituality and the
inner search as well as on alternative medicine. "hey do not consider their !odies as
machines to !e fed or cared for with drugs, !ut well as an ally to !e listened to, loved and
preserved.
Why this silenceA
Why, asks ay, do the media not report on this important section of the population which
is growing steadily, whereas the two other groups are in a more or less slow !ut continuous
declineA -ccording to him, the -merican media are incapa!le of considering positive
information as news. &;ood news is no news.& If one discusses with 7ournalists who reflect on
those issues, many will acknowledge that the actual modern paradigm is not working so well,
anymore. Iowever, they seem incapa!le to imagine what else humanity could do. With this state
of mind, imprinted with conservatism, a 2@Z group of cultural creatives does not weigh heavily
in the eyes of the professional reporters. "hus, the silence remains. "oday, all those who would
like to come out of the !eaten tracks, particularly the young, keep !elieving that they are solitary
marginals (lonely cow!oys), !ecause no!ody tells them a!out the fifty million 6.0. citi,ens who
can !e considered %cultural creatives.&
-fter ten years of experience in this field, my own interpretation is that it is a Cuestion of
vision, of the %eyeglasses& I spoke of earlier in this !ook. :eople only see what their current
eyeglasses allow them to see. <r, to say it differently, it depends on which curve in Error:
eference source not found the media and the politicians find themselves on. -re they on the
industrial curve or on the rightmost curve of the knowledge societyA If, as a reporter or as a
politician, I place myself on the curve of the industrial society, all these inCuiries on cultural
creatives will seem to me like hot air, without meaning, like some type of opium of the %+ew
-ge,& to !e distrusted. But if I am on the curve of the transition or on the knowledge society
curve, this inCuiry will confirm to me that I am not cra,y, !ut that I am among the millions of
pioneers of the planetary and transmodern era.
4ne never+ forces+ anybody to change paradigmit is impossible to do so
-fter doing hundreds of interventions on this su!7ect for ten years now, I have come to
realise three things.
5. In no case should one try to convince someone else to change paradigm, !ecause insisting
that someone do so can !e taken as an imposition and will only stiffen positions.
Indeed, people feel attacked in the !asic values upon which they have !uilt their lives.
-nd when you feel that some!ody, even with the !est intentions, wants to undermine
your !asic values, your reflex is to strongly react in self-defence. "hus, to make a frontal
attack on someone/s paradigm leads nowhere or even may worsen the situation since any
transformation will !e rendered more difficult.
2. *any politicians and media people %officially& still are on the industrial curve in Error:
eference source not found. Even if, sometimes in private, they ask themselves very
intelligent Cuestions.
"his is the principal reason for the current !locking. We are in front of a typical
!locking of paradigm changes, as very well explained !y "homas 9uhn
D?
.
D. "he only thing to do is to help the millions of cultural creatives, who listen to you (D3Z
of your audience) to !ring to the surface that which they already think inside.
I see myself as a true %organic intellectual% in the meaning of ;ramsci, an intellectual
at the service of people trying to help them to explicitly articulate what they already
implicitly feel and think.
3aul :ay.s in*uiry in Europe
I had the fortune and the honour to meet with Willis Iarman in 5>>H in 'alifornia at the
Institute of +oetic 0ciences shortly !efore his death. We !ecame friends almost instantly. What a
wonderful human !eing.
Ie much insisted on the importance of :aul ay/s inCuiry that was 7ust pu!lished. I read
the !ook he gave me and !ecame instantly enthralled. "hus, I proposed to 8erome Mignon, then
=irector of the .orward 0tudies 6nit of the European 'ommission to invite :aul ay in
Brussels. "he .orward 0tudies 6nit then invited the 0tatistics <ffice of the European
'ommission, called Eurostat, to carry out a preliminary inCuiry in the fifteen mem!ers of the
6nion using un part the -merican Cuestions.
D>
D?
0ee !eginning of 'hapter D, where I descri!e the four stages of paradigm acceptance according to 9uhn.
D>
It was a difficult fight !ecause the sociologists were not convinced. I then understood the dilemma of the
sociologists. "hey are condemned to only find what they already know, since their Cuestions always are oriented
toward what they want to find. "here are no %o!7ective& Cuestions. -nd, thus, the commission sociologists who were
rather classic and did not consider as interesting this hypothesis of the existence of %cultural creatives& in Europe.
.inally the %.orward 0tudies 6nit& of the European 'ommission entrusted the inCuiry analysis to an outside
consultant so as not to hurt any!ody/s feelings.
Eurostat conducted the inCuiry !etween 8une and 0eptem!er 5>>G. Iowever, the analysis
of the results was entrusted to an outside consultant, esearch International in :aris. "he results
were presented at the 0tate of the World .orum in 0an .rancisco !y the .orward 0tudies 6nit in
+ovem!er of the same year. "he European results clearly support the trends evident in the
-merican inCuiry.
In 2332, the 'lu! of Budapest decided to initiate a vast inCuiry with the Cuestions of :aul
ay, !ut intelligently adapted to each country. I do not yet possess all the results of this second
inCuiry.
The cultural creatives in Europethe same trend as the ;$#$
-ccording to 8ean-.rancois "chernia, the author of the study reCuested !y the .orward
0tudies 6nit, %it is strongly li%ely that a group of similar nature as the American cultural
creatives may be identified in EuropeF It seems possible that a non2negligible minority of
Europeans( for instance M@ to ?@S( presents features close to those of the .American cultural
creatives.$+
T@
- hundred million cultural creatives in the European 6nionP
If the num!ers of the preliminary inCuiry are credi!le, these 53423Z of Europeans
represent @34533 million people, of which DD4HH million are women. 6nfortunately, they live
like a marginal minority, and they feel lonely even though they are numerous. It is a huge crowd
which lives and prepares changes in depth.
- smaller proportion of %cultural creatives& in .ranceA
In my travels, I have come to realise that everywhere in Europe the same proportion of
the %cultural creatives% exist. Iowever, I would say that it is in .rance that I met the smallest
percentages in my audiences. In 233@, I was invited to address a hundred 'E<s of an important
.rench conglomerate in its :aris headCuarters. I perceived that what I told !usiness leaders
seemed rather new, even deviant to them. I somewhat o!serve the same ignorance, even refusal,
a!out this pro!lematic type of society change among my Executive International *B- students
in an important .rench Business school where I teach every year.
F3
8ean-.ran\ois "'IE+I-, Les styles de valeurs des EuropPens( esearch International, 5D av. de la :orte
d/Italie, .-G@HF3 :aris, "Wl. : (DD-5)FF3HH@H@. E-mail : rifrance]research-int.com, octo!er 5>>G.
- study 7ust came out on the %cultural creatives% in .rance.
F5
It estimates at 5GZ the
emergence of cultural creatives in .rance. Indeed, it is lower than in other countries. But, to this
group, one must add the 25Z that the inCuiry calls the %alter creatives,& who share the same
aspirations !ut +<" the %spiritual dimension,& an expression which seems to re!uff the .rench
lay and secular sensitivities. By adding the two groups, one gets a num!er of D?Z which is larger
than I would have expected.
In Italy, the tidal wave#?3Z
Iere are the preliminary num!ers
F2
of the Italian inCuiry coordinated !y professor Enrico
'eli of the 0ienna 6niversity. "hey will !e pu!lished soon and they are even more eloCuent. In
Italy, the group of cultural creatives is D@Z to which one must add the group of those who are
sensi!le to those new values, at F@Z. "hus, the total is ?3Z of the population, which is almost
incredi!le. +evertheless, it likely agrees with the Italian mentality, much more open to the
proposed new values.
4pening to the world change in businesses and in Eastern Europe
"hese days, I give more and more lectures for the world of !usiness. -nd I am always
surprised that what I have to say does not elicit ma7or de!ate. "he world of !usiness seems much
more open to new ideas, namely through the knowledge economy and the intangi!le assets in the
stock market.
In Eastern Europe, where I often work, especially since I was appointed dean of the
'otrugli Business -cademy, I perceive an opening to change that is much more important than in
Western Europe. I sometimes have the impression that Eastern Europe and the new East
European mem!ers of the European 6nion might move faster in the society change and toward
the knowledge society than the old mem!ers of the 6nion which are still comforta!ly installed in
the industrial society even as it comes to an end.
F5
-ssociation pour la !iodiversitW culturelle!+ Les CrPatifs Culturels en /rance&, Wditions Jves *ichel 233G.
.oreword !y 8ean-:ierre Worms.
F2
0pecial thank to professor Enrico 'eli, in particular, who was kind enough to communicate to me the preliminary
results which are not yet pu!lished
E)istence of cultural creatives in =apan
In 5>>3, I had the pleasure and the honour of visiting 8apan. "he goal of this visit was to
talk to the 8apanese a!out their cultural and ethical vision of science and technology for my
report on religions confronting science and technology.
FD
<ne of the strongest impressions from that trip was the emotion of the 8apanese people,
some moved to tears, that some official of the European 'ommission came to ask them Cuestions
on their ethics and their philosophical vision of science and technology. -nother very strong
impression was a meeting with =r. "akeshi 6mehara, a futurist and a high-level intellectual. Ie
talked to me of the paradigm change in which our societies have !een engaged for years. "he
same paradigm change was occurring in 8apan, !ut no!ody talked a!out it and this was occurring
%under the surface.& Ie even told me: &If :resident =elors wants to initiate a dialogue on this
passionate su!7ect, I would !e very interested.& "his same 6mehara was accused of conservatism
!y the %modern& and %rational& 8apanese press which, like ours, dominates the media and did not
want to understand his message. Iere is a citation !y this exceptional human !eing
FF
:
"Ay hope now is to discover the cultural origins of =apan not only a new value
orientation( which would benefit us as we forge the values our children can live by in the ?M
st

century( but also to contribute to the whole of humanity a new value orientation that suits the
post2Aodern age with its overriding ecological imperative 8p$ ??9$
"his last phrase is very important. Ie perceives the paradigm shift that he calls the
%postmodern age with its overriding ecological imperative.& Ie sees also the necessity to prepare
the new values that %our children can live with in the 25
st
century.& Ie is also very critical of the
%industrial 8apan& !ecause it !etrays the core values of 8apanese culture (0hinto^sm) which
considers everything in nature as %kami&, sacred.
"It is hard to avoid being pessimistic about the outlook for Japans leaving a valuable
legacy after its days of economic glory are over 3ersonally( I would have to agree with
those who say that mere economic prosperity is evil if it fails to produce things of cultural
valueand that a country that pursues this sort of culturally empty prosperity is harming
FD
*arc 16J'9[:& :eligions confronted with #cience and Technology& European 'ommission 5>>5. "his report is
accessi!le on my !log: http:BBvision2323.canal!log.com, go to& eligions and science&
FF
"akeshi 6*EI--:& The civili'ation of the forest+ :u!lished in %+:X& 0ummer 5>>3 ::.22-D5
rather than helping the rest of human race$ #o I am forced to conclude that we are not in a
position to ta%e pride in our economic prowess$+ 8p$ ?B9
Ie knows that he is in a minority.
+There is no *uestion that the modern =apanese reality contradicts the ideal I put
forward$ ;nfortunately( my opinion is a minority view in =apan$ I as% you to wait M@ years$
1y then( I believe my opinion will be the ma&ority view$+ 8p$ BM9
.ortunately 8apan has kept the faith in the eternal cycle of life and death.
6=apan0s strength is to have preserved( more than other supposedly civili'ed peoples( a
0belief in an eternal cycle of life and death0$ The forest civili'ations probably had a similar
philosophyF Thus the =apanese have no reason to be ashamed of the .primitivenessD of their
deep beliefs( at a time when the whole world is discovering that Dwe have to reconsider our
feeling of superiority over nature. and at the precise moment when Dmodern. science has
shown that life is one and that living beings and their environment form part of the same
ecosystem$ After our death( our genes live on in the ne)t generation( in a continual cycle of
rebirth$ We must revert to the multimillenary wisdom of pre2agricultural civili'ationsF
The =apanese must escape from their cultural inferiority comple) and have confidence in
the value of their culture in the world2wide debate on the ecological future of our planet$ If at
the same time the West were to shed its cultural and scientific superiority comple)( a fruitful
dialogue could ta%e placeF
Aany Europeans do not consider =apan capable of contributing to the international
debate on world problems$ I am convinced of the opposite$ Eet we can no longer survive with
the modern paradigm of uncontrolled growth$ That is the essence of post2modernism$ If
Ar -elors is interested in this conversation( I am available$6
"his long citation is almost as eloCuent as the statistics I Cuoted a!ove. "hrough this
intellectual, one perceives that the same su!terranean movement operates in 8apan, as it does for
us in the West. The change is occurring *uietly$ 1ut it occurs$ Every time I went to 8apan, I was
told a!out the women/s action and their enormous struggle to !e recognised as such in the
8apanese society. But the same movement of values change is ongoing with the women at the
head of the pack, !ut pro!a!ly under completely different forms.
<ne sees all over that intellectuals or common people are sensi!le to the planetary
pro!lems and are in the process of changing values and mentality. But it is very difficult to
apprehend the phenomenon in the local press, which either ignores them or attacks them.
-nd this leads us to 'hina$
E)istence of cultural creatives in China?
*y experience during my travels to 'hina is similar. I had no !ackground to help me,
apart from the testimony of some intellectual friends. In !rief, they tell me that 53Z of 'hinese
intellectuals
F@
(that is, a!out five million intellectuals) are indeed conscious that 'hina is engaged
in a development model that is unsustaina!le and directly leads to an ecologic and social
catastrophe. "hey are looking for a way to %leapfrog& the too-polluting industrial phase and to
enter directly the post-industrial phase of the knowledge society. "hus, they are looking for
contacts with intellectuals across the world that are on a similar search. 6nhappily, those
intellectuals have not enough financial means to travel a!road and not enough foreign contacts
with cultural creatives in the West.
E)istence of cultural creatives in the Auslim world
In *ay 5>>?, the .orward 0tudies 6nit#in colla!oration with the ca!inet of the
:resident of the European 'ommission, 8acCues 0anter, and the World -cademy of -rt and
0cience, !ased in the 6.0.#organised a conference in Brussels on the theme %;overnance and
civili,ations.& "he goal of the conference was to ensure that we were not moving toward a &clash
of civili,ations& and cultures, in opposition to the hypothesis proposed !y the Iarvard professor,
0amuel Iuntington. <ur hypothesis was that these conflicts rather were !etween contradictory
interpretations (paradigms) inside each of the great religions.
"he most remarka!le (and most remarked a!out) intervention certainly was that of
Viauddin 0ardar, a university professor and advisor to numerous *uslim governments in -sia,
and chief editor of /utures maga,ine. Ie confirmed that in the midst of contemporary Islam,
there no longer was any rational and secularised %modern&, !ut that an important part of Islam
was composed of !elievers who remained attached to their tradition, which was life-enhancing
F@
If intellectuals are @Z of the population, one may estimate that 53Z of that group represents$ @ million
intellectuals who would !e in these new values.
and was most sacred for them. Iowever, they were also very interested in adapting their religion
to the current world. "he matter was to take the positive elements, !ut not the negative ones,
from %modernity.& Ie affirmed that the great ma7ority of current *uslims in the world are
transmodern in the sense that we had defined in our initial presentation
TR
. "his silent ma7ority in
the *uslim world wants and is doing a creative synthesis !etween tradition and the positive
elements of the contemporaneous civili,ation. Ie added that the ma7or pro!lem was that the
Western chancelleries were so modern, or even postmodern, and rational that they were
incapa!le to perceive this deep change that was occurring in the midst if Islam.
"Transmodernism is the transfer of modernity from the edge of chaos into a new order of
society$ As such( transmodernism and tradition are not two opposing worldviews but a new
synthesis of both$ Traditional societies use their ability to change and become transmodern
while remaining the sameO 1oth sides of the e*uation are important here! change has to be
made and accommodated5 but the fundamental tenets of tradition( the source of its identity
and sacredness( remain the same$ #o we may define a transmodern future as a synthesis
between life enhancing traditionthat is amenable to change and transitionand a new
form of modernity that respects the values and lifestyles of traditional cultures$ It is in this
sense that traditional communities are not pre2modern but transmodern$ <iven that vast
ma&ority of the Auslim world consists of traditional communities that see their tradition as a
life2enhancing force( the vast ma&ority of Auslims world 2wide are thus more transmodern
than pre 2 modern$
Aost politicians( bureaucrats and decision2ma%ers do not appreciate this point$ The
reason for this is that when traditions change( the change is often invisible to the outsiders$
Therefore( observers can go on maintaining their modern or post2modern distaste for
tradition irrespective of the counter2evidence before their very eyes$ The contemporary world
does provide opportunity for tradition to go on being what tradition has always been( an
adaptive force$ The problem is that no amount of adaptation( however much it strengthens
traditional societies( actually frees them from the yo%e of being marginal( misunderstood(
and misrepresented$ It does nothing to dethrone the concept "Tradition+ as an "idee fi)e+ of
western society$
FH
0ee *arc 16J'9[:& The transmodern hypothesis& in %.utures % +ovem!erB=ecem!er 5>>>. Jou can access this
text through my !log: http:BBvision 2323.canal!log.com: go to %eligions and civili,ations&
The West has always seen Islam through the lens of modernity and concluded that it is a
negative( closed system$ 7othing could be further from the truth$ Islam is a dynamic( open
system with a very large common ground with the West$ 1ut to appreciate this( Islam has to
be seen from the perspective of transmodernism and understood with its own concepts and
categories$+
If this hypothesis is confirmed, it would mean that at least D33 million *uslims in the
world might !e in full mutation and em!arked in the same cultural creation than the rest of the
citi,ens of the world. -nd this is happening without any Western government noticing it. In that
group, women play a very crucial role.
Indeed, another remarka!le encounter confirmed to me the hypothesis that Islam was on
the move. I encountered *rs. 0ona 9ahn, a lawyer from +ew =elhi, in a meeting in 0tockholm
organised !y the 0wedish *inistry of .oreign -ffairs. 0he later approached me in Brussels
asking whether the European 'ommission might give her 53333 euros to finance a transmitter
that would allow her to communicate more easily with her network of D3 million *uslim women
in India. "his network, she explained to me, intended to rewrite the 0haria (Islamic law) that
many consider too patriarchal and flagrantly un7ust toward women. 0he herself is working for
the 0upreme 'ourt of India and is in contact with her colleague of the 0upreme 'ourt of :akistan
who does similar work. 0he has also contacts with Iranian colleagues.
.or me, these Indian and :akistani women are operating the transmodern synthesis that
0ardar talks a!out. 1et us not forget that the *uslims in India represent a minority of more than
523 million people.
It is possi!le that I might !e totally wrong, !ecause we do not have solid num!ers outside
Europe and the 6.0. +evertheless, there is a convergence of indices which make me think
otherwise.
*ost other %o!servers& do not move in the same direction and do not share the same
vision. =o they have the correct eyeglasses to catch sight of all people who move everywhereA
Conclusions from Chapter MM
"he values of the knowledge society are gaining ground everywhere, incredi!ly rapidly,
and intensely, and in a perfect silence. "hey are in the minority all over, and thus, invisi!le.
<ne may, perhaps, present the statistics differently and state that 23Z in each of us is in
the process of mutation and of changing values silently, whereas ?3Z in each of us remains
anchored in the old modern and rational industrial values.
In any event, the change is happening. <ur values are moving, although this movement is
!arely visi!le.
CHAPTER !): TOOLS .OR GEN-INE S-STAINA/ILITY
In this final chapter, it is time to !ring all of the threads together to weave the fa!ric of
the knowledge society and transmodern (planetary) approach to create a genuinely sustaina!le
future.
What is genuine sustainability?
;enuine sustaina!ility is achieved when the footprint of humanity on Earth !ecomes
positive. "his means that the overall impact of human activities should !e positive, not negative
as it is today. "his also means that we would !e cleaning the environment and improving the
glo!al situation for our children.
"his is possi!le if we realise that our industrial-modern and patriarchal paradigm is dead
as a credi!le pattern for the future. Indeed, few people would affirm that we can continue with
the same non-sustaina!le, industrial economic system for one more century. "his is what I have
tried to explain in this !ook. Jes, this industrial economy is still there !ut more and more it
reveals itself as not representing the solution for our future. What prevents our governments from
changing is the a!sence of vision of what tools we could invent after the modern industrial
society.
We have the tools
<n !oth sides of the -tlantic, and in the BI' (Bra,il, ussia, India, 'hina) countries the
need exists to !ecome competitive in this new knowledge economy, and it important that we
realise how much we are in this new economy already and how much this is a new frame, a new
vision, a new paradigm. <nce we !ecome aware that one part of the !usiness worldwide is
already in this new management !ased on knowledge (and is prospering in silence), we !ecome
a!le to understand that this new paradigm in which !usiness people and 23Z of the citi,ens
worldwide already exist contains the tools we are looking for. We have the tools in hand !ut we
do not see them.
#ustainability becomes a very important intangible asset
WhyA Because, as I have shown in this !ook, the more !usiness is working for the
environment, the more it will accumulate %intangi!le assets,& and the more the stock markets will
reward such !usinesses a positive reputation, which increases the value of such intangi!le assets
even moreP I have shown examples of !usinesses succeeding in this new paradigm#and there
are plenty of them. +ewspapers do not speak a!out them !ecause good news is no news, as we
know. "herefore, the examples are !efore us, !ut we do not see them.
A win2win logic is possible between environment and profit
We are discovering that it is possi!le to shift now from a classical industrial vision of a
necessary trade-off !etween environment and growth toward a win-win approach. Indeed, a new
win-win-win (!usiness, environment, citi,ens) logic is already in working in many !usinesses,
although it is totally new to the %industrial& and %free-trade& adherents. What I have shown in
this !ook is that it is possi!le even now to change the course of our world economy from a win-
lose approach, with its classical trade-off approach !etween growth and environment, toward a
win-win-win approach, which is the only via!le solution for the future. We have the tools in
hand, !ut we do not see them !ecause we stick to our old ideas and visions.
And we have a new concept of *ualitative progress in hands
We have another tool in our hands, as well#the concept of progress. "he whole of our
vision, of our paradigm, for the last three centuries has !een dominated and structured around the
concept of material( *uantitative progress. "he more we produce, the !etter. "he more we
expand, the !etter. "he more growth we have, the !etter. Everything in our economic vision, and
in our mentality, is structured consciously or su!consciously around this fundamental concept of
Cuantitative and mechanical growth.
<n the other side of the coin, we are coming to feel that this %more is beautiful+ approach
will not work in the 25
st
century anymore, !ecause it is not sustaina!le. Indeed, it is strictly
impossi!le to prepare for a genuinely sustaina!le world with this old concept of progress. "he
pro!lem is that this concept has !een ingrained in us for the last several hundred years. It is also
fixed into the !asic !ricks of the -merican dream, as 8eremy ifkin has reminded us.
-nd suddenly on the scene appears a new concept of progress based on *uality. Because
we have seen that in the knowledge society more information is not the issue#there is plentyP
"he !attle is now for higher *uality of knowledge and wisdom. We are seeing a fundamental
shift of the cornerstone of our Western civili,ation that was place three centuries ago#the
concept of progress reversing completely. -nd this is wonderful newsP
.inally, here is the frame we were lacking for imagining a genuinely sustaina!le future in
the 25
st
century. We have splendid new tools and concepts in hands, yet we hesitate to use them.
"he real !attle of the coming years will !e regarding how Cuickly we will gra! the new tools and
the new vision.
The political tools of the ?M
st
century
I have shown in this !ook that we also have the political tools in hand to plan the shape of
the future#a geopolitics beyond war as a normal means of foreign policy$ Without knowing, and
with the help of the 6.0., Europe has !een o!liged to invent after World War II, the first
transmodern political structure of the 25
st
century#an alliance of permanent non2violence
between #tates. It was totally incredi!le as a pro7ect in 5>@3, when 8ean *onnet, in the name of
the .rench government visited 9onrad -denauer in Bonn. It is now a fact. -nd its success is
attracting attention and5DF imitation, like a magnet.
What is important to understand is that this European 6nion represents, despite all its
defects, a new political paradigm. It is opening a new post-war era for the 25
st
century. <nce
again, 8eremy ifkin, from 6.0., is in my opinion, one of the !est o!servers of this paradigm
shift. -nd this paradigm shift is only at its initial phase. It could lead us in the 25
st
century toward
a completely new management of violence worldwide. Will violence disappearA +o. Iowever, as
we have succeeded in taming violence at the level of the national space inside the !orders, it
evident that the E6 has !ecome a space of non-violence !etween 0tates. It is conceiva!le that
this model could slowly !ecome the norm. Will then wars disappearA :ro!a!ly not, !ut they will
occur less freCuently and will not anymore !e considered as %normal& foreign policy instrument.
In this new political paradigm, it is thus thinka!le that our disproportionate spending in
arms, armies, and arms trade could decrease during the 25
st
century. -nd we could imagine
instead a huge world investment in a new greening and cleaning economy instead, creating
millions of meaningful 7o!s, as Ia,el Ienderson was proposing in the European :arliament in
Brussels, in +ovem!er 233G, at the Beyond ;=:
FG
conference.
-ll these things comprise the vision contained in the positive idea of the knowledge
society.
FG
see http:BBwww.!eyond-gdp.eu
.INAL THO-GHTS
"he transformation that I descri!e in this !ook is not easy to live. I myself lived through
the personal challenges of undergoing this paradigm change in 5>>3, and I needed nine months
of recoveryP Initially, I was a modern and rational intellectual, !ut in the end, I found myself as a
transmodern, planetary intellectual. "his transition changed my life profoundly and the process is
still ongoing. ("his personal transformation will !e the topic of my next !ook.)
I have written this !ook as a clarion call for action and for the rekindling of a hope that
already resides in each of us. We possess the tools to confront the challenges of the 25
st
century,
!ut we need to change our eyeglasses to see them. -nd this is most difficult for those who do not
!elieve that they have eyeglasses on in the first place#especially !ecause the eyeglasses render
themselves invisi!le.
It is when one has them on that one can/t see them.
*arc 1uyckx ;hisi
0int 8oris Weert, 8anuary 5@, 233?
Email address: marcluy]scarlet.!e
*y We! contains much additional information at http:BBvision2323.canal!log.com
Aarc Luyc%) <hisi studied mathematics( philosophy and is a doctor in <ree% and :ussian
theology$ After an itinerary which led him to Italy( 1ra'il( and the ;nites #tates( he was( for
almost ten years( an advisor to 3residents -elors and #anter in the /orward #tudies ;nit of the
European Commission in 1russels$ e was in charge of studying future trends in E; and in the
world$ e currently is -ean of the Cotrugli 1usiness Academy( in Uagreb( Croatia( and member
of the International Advisory Council of Auroville( #outh of India$
APPENDI0 !:
THE GROWING IMPORTANCE O. INTANGI/LE ASSETS IN THE
STOCK MARKETS
In this !ook, I have analy,ed how the internal logic of the knowledge economy differs
from that of the industrial capitalist economy. I have shown that this economy is really Opost-
capitalistO and post-industrial. I have also shown that most economic actors are still in an
industrial mentality and try to manage a post-industrial economy with industrial tools. "his is
perfectly understanda!le, !ecause there is not enough information and valua!le de!ate on this
shift !etween the industrial economy and the post industrial knowledge economy.
-nd this is perhaps why the intelligent and prestigious O1is!on strategyO of the E6 is not
working so well. "his E6 1is!on strategy was set up in *arch 2333 at the E6 (Ieads of 0tate)
'ouncil meeting in 1is!on. Its aim was to make the E6 the most competitive economic actor in
the knowledge society !efore 2353, !ut in a socially inclusive and sustaina!le way.
+ow, in analysing how this 1is!on strategy is working, one o!serves that the strategies
are pro!a!ly too OindustrialO to !e successful. <nce again, it is perfectly understanda!le, !ecause
the E6 and its prominent economists, have not explained to the citi,ens and the !usiness actors
the post-industrial economic transformation we are in. But it is sad to see a waste of money and
energy in the execution of such a good pro7ect.
Do1&le 2t#nd#%d
0usan *ehrtens, one of the most advanced visionaries of the 6.0. !usiness in the 25
st

century says
F?
:
"American business( today wears two different faces$ 4ne is the face of the large multi2
national( publicly traded corporations$ They manifest an intense( single2minded focus on the
F?
0usan *EI"E+0 : , Learning designs and the Third Wave _ in 3erspectives on 1usiness and <lobal change( a
pu!lication of the World Business -cademy, Molume 5D, num!er F, =ecem!er 5>>>, p. @>, 0ales : Berret and
9oehler :u!lishers, Email !kpu!]!kpu!.com
*rs *ehrtens is know in 60- through her excellent !ook on tomorrow/s !usiness, with *-J+-= Ierman
Bryant 8r: The /ourth wave! 1usiness in the VVIst century Berret T 9oelher, 0an .rancisco 5>>H.
bottom line( and are prepared to sacrifice almost everything to the *uest for constant
*uarterly profits( to satisfy the Wall #treet stoc% analysts$ These companies practice an ethics
of e)pedience 8what wor%s is right9 and encourage e)tremely addictive behaviours among
their personnel( most notably in the form of wor% alcoholismF7ot surprisingly we are seeing
more and more people leaving this dysfunctional environment$
The other face of the ;$#$ business is much more viable in terms of the future$ It is the
world of the small( privately held companyF It is not sub&ect to the dictates of the stoc%
analysts of Wall #treetF Aany of those small companies are owned or operated by women(
or are informed by feminine values$ It is these companies W small( nimble( fortunate by virtue
of their marginal status W that will find smooth sailing on the waves of the future$+
TN

"his dou!le standard seems to !e an accurate vision of the situation of the !usiness today,
in 6.0., in the E6 and elsewhere. <n one side, you have many enterprises in a classical
traditional (industrial) logic. "hey are under market and short-term revenue pressure and are not
treating humans in a very positive way. "hey seem to go !ackwards. -nd on the other side, you
have those (often women-owned) small enterprises who care a maximum for the human
dimension. "hey %will find a smooth sailing on the waves of the future.& "his second vision
corresponds to the witness of inaldo Brutoco, president of the World Business -cademy. "he
management of *en/s Wearhouse, in which he is involved, is of the second type, and doing very
well.
"hose OnewO enterprises have understood the new logic. In the knowledge society, and in
this paradigm shift toward transmodernity, respect for humans is not only important, not only
ethicalQ it is essential for the very survival of the enterprise for the simple reason that knowledge
!ecomes every day more important. <nly creative humans can create new knowledge in
inventing new knowledge through creative exchange of the knowledge they have. "his creativity
is like a flower that will !lossom only if it is treated well, very well. "his means much more than
a decent salary. It means that the enterprise must have an excellent human capital management,
!ut also a positive social and environmental impact on society. It means also that creativity will
F>
0usan *EI"E+0 : , Learning designs and the Third Wave _ in 3erspectives on 1usiness and <lobal change( a
pu!lication of the World Business -cademy, Molume 5D, num!er F, =ecem!er 5>>>, p. @>, 0ales : Berret and
9oehler :u!lishers, Email !kpu!]!kpu!.com
*rs *ehrtens is know in 60- through her excellent !ook on tomorrow/s !usiness, with *-J+-= Ierman
Bryant 8r: The /ourth wave! 1usiness in the VVIst century Berret T 9oelher, 0an .rancisco 5>>H.
stop if there is any fear of sanction in case of mistake. 'reativity supposes the possi!ility to make
mistakesP
L#'( o3 t4eo%5
Iowever those enterprises of the second type, which are very promising, lack a theory.
"hey are, in fact, switching to a post-industrial paradigm. But they are working in an intellectual
void. Iere is what -llee, a worldwide consultant in knowledge networks management is
saying
@3
:
"Today we do believe that people are our core asset( that the way we use our %nowledge
and intelligence is the %ey strategic advantage of the company( that ethical principles do
create value( that a company.s culture is %ey to success$ Eet we are bound by the golden
handcuffs of business( financial and economic models and framewor%s that continually pull
us in very different directions$F Iirtually all of our business and economic models( as well
as our day2to2day management tools( are leftovers from the industrial age$ Time and again I
watch managers and e)ecutives try to move forward into new ways of wor%ing and managing
only to be frustrated by tools and framewor%s that are inade*uate for the new economy$+
0he warns the reader that the knowledge or intangi!les economy is forcing us to a radical
change.
"It is rewriting the rules of business and forcing a radical rethin%ing of corporate value
and business models$ This change is the most significant shift since the industrial
revolution$6
Int#n6i&le #22et2t4%ee di7en2ion2
+ow, there is good news. We have one piece of the new vision#the so-called Ointangi!le
assets.O
In 5>?H, a 0wedish scientist named 9arl Erik 0vei!y, wrote the first !ook worldwide on
Ointangi!le assets.O "his !ook had a little success in 0weden, !ut it !ecame famous when it has
was translated into English and spread throughout the 6.0. and in the whole world. It has laid
@3
Merna -11EE : , 7ew tools for the new economy Q in 3erspectives on 1usiness and <lobal change( a pu!lication
of the World Business -cademy, Molume 5D, num!er F, =ecem!er 5>>>, p. @>. 0ales : Berret and 9oehler
:u!lishers, email: !kpu!]!kpu!.com. 0ee also her excellent !ook: The future of Gnowledge! Increasing 3rosperity
through Ialue networ%s6 Butterwoth Ieinemann, Elsevier 0cience, 60-, 233D. Merna is also working in Europe as
an expert for some E6 research pro7ects.
down the first stone of the post-industrial knowledge economy. .or many people already active
in the knowledge economy, it was the !eginning of the new theory they were looking for.
0vei!y has, since the !eginning, proposed to distinguish three types of intangi!le assets:
5. uman capital#the human competence of the personnel. "he peopleLs implicit
knowledge and how this implicit knowledge is made explicit
CM
and shared inside the
company.
2. #tructural capital#the internal structures and management of the company, its I'"
technology, and the way it is used and improved !y the personnel, its patents, its
data!ases, etc.
D. E)ternal capital#the external structures and relations of the company, its alliances, in
which networks it is actively involved, networks of suppliers, of consumers and of
citi,ens. 1et us not forget also the trust that the people have in the company. (-re the
people trusting more "upolev or -ir!us, for example.) -nd, finally, the reputation, the
O!randO of the company. We will see in this appendix that !rand and reputation !ecome
everyday more and more important.
-uthors like Merna -llee, stress that the model is not static. "here is a knowledge flow
!etween those three categories of intangi!le assets. 0he gives in her !ook this interesting
Cuotation:
6A company increases and utili'es its intangible assets by creating( sharing and
leveraging %nowledge to create economic value and enhance economic performance
C?
$+
9nowledge is created !y sharing. -nd one could say that knowledge is like love, the
more you share, the more you have. "his is Cuite shocking for OclassicalO ears of an OindustrialO
economist. But the value creation process in the knowledge economy is Cuite different from the
value creation process we are accustomed to in the industrial production. Indeed, industry
produces o!7ects, and adds value to an o!7ect#from a !lock of steel I make a enaultQ therefore,
I have added value to this !lock of steel.
@5
"his concept of implicit knowledge will !e developped much more !y Iku7iro +<+-9- T Iirotaka "-9E6'II
OThe %nowledge creating company6 <xford 6niversity :ress, 5>>@.
@2
Merna -11EE: "he future of knowledge...O :age 5@?.
But in the knowledge economy, there is no o!7ect#7ust knowledge. -nd the value
creation process consists in adding knowledge to knowledge. :ersonnel are paid to add value to
knowledge.
1et us take as an example a small company that a friend of mine created for setting up
we!sites and providing we!masters. "his company won the !id to run the we!site of the
European 'ommission in Brussels and 1uxem!urg. "he contract stipulated that every official
text issued !y the E6 'ommission had to !e on the we! within F? hours, translated in all official
languages. "he personnel of the company create value in translating the given knowledge. "hey
add knowledge to knowledge. (+o o!7ects.) By the way, the management is completely different.
Indeed, the 'E< is incapa!le of controlling and commanding. Ie is not fluent in all E6
languages. 0o he has used networks to make sure that Cuality is the !est. IowA "ake, for
example, the ;reek language. Ie organises receptions that include a network all the ;reek
language people in Brussels#;reek 'ommissioner and ;reeks in the 'ommission, ;reek *E:s
(*em!ers of European :arliament), ;reek in the 'ouncil of *inisters, ;reek -m!assador,
newspeople (radio, television, written press), "rade 6nions, 'onsumers, intellectuals, etc. "hey
all have a stake in having the !est possi!le ;reek texts to work on. -nd the 'E<, after a glass of
champagne asks them to let the team know whatever error or pro!lem could occur. 'ontrol is
outsourced to an external network.
It is a completely new type of management.
Et4i'2 89#l1e2 #nd $1%$o2e: #%e &#'( in t4e $i't1%e
Merna -llee shows that a companyLs values and purpose are the primary organi,ing
principle determining who its customers are, what type of people are attracted to work there, and
what type of structures and systems are reCuired. -s Merna explains well, the leading force in this
new game are the companyLs Ovalues and purpose,O while in the industrial world the main leading
force is linked to the amount of profit made. We are touching here a very important difference.
-nd this means that most of the intangi!le assets, !ecause they are value- and purpose-
!ased, are Cualitative and not Cuantitative anymore.
.inally, ethics and values are thus coming !ack full speed in the picture, while most of the
Oindustrial and scientificO approach was considered Ovalue freeO and out of the realm of ethics,
!ecause they were considered as Oo!7ectiveO.
We are indeed in another world.
Int#n6i&le2 #%e 31t1%e o%iented4en'e t4ei% i7$o%t#n'e 3o% 2to'( 7#%(et2
1et us now add another dimension to this intangi!le-assets concept. "hey are Ofuture
oriented.O In another definition given !y Baruch 1ev in a !ook
@D
on intangi!les prepared !y the
Brooking Institution in Washington, =.'. this new future dimension is underlined:
"An intangible asset is a claim to future benefit that does not have a physical or financial
embodiment$ A patent( a brand( and a uni*ue organi'ational structureFI use the terms
intangibles( %nowledge assets( and intellectual capital interchangeably$6
"his definition gives us a very important new element#future !enefit. -nd suddenly we
discover that the OindustrialO measurements of a company, which are !ased on tangi!le assets,
like financial and other material assets, are oriented toward the past. We are so accustomed to
this approach that we do not even acknowledge that those tangi!le assets are giving us
information of the companyLs performance from yesterday until today. Jou can measure if the
company has done well or not, according to the assets it has accumulated until today. But this
accumulation of tangi!le assets does not give any information on how the company will perform
in the future.
*eanwhile, and this is the new element, intangi!le assets are concentrating 7ust into those
other elements, which are crucial for the companyLs future. <ne understands here immediately
why intangi!le assets are so important today for the stock markets analysts and the !anking and
finance community.
A''o1ntin6 i2 de#dt4e $%o&le7 i2 1%6ent 3o% t4e &#n(in6 'o771nit5
-ccording to "homas 0tewart, editor of the arvard 1usiness :eview and known author
on intellectual capital
@F
, we are in a deep silent crisis, !ecause we are still una!le to measure
correctly those intangi!le assets. "his is a real threat to our accounting system worldwide:
"Accounting( long dead( is not yet buried( and the situation stin%s$ 4%ay( that overstates
the case( but not a lot$ In the past several years( the inade*uacies of industrial2age
@D
Baruch 1EM: %Intangibles! Aanagement( measurement( and reporting+. Brooking Institution :ress, Washington
=.'. 2335. :p. 5@3. Xuote is from pages H - G.
@F
"homas -. 0"EW-" : The wealth of %nowledge ! Intellectual capital and the twenty first century organis'ation
+icholas Bradley, 1ondon, 2332. page 2H?-2G?. 0ee also his first !ook : %Intellectual 'apital& of 5>>G.
accounting have been proved again and again$ 1oth financial accounting( which appears in
annual reports( and management accounting( the data that lands on your des%( go wrong in
specific ways( and with demonstrable conse*uences$$$+ 8p$ ?RH9
-nd what is wrongA "he industrial-age accounting system seems incapa!le of taking into
account intellectual capital and intangi!le assets:
"AccountingDs failure to disclose intellectual capital is not &ust a theoretical problem$ It
costs investors moneyperhaps you dear reader( among them$$$ We are not tal%ing fraud(
e)cept in a few caseswe are tal%ing irrelevance( with the result that investors are %ept in
the dar% and managers are operating by guess and by gosh$+ 8?>?9$
-nd so there is, according to 0tewart, a real urgency to !e a!le to measure intangi!le
assets.
Ho; to 7e#21%e int#n6i&le #22et2t;o $#t42
Baruch 1ev o!serves that it can !e difficult to measure intangi!le assets, !ecause they can
exist in the form of physical assets and la!our, and they interact.
"Intangibles are fre*uently embedded in physical assets 8for e)ample the technology and
%nowledge contained in an airplane9 and in labour 8the tacit %nowledge of employees9(
leading to considerable interactions between tangible and intangible assets in the creation of
value$ These interactions pose serious challenges to the measurement and valuation of
intangibles$ When such interactions are intense( the valuation of intangibles on a stand2alone
basis becomes impossible$+
In other words, the classical economic Cuantitative measurement methods are not
working. What to doA Iow can we find a way out and measure the intangi!le assetsA Economists
envisage two ways today.
<ne way is to try to Cuantify the Cualitative intangi!le assets. -nd this is what the
ma7ority of economists are doing today. "his is like trying to recuperate those new post-industrial
concepts into the classical OindustrialO frame of thinking. It is truly understanda!le, although it is
perhaps not the way to the future. +evertheless, 9:*; has even invented a mathematical
formula
@@
. <thers like 1eif Edvinson and 0tewart himself have proposed rating the intellectual
capital. <thers like the 0aratoga Institute are proposing a Ohuman capital indexO
@H
.
"he alternative is to say, %<kay, those intangi!les are Cualitative. "his is almost
impossi!le for classical economy to cope with. But we accept the situation and we try to invent a
new economic approach which is more Cualitative.& Iere, we accept that we are in another
values system. But the difficulty is that shifting to a non-material Cualitative approach will
suppose a real paradigm shift in economic methods, and !asic economic axioms. -nd there are
not many pu!lications speaking to this direction.
@G
Intangible assets are becoming more important every day
"he ma7ority of economists agree that the E6 and 6.0. economies at least around F3Z in
the knowledge economy
@?
. "herefore, the proportional importance of intangi!le assets in the
evaluation of a stock must !e around F3Z at least, and in many cases much higher.
"he more we enter into the knowledge economy worldwide, the more the intangi!le
assets will !ecome important. It is like a huge !ulldo,er advancing upon the industrial society
and mowing it down in a very short period.
+ow we are in a strange situation where a !it less that F3Z of our economic indicators
are Ointangi!lesO and non-material, and we still do not know very well how to cope with them,
how to measure them, how to give them the due importance in the stock markets.
.igure -5-5 is a variation of a figure prepared for a research pro7ect financed !y the
European 'ommission, in 233D
@>
.
@@
0ee "homas 0"EW-": The wealth of %nowledge page D3F.
@H
0ee httpBB:www.saratogainstitute.com. they call this index the 6Watson2yatt capital inde)6
@G
<ne of the advanced in this new field of research is Merna -11EE. 0ee www.vernaallee.com
@?
- recent report !y the Work .oundation in 69 Cuoting Eurostat is explaining that:O In 233@ <12t o9e% "*= of the
European workforce was empoyed !y the knowledge-!ased industries. "he +ordics and the 69 (F?Z) has the
!iggest shares of employment in the knowledge eoconomy. 0weden has @FZ followed !y =enmark (F>,5Z) and
.inland (FG,DZ). :age H. 0ee O"he 9nowledge economy in EuropeO prepared for the 'ouncil of *inisters of the
European 6nion of spring 233G.
http:BBwww.theworkfoundation.comB-ssetsB:=.sB9EREurope.pdf
@>
0ee: httpBB:www.neskey.com
U www.neskey.com
.igure -5-5: elative importance of intangi!les in the knowledge economy
"his figure shows the growing importance of intangi!les (including sustaina!ility) in the
knowledge economy. It illustrates that intangi!les were negligi!le in the past (as recently as 53
years ago) !ut that today they have as much importance than tangi!le assets and in the future
(perhaps 53 years from now), they could !ecome twice as important as financial (tangi!le)
assets. We are thus in a rapid and important change and we must prepare for it$
But I will end this appendix with two pieces of good news. .irst, the more we enter this
knowledge economy, the more the content of the intangi!les is evolving. "he relative weight of
sustaina!ility and of social inclusion is growing in importance everyday. 0econd, the stock
market analysts are like forerunning the community of the economists. "hey use their intuition to
Cuantify the intangi!les, into the actual values of most enterprises worldwide.
#ustainability and social inclusion increase their shares in intangibles
"he more we enter in this world economic transformation, the more on one side we !egin
to feel more and more aggressive reactions against this Onew management,O Othose networks,O
%this dematerialisation,& etc. 0ome industrial managers feel threatened !y the changes going on.
"hey more or less su!consciously feel that their power will diminish and die... and they !egin to
react negatively.
But on the other side, I am pu,,led to o!serve that from year to year, as a dean of a
!usiness school, I see that our students are !ecoming more and more sensitive and interested to
orient their companies toward full sustaina!ility and social inclusion.
#toc% mar%et analysts are measuring intangibles$$$ every day
0ome stock markets analysts tell me that it !ecomes more evident every day that the
content of the intangi!les are !ecoming more and more influenced !y sustaina!ility and social
inclusion. "he younger generation is increasingly eager to run companies that are Opart of the
solutionO. "hey do not want anymore !e working in companies that are Opart of the pro!lem.O
"he shift is really rapid, and the intangi!le assets are like the driving !elt of this
paradigmatic change. "hey push through sustaina!ility and social inclusion in the !usinessL
agenda, through the stock markets.
Jes, stock market analysts are silently measuring intangi!le assets. -nd speaking with
them is very instructive. "hey are of a precious help in the transitional period.
71! This appendi) is a reprint 8slightly revised9 of an article published in "1an%ing and finance
European platform for /inancial professionals$+ 7XB =uly August ?@@>$
8www$ban%infandfinance$eu 9 It is included here with their %ind permission$
APPENDI0 ):
ANALYSIS O. THE PARADIGMS
"his appendix contains expanded explanations on the paradigms and figures I referred to
in this !ook. I provide them as an aid to the reader.
P#%#di67 #n#l52i2 #2 # 7e#n2 o3 3o2te%in6 tole%#n'e #nd %ed1'in6 9iolen'e
=ifferences !etween the paradigms through which people view the world can produce a
lot of conflict. "o live in peace, one must !e a!le to say, %<kay. "hat person is in that paradigm,
and I am in another, !ut eventually we share the same faith. 1et us tolerate the other/s paradigm.&
"hus, paradigm analysis is not simply a theoretical exercise. It is a way to avoid, or at
least reduce, potential long and difficult conflicts$ or even religious wars. It has the potential to
reduce violence, !ecause it ena!les one person to name another/s paradigm#the other/s different
view#and to understand why the other is considered a threat to his su!conscious values. 0uch
analysis can reduce one/s own anguish and, thus, his possi!ility of aggression. In this way,
paradigm analysis deflates the potentially unconscious violent clashes. It is the opposite of the
analysis leading to the clash of civili,ations. It is a lesson from the school of deep tolerance.
We shall see in this type of analysis that in every culture and every religion we can detect
the same pre-modern paradigm, with more or less the same characteristics. -nd this is the most
intriguing element#the real divisions are more inside each culture than between the cultures.
T4e t4%ee &#2i' $#%#di672
In this !ook, I speak of three !asic paradigms in society#pre-modern (agrarian), modern,
and transmodern (planetary). 1et us look at each one in turn.
The pre2modern 8or agrarian9 vision of life
.igure -2-5 shows the pyramidal structure of society in the pre-modern (agrarian) world
view.
U *arc 1uyckx ;hisi, 233?
.igure -2-5: :re-modern (agrarian) pyramidal societal structure
In this structure, ;od is at the top, and is the guarantor of societal values, which do not
change. "he clergy is considered knowledgea!le regarding what ;od thinks and wants and has
the exclusive management and control of the sacred. "he clergy gives orders to the politicians,
who give orders to the men, who give orders to the women and children. -nd the cosmos and
+ature are respected and cared for, !ecause they are parts of ;od/s creation.
"his figure is a description of the landscape of su!conscious values and of the mentality
and the !ehaviour of populations living mostly on agriculture. "herefore, it is also called the
agrarian paradigm. In this paradigm there is a deep sense of the sacred, of the rhythm of seasons
and weather, which are not changea!le !y men. ;od is the source of life cycles and values and
Ie is eternal and transcendent. -nd !ecause ;od is the a!solute and only truth, it is naturally
impossi!le to conceive that other faiths could exist that could lead to ;od.
"o understand this paradigm, one must look at its various characteristics. .or the pre-
modern (agrarian) paradigm, those characteristics are as follows. (I will discuss these same
characteristics when descri!ing the other paradigms in order to show how they differ from one
another.)
5. "he paradigm is 9e%ti'#l #nd #1t4o%it#%i#n.
-uthority comes from the top, from ;od himself who transmits this truth directly to
the clergy. "he clergy is allowed !y ;od Iimself to teach governments and the faithful,
men, and finally women. "he animals are lower than the humans, and the plants are lower
than the animals. "he cosmos is lower than the plants. "his means that there is an eternal
hierarchy that governs the relationships !etween !eings. Iowever, everyone must !e
respected !ecause everyone is sacred#!eing part of ;od/s creation.
2. "he paradigm is $#t%i#%'4#l.
;od the .ather (not the *other) is the head of this order where men dominate
women. *en are the only !earers of the sacred. Women are assumed not to have access to
the sacred. "herefore, they must stay at home and care for the children/s education. If a
woman dares to oppose this order, for example when asking to !ecome part of the clergy,
she is immediately considered to have committed a sacrilege, !ecause she is threatening
the whole patriarchal pyramid.
D. :re-modernity is intole%#nt.
Its "ruth is exclusive. It is only %our religion& and no one else who owns the "ruth.
;od Iimself has trusted this "ruth to us. It is thus impossi!le and impious to even think
that another "ruth could exist. Ioly wars, 'rusades, and the InCuisition are normal
conseCuences of this concept of "ruth. -nd killing a %pagan& is a good deed. It can even
save a !eliever from Iell.
F. :re-modernity o$$o2e2 2e'1l#%i2#tion.
"he very concept of secularisation is considered as a !lasphemy. "o refuse the very
existence of ;od is the worst crime, !ecause it is like attacking the very foundation of
society. "oday in the West, pre-moderns tolerate atheists, only !ecause it is not allowed
anymore to kill them.
@. "his sym!olic system of pre-modernity has the great advantage of !eing 2t#&l5 $oeti'.
Everything has a deep meaning, which is decided !y ;od %forever and ever.& "here is
never a crisis of values. "he younger generation has no difficulties in reproducing the
values of their parents, !ecause those values are sacred and sta!le. "his system is !uilt to
last forever.
H. "his system is en'4#nted.
"he 'osmos reflects ;od/s glory. Everything is full of poetry and sacredness.
Believers have a deep sense of the sacred.
G. "he theological and $oliti'#l ;ei64t o3 t4e 'le%65 is evident.
-t least in the three %eligions of the Book& (8ews, 'hristians, *uslims), this clergy
has a powerful hold on the souls and the !odies of the faithful. "his can lead and has led
to the worst religious and political a!uses.
?. "here is only one 9#lid 2'ien'e#t4eolo65.
Every!ody spoke 1atin in the %;niversitas+ of the *iddle -ges. "here is a real
universality of thought and of language, which prevailed for centuries.
>. :re-modernity has a 2en2e o3 t4e 2#'%ed, which is self evident and not disputed.
"he whole of creation is sacredQ +ature and the environment should !e respected
!ecause they are part of ;od/s creation. ;od/s plan for the world has to !e respected. -s
an example, 'hristians today do not feel much sympathy for the InCuisition or for the
'rusades. In my hypothesis, this is so !ecause the 'rusades and InCuisition were pre-
modern, while we are in the modern or in the transmodern vision today. We o!serve also
that many Western women do not feel sympathy with the actual leadership of the
'hristian churches. It is likely that the reason for this is that this leadership is mostly pre-
modern, or modern, and patriarchal, meanwhile many Western women are post
patriarchal and planetary-transmodern.
The modern vision
.igure -2-2 shows the structure of society in the modern world view.
U *arc 1uyckx ;hisi, 233?
.igure -2-2: *odern world view
In this case, the pyramid has !een retained (without moderns !eing conscious of the fact).
"he only difference is that instead of ;od, moderns have granted divine status to reason,
rationality, and the scientific method (as :rigogine has noted). "his unconscious divinisation of
the scientific method and of reason is one of the main pro!lems of modernity today.
In this modern world view, women have acCuired more freedom, !ut only in the private
sphere. In the pu!lic sphere, the pyramid does not give them much more spaceP -lso, animals,
plants, and the cosmos in general have !een removed from the pyramid entirely and transformed
into %things& without much value, which can !e exploited (used and a!used) without thought.
*odernity slowly emerged in Europe !etween the 5H
th
and the 5?
th
centuries. It was a
very healthy reaction against the clerical o!scurantism, which condemned ;alileo. *odernity
was a li!eration movement led !y very courageous intellectuals like 9epler, ;alileo, =escartes,
and +ewton. -n analysis similar to that presented a!ove for the pre-modern view is as follows.
5. *odernity is still 9e%ti'#l #nd #1t4o%it#%i#n &1% 2e'1l#% in the pu!lic sphere.
It has +<" suppressed the power pyramid of the pre-modern *iddle -ges. It has
simply switched ;od with the goddess eason. "his means that what is not rational has
no value anymore, at least in the pu!lic sphere. -nd in this secular and disenchanted
world, animals, plants, and the whole of the cosmos are %things& to !e used and a!used.
+ature exists to !e used. ;od/s pro7ect to give +ature to man/s custody, !ecomes %+ature
at the exclusive service of man&.
2. *odernity is still $#t%i#%'4#l in the pu!lic sphere.
=espite what is pu!licly claimed, the modern view continues to exclude women.
<!viously modernity has helped the li!eration of women, first in the private, and now
slowly in the pu!lic sphere. Iowever, if women are to remain in the pu!lic power
structure they must comply with a rational approachQ otherwise, they will !e accused of
!eing irrational and incapa!le of taking rational pu!lic decisions.
D. *odernity is intole%#nt$
Its concept of truth is exclusive#there is +< truth outside a rational truth, at least in
the pu!lic sphere. "he non-rational approach is simply +<" considered, even refused.
Intolerance or ignorance is systematic also toward the non-Western ways of thinking.
"his leads to new and su!tle forms of crusades, inCuisitions, and holy wars in the name of
progress, development, and modernisation.
F. *odernity has 2e'1l#%i2ed t4e ;o%ld (secular defines itself without reference to any
;od).
*odernity has introduced a very useful distinction !etween religious and profane, !ut
this distinction has !ecome a strict separation. <n one side you have now the serious
pu!lic rational, masculine, economic, and scientific pole, which has the power. -nd on
the other side, in the private sphere, you have the intuitive, philosophical, religious
aesthetic, and feminine pole. But the latter has !een relegated in the private sphere,
without political power. - wall of a!solute separation has !een !uilt !etween the pu!lic
and the private spheres. eligion cannot !e taken into consideration in foreign policy, for
example. It is only accepta!le as a private choice. In this secular world, +ature is not
anymore ;od/s creation. It is to !e used and a!used !y man.
@. *odernity has switched the concept of stability with one of progress.
:rogress is considered as a value in itself without discussion. "he concept of sta!ility
has !een lost and is even considered o!solete.
H. *ax We!er was perfectly right: modernity has di2en'4#nted t4e ;o%ld$
<ur souls cannot !reathe anymore in this secular society. <utside of goddess eason,
there is no !asis anymore for fundamental values. Every allusion to an inward and deep
dimension of human existence is for!idden in pu!lic except for !urials or exceptional
occasions. "he world is only rational. eligions are expected to disappear slowly !ut
forever. "he only possi!le enchantment is provided !y the progresses in science and
technology.
G. enaissance has used reason to get rid forever of the power and o!scurantism of the
'le%6ie2.
"his has !een a li!eration, !ut modernity has reintroduced unconsciously a new
pyramid, a new dominating class, a new clergy, which is functioning exactly in the same
way#t4e te'4no'%#t2 #nd t4e e>$e%t2. <ne of the !est examples is the economists.
"heir power is as important and undisputed as the clergy/s power in the pre-modern
paradigm, even when they are wrong. "hey are ordering the politicians and to the pu!lic
at large, without reaction.
?. "he distinctions !etween disciplines have come to em!ody 2t%i't 2e$#%#tion #nd
'o7$#%t7ent#li2#tion.
In introducing new and sane distinctions, and enhancing the role of rational thinking
and "scientific
R@
+ method modernity has allowed the !irth of science and technology and
of all the other disciplines used today#like ethics, aesthetics, philosophy, history,
mathematics, physics, chemistry, and later sociology, psychology, anthropology,
ethnology, etc. 6nfortunately, those distinctions !etween the disciplines have !ecome
strictly separated and compartmentalised, which for!ids any real transdisciplinary
creative work today. "he glo!al holistic view has !een progressively lost. *odern science
is excellent in analysing every leaf, every tree, every !ranch, every root, etc. !ut is una!le
to see the forest. We are trapped in the very rational analytical method that has given !irth
to modernity.
H3
I am putting %scientific& !etween !rackets, to underline that this definition of science is modern and would not !e
accepted anymore !y :rigogine and others new thinkers of transmodern science.
>. In the pu!lic sphere, modernity leaves a!solutely no place for any form of 2#'%ed.
In this disenchanted world there is thus a crisis of the value/s fundament. *eanwhile,
science is reintroducing a kind of sacredness of rationality and technology. If a decision is
%rational,& it is in principle accepta!le everywhere and in every culture, at any time. -nd
if a phenomenon is not explica!le in the frame of rational science, it simply does not
exist. Iowever, this dominant rationality is also in crisis today, simply !ecause fewer
individuals !elieve that science and technology are capa!le of solving !y themselves the
huge pro!lems of today and of tomorrow.
Where are the %moderns&A
*odernity is a way of seeing life that has influenced slowly the whole world. It has
permeated the mentality and the political structures and policies of all our governments at every
level#local (city council), regional (0ates), national (6.0. government), continental (+-."-,
*E'<06, "he European 6nion), international (the 6nited +ations).
*odernity is also the vision permeating all of our education system worldwide, all our
schools, institutes, and universities. It also influences the scientific community and the whole of
intellectual reflection and research worldwide. It is influencing each of us in our day-to-day life.
In our relation to progress, happiness, religion, sacred, politics, work, etc. *odernity has !ecome
the air we !reathe, without !eing conscious of it. It is really the frame in which the dominant
structures of the world are functioning today.
*odernity was !orn as a li!eration movement, against the intellectual, spiritual and
political o!scurantist domination of the 'hurch, at the end of the *iddle -ges. Iowever, it has
!ecome itself a su!tle oppressive system. *odernity today is like a tunnel, in which to travel
forward you are o!liged to think in a linear analytic way, with no lateral thinking, no fantasy, no
creativity, no possi!ility to think out of the !ox. Jou have to !e rational and only rational. <ther
points of view, other cultures are tolerated, !ut not really accepted, !ecause out of modernity
there is no real progress, no real truth.
*odernity has !ecome a tunnel out of which it is time to exit. Which leads us to the third
paradigm#the transmodern (planetary) view.
"he postmodern offshoot
.igure -2-D shows the structure of society in the postmodern world view, which is an
offshoot of the modern world view.
U *arc 1uyckx ;hisi, 233?
.igure -2-D: :ostmodern world view
"his figure illustrates that the structure of the postmodern paradigm is identical to that of
the modern world view. "he only difference, and it is a very important difference, is that there is
nothing a!ove the pyramid. +ot ;od, not eason, not "ruth. +othing.
"hus, postmodernism represents a necessary phase of deconstruction, !ut it has not
deconstructed the pyramid. "he transmodern paradigm (see !elow), on the other hand, has
completely changed the frame of thinking and the way to conceive of "ruth.
"his is why, to prepare for the 25
st
century, we must advance beyond the postmodern
paradigm#which is incapa!le of even conceiving a new mo!ili,ation for our common survival.
The transmodern 8planetary9 vision
.igure -2-F shows the structure of society in the transmodern (planetary) world view.
U *arc 1uyckx ;hisi, 233?
.igure -2-F: "ransmodern (planetary) world view
"his figure illustrates one possi!le metaphor of the transmodern paradigm. "here are no
pyramids anymore#no power structures owning the "ruth. "he "ruth does exist, !ut it is in the
centre of the circle, which is empty with regard to ownership rights and theological descriptions.
"he more one approaches the =ivine, the less one is a!le to say anything a!out the experience of
doing so. "his is the core experience of mystics in many religions. In this sense, the centre is
empty and full of light. <ne could also say that the centre is the place were perennial wisdom is
located. -nd no!ody owns it.
In this model, we see also that women and men of all cultures are sitting around the ta!le
as eCuals, in order to decide together a!out our common future. Every culture and every religion
has access to the truth following its own path.
-nimals, plants and the whole of the cosmos are not %things& anymore. "hey are sacred
again, !ecause they have also a certain level of consciousness. "hey !elong in the circle. We are
all related, interconnected.
"his metaphor attempts to represent the implicit vision of the world of 23Z of the
citi,ens of the West and perhaps of the world. It shows an idea of this new framework, which is a
radically tolerant and democratic and inclusive definition of "ruth.
8ust as I analy,ed the pre-modern and modern view, I analy,e the transmodern view as
follows.
5. :lanetary-transmodernity is de7o'%#ti'.
Everyone is seated eCually at the ta!le in order to discuss together common pro!lems,
putting personal and national interests momentarily on the side. "here is a strict eCuality
!etween women and men and !etween the cultures of the world. "his represents an
ethical Cuantum leap
H5
. -nimals, plants, and the whole of the cosmos are connected and
related. "hey also have a consciousness. Iierarchy !etween them has disappeared. In its
place is connectedness and independence.
2. :lanetary-transmodernity is $o2t$#t%i#%'4#l.
"here is no reason anymore to discriminate !etween women and men. <n the
contrary, women/s visions and intuitions are indispensa!le in order to invent together
innovative urgent solutions. :atriarchy is over as a value system, !ut it can still !e very
violent and aggressive.
D. :lanetary-transmodernity is tole%#nt &5 de3inition.
"his tolerance is active. Its definition of the "ruth is inclusive. -ll cultures and all
citi,ens in the world are included. Everyone is encouraged to follow his or her own path
toward the centre, toward supreme wisdom and illumination.
H5
By the way, this model forms the !asis of the political architecture of the European 6nion as conceived !y 8ean
*onnet in 5>@3. -ll countries sitting around the ta!le are strictly eCual.
F. :lanetary-transmodernity esta!lishes and redefines a ne; %el#tion &et;een %eli6ion2
#nd $oliti'2.
<n the one hand, one must avoid the confusion !etween religion and politics, as
existed in the *iddle -ges, !ut on the other hand, one must a!olish the modern
separation of religion and politics, which !ecomes finally a refusal of any spiritual
dimension at all and produces disenchantment of society. :lanetary-transmodernity is,
thus, post-secular. eligion is considered as an (am!iguous) element, to !e taken into
account in politics
@. Beyond pre-modern sta!ility and modern Cuantitative progress.
:lanetary-transmodernity proposes the concept of ?1#lit#ti9e $%o6%e22$ "he aim is a
!etter personal and collective ?1#lit5 o3 li3e for Iumanity and for the environment.
H. :lanetary-transmodernity is a!le to %e,en'4#nt t4e ;o%ld !ecause we will have again
access to our souls.
"he spiritual dimension is not ta!oo any longer. :lanetarism helps us toward a new
kind of reconciliation !etween our !odies, souls, minds and hearts, and with the entire
cosmos. "his reconciliation will unleash an enormous amount of positive and creative
energy, which is the opposite of disenchantment. e-enchantment !egins with the
freedom of our souls when hope for a !etter world is possi!le again. Iowever, planetary
transmodernity could degenerate in a deeper disenchantment if this transformation is not
real and profound.
G. :lanetary-transmodernity downsi,es t4e 'on'e$t o3 'le%65, of technocrat of expert.
In every domain, citi,ens want to have the power on their own lives, and on their
most intimate relation with the divine. "he concept of necessary intermediate !etween
;od and men !ecomes less and less accepted. Instead of a clergy, what is looked for is
more in the way of spiritual mentors who can help in our spiritual 7ourney. But the same
is true also for the experts. "hey are not anymore the undisputed gurus a!ove everyone.
?. :lanetary-transmodernity redefines fundamentally the %el#tion &et;een 2'ien'e et4i'2
#nd 2o'iet5.
0cience itself is going through a deep transformation. It is decompartmentalising the
various scientific disciplines and is looking for real and radical transdisciplinarity. It tries
to integrate ethics and meaning at all levels. "he very distinction !etween hard and soft
sciences !ecomes o!solete.
>. :lanetary-transmodernity is trying to %edi2'o9e% t4e 2#'%ed as a dimension of life and of
our societies.
"he power structures are here hori,ontal. -nd the definition of "ruth is inclusive. "his
rediscovery of the sacred is a very difficult task, !ecause it is like a reinvention of new
sacred places rites and times.
Where are the :lanetariansA
-s I mentioned elsewhere in this !ook, you will find planetarians everywhere today#in
every continent, in every country, !ut pro!a!ly more in the Western hemisphere. -ccording to
my information, they are also very numerous in the *uslim culture, !ut Western modern
politicians are not a!le to distinguish them from pre-modern *uslims. "hey 7ust do not know the
essential difference#planetarians are tolerant. -nd most of them are women.
It is likely that the administration of ;.W. Bush as president of the 6.0. has increased
their num!er in a significant way, although this is not evident in the media, and not very visi!le. I
say this !ecause many people in the 6.0. and around the world have felt su!consciously that
something changed forever when Bush came to power#even prior to the terri!le terrorist act of
>B55#and that perhaps the domination of the Western values and of the Western power is
coming to an end.
"his Western domination is primarily the intellectual domination of the modern rational
and consumer values that the West spreads through many means, like development policies, trade
policies, dou!le standards in human right policies, etc. It is also a military and power domination
!y the 6.0. and to a lesser extent !y the E6.
Con'l12ionW4i'4 one i2 5o1% 9i2ion o3 li3e 85o1% $#%#di67:@
"he purpose of this appendix is to introduce the reader to paradigm analysis of the three
!asic paradigms (world views). ECuipped with this analysis, one can define himself or herself as
%pre-modern,& %modern,& or %planetary-transmodern.&
"he answer might well !e some mixture of the three#!ecause we are complex creatures
and can participate in two or more paradigms. egardless, however, the paradigm shift that I
descri!e in this !ook is acting inside every one of us.
APPENDI0 A:
MY OWN E0PERIENCE O. RE,ENCHANTMENT
In this appendi)( I describe how I came to encounter and e)perience in my own life the
re2enchantment that I spea% of in this boo%$ It is my hope that my personal account will provide
the reader with the insight that a first2hand e)perience with re2enchantment can bring$
T4e 3i%2t di2'o9e%5
The contract
In 5>?>, I was given a one-year contract with the European 'ommission/s 0cience
=epartment to write a report on what the ma7or religions of the West, and 8apan, were saying
concerning science and technology.
R?
*y plan going in was simple#I would analy,e each
religion and synthesise its main teachings on science and technology. I would then esta!lish
some comparisons !etween the religions, underlying the similarities and differences. "his was
what the 0cience =epartment (called ;eneral =irection) of the 'ommission was interested in.
Because of my !ackground in theology and philosophy, the task seemed rather easy. .or the next
several months, I read and studied !ooks from different religions to prepare for my written
report.
"he whole thing was all very interesting until I !ecame aware that there was a real
pro!lem with the way I had envisaged the work. - crisis came when I discovered, to my great
astonishment, that some 'atholics held exactly the same !eliefs as some :rotestants, *uslims,
8ews and Iumanists on topics such as the participation of women in science, or a!ortion (I was
to discover later that those who held these views could !e called the %pre-moderns&) while other
:rotestants, *uslims, 'atholics, 8ews or Iumanists were defending opposing positions on the
same su!7ects (I later understood that they could !e called the %moderns&.) I also discovered in
H2
I owe here gratitude to =r icardo :E"E11-, who proposed me this contract in 5>?>. Iere is the title of this
report: *arc 16J'9[: ":eligions confronted with science and technology! Churches and ethics after
3rometheus+ "ranslation: =onal ;ordon and "imothy 'ooper. European 'ommission, Brussels 5>>2.
every religion another unusual cluster of people (many of them women) who held a really new
vision on almost every su!7ect, and it seemed impossi!le to classify them as the moderns or the
pre-moderns. 0o what were theyA
/eeling lost
"hese discoveries laid my !eautiful plan in ruins. It was meaningless to stick to my
original strategy of comparing the underlying similarities and differences !etween the religions
when there were so many differences in the !eliefs among the !elievers. Iow could I possi!ly
present "IE position of any religionA
"he task was impossi!le. "he Cuestion I had !een asked to answer did not fit with the
reality I was o!serving. What should I doA I felt I must resign. I could not sleep for several
nights, turning the pro!lem over and over in my head. I did not see any solution. I was feeling
lost. *y whole intellectual, rational and analytical approach was of no help. eality was sending
me information that was completely destroying my deductive approach. I felt humiliated in front
of a task that I had foreseen as easy, and my whole intellectual system was in crisis.
I started having nightmares in which I relived childhood memories of my eldest !rother
!reaking some of my favourite toys. Jes, my favourite intellectual toy had now !een !roken. It
was no longer the !rilliant apparatus with which I could solve every pro!lem in the world. *y
ego was shattered, and I did not know where to go for consolation. 1oneliness, sadness, and
feeling of impotence washed over me. I was feeling like a lost little child.
A light in the tunnel
"hen one morning, I opened !ook named 4n 3urpose !y an -ustralian professor named
'harles Birch
HD
, and I read the following:
"3ostmodernism challenges modernism( which can be said to have begun with
seventeenth2century mechanism( petrified with eighteenth2century rationalism( nineteen2
century positivism and twentieth2century nihilism$ As contrasted with the modern worldview(
which is sustained( more by habit than conviction and which has promoted ecological
despoliation( militarism( antifeminism( and disciplinary fragmentation( the postmodern view
is postmechanistic and ecological in its view of nature( post reductionist in its view of
HD
'harles BI'I: 4n purpose! a new way of thin%ing for a new millennium$ ++ew 0outh Wales 6niversity :res,
9ensington, +0WQ -ustralia 23DDQ 5>>3. p.xvi.
science( postanthropocentric in its view of ethics and economics( postdiscipline in relation to
%nowledge( and postpatriarchal and postse)ist in relation to society$ 3ostmodernism is not a
call bac% to the pre2modern but a creative synthesis of the best of the modern( pre2modern
and new concepts in the forefront of holistic thin%ing$+
"his passage felt like an electric shock in my mind. I was astounded and could not react
immediately !ecause :rofessor Birch/s words were destroying the whole of my mental
construction. I closed the !ook and went for a walk. .or several days, I was una!le to do any
productive work. I was writing and reading !ut my mind was !u!!ling with new Cuestions. -re
we really getting out of modernityA Is this true, or is it an -ustralian fantasyA
-fter a week or two, I !egan to experience a new feeling#like a little light at the end of a
long tunnel. Iere was a new and unexpected solution. Jes, :rofessor Birch was rightP In fact we
were in a time of rapid transition from modernity to post-modernity (which later I will call
transmodernity or planetarism), with many people in our glo!al world still pre-modern, with the
ma7ority of the moderns not understanding the challenge, and with yet another previously
unidentified group of transmoderns.
If all this was true, the solution was o!vious. I had the key. I could write this report from
a completely different mental frame. Jes, there were differences !etween religions, !ut the main
differences were !etween the paradigms or mental frames inside each religion, precisely !ecause
of the rapid transition !etween paradigms that the world is experiencing at this time. Within each
religious group there are su!divisions struggling with the same challenges. "hat was the key. "he
su!groups are the same in each religion#pre-moderns, moderns, and transmoderns. *y research
had shown that the 8ewish %moderns& were very similar to the eformed moderns and to their
*uslim and 'atholic or Iumanist colleagues. "he same thing was true for the pre-moderns and
for the transmoderns.
:rogressively, I arrived at the conclusion that the main differences are not so much
!etween the religions and !etween the cultures, as :rofessor 0amuel Iuntington tried to show in
his famous article announcing that the next war would !e a clash of civili,ations.
HF
+o, the main
conflicts are inside each religion and inside each civili,ation. "his was the new vision, which
was imposing itself on me.
HF
0amuel I6+"I+;"<+: %The clash of civili'ations+ .oreign -ffairsQ 0ummer 5>>D.
JippeeP I had a new frame#a very rich frame, !ut one that was difficult to handle. It had
completely destroyed my first plan, !ut I was happy and excited. Even though I still felt like I
was still in the tunnel, the light was there, and it was !right. I could see a solution.
4ut of the tunnelthe re2enchantment of the vision
It took me another couple of months to get out of the tunnel. "his transition and personal
transformation happened impercepti!ly in the process of writing the report. Without knowing it, I
was in the process of changing paradigms. I initiated the report in 0eptem!er 5>?> fully in the
modern paradigm and finished it in 8uly 5>>3, in the planetarist transmodern paradigm.
It was around -pril or *ay of 5>>3 that I suddenly !ecame aware that I had grown out of
the tunnel. With that came an awareness of a new feeling growing inside me#a feeling of re-
enchantment. I was out of the tunnel, and there was the sun and the mountains and the colours of
+ature, and the trees and the fresh wind, and the !eauty. I was rediscovering a wonderful new
landscape. What a 7oyP ;rowing inside of me was a deep sense of li!eration.
I was out of the tunnel#out of the rational only approach of modernity. <ut of the tunnel
where the walls are painted in !lack in order to impede any lateral thinking. <ut of the tunnel
where all thinking happens in the closed !ox of one single discipline, with no possi!ility of
communication with the other !oxes. <ut of the tunnel where you are forced to look in one
single direction and to follow the rails#the rational analytic ones that market logic and
university scientific discipline. <ut of the tunnel, where the spiritual dimension is pushed aside
in the %private life& or completely ignored. <ut of the tunnel where art, aesthetics, and ethics are
marginal. <ut of the tunnel where the feminine is not taken into consideration.
I was rediscovering the possi!ility of new links !etween my !ody, my feelings, my
intuition, my analytical and rational intelligence, my masculine and feminine sides, my yin and
my yang, and my soul. .inally, life was giving me the opportunity to put together the separate
pieces of my life. What a sense of wholenessP I was discovering that we are part of +ature, not
a!ove it. What a deep sense of !elonging, of rootednessP I was discovering again inside me a
feminine dimension of intuitive feelings that put me in touch and in direct contact with life. I was
feeling reincarnated.
"his extraordinary feeling of deep 7oy, hope, and dynamism felt like a new life exploding
inside me. *y soul was out of a centuries-long prison. It was exploding and spreading energy
through my entire !ody and mind. "his new circulation of energy !etween my soul and my !ody,
!etween the spiritual and the other dimensions was filling me with an incredi!le 7oy and a
tremendous energy. It was as if that energy was waiting for centuries to pop out into the open air.
"his enormous amount of energy was originating from my soul/s li!eration and it was circulating
and uniting all parts of my !ody, mind and soul.
I understood later that I was experiencing first phase of re-enchantment#the re-
enchantment of the vision. When the hori,on clears up, hope !ecomes possi!le again. I was no
longer in a %no future& situation. "he soul deep inside me was finding oxygen again, and I
realised how dry and silently desperate I had !ecome, without even !eing aware of it.
.irst feed!ack#negative
I was so happy a!out my !reakthrough that I !egan to explain with vi!rant enthusiasm to
my colleagues and friends what I had discovered. "he general reaction was polite, !ut negative. I
heard statements like, %*arc, this is very interesting !ut I have to rush to a meeting.& *y
intelligent friends and colleagues were not accepting the idea that we could !e leaving modern
culture.
What was happeningA *y first reaction was to !ecome angry with my colleagues,
!ecause they did not understand my exciting and !rilliant visionP "o calm my anger, I gave
myself a very logical explanation#they were all stuck in modernity and did not understand the
culture shift that Iumanity was going through that, fortunately, I did understand. What I was
experiencing with my colleagues and friends was a culture clash, !ut a hori,ontal one !etween
different paradigms.
In my enthusiasm, I continued trying to persuade people, with very little success. I went
to see my head of office, and tried to explain how important my discovery was. Ie advised me to
stick to the initial plan, and to %simply& explain what each religion was saying. I was deeply
disappointed.
0ome months later, !ecause of this very report, I was invited to 7oin the most
intellectually prestigious group in the European 'ommission#the .orward 0tudies 6nit# the
think tank directly helping the president of the European 'ommission. I was thrilled. I was
finally feeling recognised and full hope that this group had understood and liked my report.
Iowever, during the next ten years, although I tried, I did not succeed in having even one single
deep conversation on the paradigm shift or any similar topic. "hey simply were not interested.
What a frustrationP
The shadow of my own re2enchantment
It took a lot of time for me to understand what was happening. <ne day the 'hief of the
.orward 0tudies 6nit (where I had !een working for nine years) told me, %*arc, you are
advocating a new paradigm of tolerance in an intolerant way.& 1ater that day, I told my wife what
he had said and she answered, &Ie is right.& I was fla!!ergastedP But as I look !ack, this
comment marked the !eginning of my personal evolution.
0lowly (very slowly), I !egan to acknowledge and identify my shadow side that emerged
in four waves of recognition. I discovered that after twelve years of university studies of
mathematics and philosophy and the o!taining of a :h.=. in ussian and ;reek theology, I had
!ecome a very good modern rational !eing. I was cut off from my feelings and was too much in
my head. I, therefore, found myself announcing the arrival of the planetary transmodern culture
in a very rational, analytical, modern style. "his was the first shadow wave.
"he second wave came when I realised I was announcing this planetary transmodern
culture, fundamentally tolerant in its approach of the "ruth, in a very intolerant way.
"he third wave swept over me when I discovered that I was patriarchal. I was functioning
exactly like the most classical description of the patriarchal family. I remem!ered something I
had successfully !locked out for many years#that I had !een dominated and psychologically
tortured !y my father, a model patriarch. "o my horror, I realised that I had done the same with
those I loved. I was soft with people I feared, like my father, and I was violent and ver!ally
a!usive with those whom I perceived as weak (for example, women and children). "he saddest
thing is that it took me almost @3 years to understand that my violence was totally !uried in my
su!conscious. I was ver!ally a!usive to my own children, my first wife and my second wife,
Isa!elle who was courageous enough to work with me to reach this awareness. It is still a process
!ut with her loving guidance she has taken me !y hand through a lake of tears on my 7ourney to
re-enchantment. "hank you, Isa!elle.
"he fourth wave was even more arduous to accept. I was discovering that despite and
pro!a!ly !ecause of my important theological !ackground, and my so called spiritual experience,
I was nowhere in my spiritual evolution. I had searched for ;od a!ove anything, disconnected
from !ody and material considerations very high in the sky,... and I was discovering that the real
spirituality consisted of finding ;od inside myself in confronting my shadow and in
transforming my relations with myself and with my neigh!ours. I was nowhereP It was time to
start from scratch.
"he light of re-enchantment illuminated my shadows and ena!led me to !egin my slow
and difficult transformative path. It also helped me discover how deeply I was !uried in the very
tunnel I was critici,ing. I can now see a light at the end of my own tunnel and a way out of
hyper-intellectuality, intolerance and patriarchal violence, toward a new type of spiritual path.
"his is my personal path toward re-enchantment.
I have come to realise that this paradigm shift is something much more serious than I had
first thought. "he vision, although crucially necessary, was not enough. It was only the !eginning
#the first step. - very necessary and indispensa!le step, !ecause it opened up the hori,on. But it
was not enough, !ecause when I announced my re-enchantment, people looked at who I was to
see if my soul was in accordance with my vision. -lthough this paradigm (or culture shift) is
a!out a shift in collective consciousness, life has taught me that it is also a fa!ulous shift in my
personal consciousness. =uring this 7ourney, it has !een my great fortune to have, in addition to
friends and advisors, my dear wife Isa!elle whose love and discernment have !een decisive on
my way to awareness and re-enchantment.
Il5# P%i6o6ine #nd t4e ne; 2'ien'e
While I was writing my report, I discovered the concept of re-enchantment in reading
4rder 4ut of Chaos, a !ook !y +o!el :ri,e winner Ilya :rigogine.
RC
"his !ook presented a new
vision of physics and of science that fascinated me. 0cience was no longer an o!7ective, neutral,
value-free, and independent o!servation of +ature in order to discover its hidden implicit laws.
+o, :rigogine showed through his experimentation and research on %dissipative structures& (for
which he got the +o!el :ri,e) that physics is not value-free. Iis experiments showed, for
example, that if a chemical reaction is o!served, it is possi!le that the very system you are
o!serving is modified simply !y your o!servation. In other words, the chemical reaction is not
the same if it is o!served. "his means that there is no o!7ective o!servation in science. Every
H@
Ilya :I;<;I+E T Isa!elle 0"E+;E0 : 4rder out of Chaos! Aen.s new dialogue with nature$$ .ontana !ooks,
5>?@.
o!servation is su!7ective. It involves the su!7ect. 0cience is not an o!7ective discipline anymoreP
"his new approach is still today, after 23 years, shocking many scientists.
In his famous !ook on paradigm shift in science
RR
, 0ir 9arl :opper defines a paradigm
like the implicit eyeglasses, the implicit vision through which scientist perceive and understand
reality in their field of research, and through which they are a!le to formulate appropriate
responses. - paradigm is like the common language a community of scientists uses to
communicate together. When a part of this community starts to put into Cuestion this dominant
paradigm, a crisis arises. -nd a scientific revolution is coming. 6sually those scientific
revolutions are accepted only !y a small minority.
I was excited !y :opper/s ideas. "his was sounding appropriate to the situation. Iowever,
I discovered that :rigogine and 0tengers were going further than :opper himself. -ccording to
them, :opper did not go as far enough, in his description of the paradigm shifts. Ie was not
rethinking the very relation !etween the scientist and reality. :rigogine was going further,
rethinking the very dogma of scientific o!7ectivity and stating that every scientific experience
was su!7ective. Ie was also proposing a new role and a new societal responsi!ility for science in
the 25
st
century.
:rigogine/s !ook also drew my attention to the fact that modernity had unknowingly
reintroduced the same power pyramid that the pre-modern paradigm. "his was a real shock. I
was so proud to !e modern and rational. It really was a great intellectual shock and later a re-
enchantment.
:rigogine re-enchanted me intellectually. 0cience for him was not neutral, not o!7ective
R>
.
It was su!7ective and imperfect like any other human intellectual endeavour, and he was
announcing a re-enchantment of the world through a new alliance of science with nature and the
other human disciplines.
- few weeks later, I had the honour of meeting with :rofessor :rigogine himself, and I
was ama,ed to learn that ever since the pu!lication of his !ook many years ago (5>G>), he had
!een receiving daily letters of insult, accusing him of destroying the %o!7ectivity of science.&
.ortunately, he has also received letters of congratulations as well as many honours.
HH
9arl :<::E: 4b&ective %nowledge( 'larendon :ress, <xford, 5>G2.
HG
I will come !ack later on this new concept of science now emerging.
-nnouncing a new paradigm, a new way of seeing things, is not an easy task. "he more I
read and conversed with people around the world, the more I discovered the same type of
syndrome#people innovating and pushing a planetary transmodern vision in their university
departments, !usinesses, organi,ations, institutions and research la!s, with a lot of pro!lems and
difficulties. -nother discovery I made was that in their search for new values of a %planetary& or
%transmodern& culture all those innovators were feeling alone, terri!ly alone, surrounded !y a
!lending of intense negative and positive currents. I felt as if I was discovering a new silent
minority worldwide. "his led me to the new area of the social and political dimension of re-
enchantment.
Di2'o9e%in6 t4e B'1lt1%#l '%e#ti9e2C
Aeeting Willis arman and Avon Aattison
In 5>>H, I had the good fortune to meet Willis Iarman at the Institute of +oetic 0ciences
in 0ausalito, 'alifornia
RH
. "his proved to !e a new step in my 7ourney to re-enchantment.
Willis was a human !eing of exceptional intelligence and lucidity on the actual state of
the world. Ie was one of the founders of the .utures =epartment at the famous 0tanford
esearch Institute (0I), president of the Institute of +oetic 0ciences, and founder of the World
Business -cademy. (I later discovered the very high level of his pu!lications.) When we first
met, I was immediately struck !y the human Cuality in his eyes. In a few minutes, we felt like we
had known each other for years. We discovered that although we had very different life
experiences, we had come to the same vision on the present and the future. "his was a very deep
and new life-changing experience for me.
Iow was it possi!le to meet someone and in such a short period of time experience such
similarity in our visions of the worldA I was discovering the phenomenon of synchronicity
RN
. "his
new planetary culture was awakening in the minds, souls, and consciences of many individuals
around the world, and meeting for a few minutes was enough to recognise each other as part of
this new consciousness.
H?
"hanks to 0teven -. <0E11, :resident of the *eridian Institute, 0an .rancisco. '-.
H>
8oseph 8-<W09I:+#ynchronicity! the inner path of leadership+, Introduction !y :eter 0E+;E, Berret T
9oelher, 0an .rancisco, 5>>H.
Willis invited me to !e part of the %path-finding process& which he was organi,ing with
-von *attison, president of :athways to :eace. It was a process of creative reflection and
personal transformation with a group that met every six months for four years at the .et,er
Institute in 9alama,oo, *ichigan. -von is another exceptional personality who exhi!its a
!rilliant !lending of political and intellectual 7udgment, a well-developed intuition, and a great
spiritual depth. -fter Willis/ death in 8anuary 5>>G, she !ecame the manager, the convener and
the spiritual inspiration of the group. We all owe her infinite gratitude for what she has provided
us all.
"he first meeting was for me another very strong experience of collective re-
enchantment. I had the impression of finally !eing homeP I was with people who were feeling the
same hopes and 7oys, the same angers and despairs, sharing the same visions a!out our planet
and its future. I was touched in my intellect, my feelings and in my soul. I had met the first
transmodern group of peopleP -ll the frustrations I had experienced for the past five years in the
European 'ommission were !ehind me now. I realised I was not a maverick. I was validated in
my research and in my thinking in a way I had never !efore experienced in my life.
"his was a real experience of re-enchantment. It filled me with hope and energy, and
those 9alama,oo meetings have !een a white stone on my 7ourney.
Aeeting 3aul $ :ay
"he 9alama,oo experience also !rought me into contact with :aul ay and his wife,
0herry -nderson, and to the next dimension of re-enchantment#the num!ers.
-s a very creative sociologist, :aul had discovered a new method to analy,e the social
and political landscape of the 6.0. citi,ens. In a first inCuiry in 5>>@, he arrived at an ama,ing
conclusion#that 2FZ of the +orth -merican citi,ens were in the process of a shifting values
system and HHZ of the group were women. Ie called them the %cultural creatives,& !ecause they
were silently weaving the world of tomorrow and women were at the forefront of leading this
cultural transformation of our world. It was then that I reali,ed with ama,ement that this group
of people I had met in 9alama,oo was part of an enormous crowd of H3 million -mericansP
I invited :aul to Europe to present his work and research in the European 'ommission/s
statistical department. -nd, after some discussions, in 0eptem!er 5>>G the European
'ommission did a preliminary study using part of :aul/s Cuestionnaire. It arrived at similar
conclusions#!etween 53Z and 23Z of Europeans could also !e classified as cultural creatives.
In my travels to 8apan, 'hina, -ustralia and Eastern Europe I have discovered cultural
creatives everywhere, at every level of society. e-enchantment was a worldwide phenomenonP
Wo7en #nd t4e 2#'%ed#not4e% e#%t4?1#(e
Aeeting #herry Anderson
I had also the great pleasure and honour to meet 0herry -nderson, :aul ay/s wife. -nd
she descri!ed to me the genesis of her latest !ook
G3
. 0he had interviewed women all around the
6nited 0ates, with her co-author :atricia Iopkins, asking them always the same Cuestion: What
is your experience and deep intuition concerning ;od or the sacredA
*any of the women interviewed were deeply touched !y this Cuestion no!ody had ever
asked them, and !urst in tears. In reading this !ook, having listened to 0herry/s witness, I
realised for the first time that the males on Earth had confiscated the whole of the sacred, in our
Western religions and in many others. "here was no way for the women to !e allowed to have a
direct relation to the sacred. "hey had to go through a man#priest, pastor, ra!!i, or mufti. "his
was new for me, !ut !ecame, from that day, evident and as clear as daylight.
Aeeting :iane Eisler
1ater, one Belgian friend, +icou =u!ois 1eclercC, introduced me to iane Eisler
G5
. In
reading her !ooks and discussing with iane, I realised how deep her Cuestioning was leading
me. It was indeed putting into Cuestion the very myths at the origin of the Bi!le, the "orah, the
9oran, and other religions.
I discovered suddenly that according to the interpretation of iane Eisler and of .ran\oise
;ange, a .rench writer
G2
, the first pages of the Bi!le could !e interpreted as the killing of the
ancient matrifocal myths, and the instauration of the new patriarchal myths. "his means that all
G3
0herry uth -+=E0<+ T :atricia I<:9I+0 : The feminine face of <od! the unfolding of sacred in women$,
Bantam Books, +ew Jork, "oronto, 1ondon, 0ydney, -uckland. 5>>2.
G5
iane EI01E: The Chalice and the 1lade (5>??), T #acred 3leasure (5>>@) T The 3artnershipway (5>>3)
Iarper 0an .rancisco.
G2
.ran\oise ;-+;E: Les dieu) menteurs$ Editor : 1a enaissance du 1ivre, "ournai, Belgium, 2332. I0B+ 2-?3FH-
3@>F->. and =Psus et les femmes Editor : 1a enaissance du 1ivre, 2335.
the sacredness of the ancient matrifocal myths (sacredness of life, sacredness of women,
sacredness of sexuality, of creativity and arts, sacred !lood as sym!ol of life, power as ena!ling
force) were dethroned, ridiculed, and replaced !y a new definition of the sacred#sacralisation of
death and suffering, desacralisation of sexuality as shameful and impure, of woman as sinner and
temptress, sacralisation of power to dominate and kill, sacralisation of !lood as sym!ol of death,
etc.
"his was an earthCuake in my vision of the world. It put me in another crisis, !ecause the
whole of my vision of 'hristianity was affected. I had the impression that ?3Z of the :h.=. in
theology I had studied during eight years was dissolving in a few days. -nd it was not an easy
transition.
Iowever I felt I had to accept most of those ideas, or at least !egin to reflect in this
!roader context of a post patriarchal society.
Inviting a'el enderson in the European Commission in 1russels
Impossi!le to finish this part on visionary women without to speak a!out Ia,el
Ienderson
GD
. Ia,el has understood the changes going on in economy, politics, science, media,
communications, values, etc. 0he saw all the changes way !efore everyone else. 0ince D3 years
she has written excellent !ooks on paradigm shift, the solar age, the new win-win logic coming
up, the failures of the actual economic system, and on the glo!al ecological crisis approaching.
When I was at the .orward 0tudies 6nit, of the European 'ommission, I invited her to
meet our "hink "ank and I organi,ed a conference for the civil servants of the European
'ommission. 'ivil servants appreciated her, !ut I am not sure that everyone understood all the
implications of what she was saying already, that time. Iowever one of the top economists of the
'ommission, took me apart and said to me: %Eou have betrayed us bringing here a woman who
is destroying all we are trying to maintainO Eou should not have done thisO+$
Jes Ia,el is leading the way in a glo!al reflexion on the crisis of today/s institutions, and
also on the financial crisis that she calls the %;lo!al 'asino&. 0he has also created an ethical
GD
IE+=E0<+ Ia,el: Ethical Aar%ets! <rowing the <reen Economy. 'helsea ;reen, Mermont, 233H. 0ee more
!ook in the Xuoted Books at the end.
investment fund, and has pu!lished the most advanced set of Cuality of life indicators for the
investors and the :olitical authorities.
"hank you Ia,el for your inspiration worldwide.
.in#l %e3le'tion2 on 75 e>$e%ien'e o3 %e,en'4#nt7ent
e-enchantment has !een and still is for me a very deep personal experience of light and
shadow. But it is also a synchronicity !etween consciences around the world#a rise of a new
collective consciousness#as well as a social and glo!al phenomenon. "he num!ers are really
impressive !ut, strangely enough, very few politicians have grasped the enormous challenge
cultural creatives represent.
e-enchantment is a personal and collective hurricane of positive energy waiting to
unleash itself in our world. e-enchantment is the energy humanity will need to accomplish the
extraordinary leap forward in consciousness level.
e-enchantment is a spiritual experience incarnated in my own life and in political and
social reality. It is a personal and a collective experience.
"he collective side has yet to fully rear its head$ !ut that might reCuire nothing more
than time.

LIST O. D-OTED /OOKS
-11EE Merna: "he future of knowledge: Increasing prosperity through value networks
Butterworth Ieinemann, Elsevier 0cience, 233D.
-+=E0<+ ay : Aid2course correction! toward a sustainable enterprise! the interface model$
5>>?, 'helsea ;reen pu!lishing company,69. www.chelseagreen.com
-00<'I-"I<+ :<6 1- BI<=IME0I"E '61"6E11E: Les CrPatifs Culturels en /rance
Wditions Jves *ichel, 233G. :rWface de 8ean :ierre Worms.
-6<BI+=< (0ri) : .or example his works : %Life -ivine+( %The ideal of human unity+$
"#avitri+F$ <n -uro!indo: see:
;eorges M-+ ME9IE+ 1eyond Aan ! Life and wor% of #ri Aurobindo and the Aother$ Iarper
'ollins, India, 5>>G.
:eter IEEI0, #ri Aurobindo, a 1rief biography( <xford 6niversity :ress 5>?> F
th
edition 5>>>.
"4n The Aother! the chronicle of a manifestation and ministry+ 9.. 0rinivasa Iyengar. 0ri
-uro!indo -sram, :ondicherry, 5>>F.
BE11 =aniel: The Coming of 3ost2industrial #ociety( +ew Jork, Basic Books, 5>GD,
B-+=E+B6;E -dam *. T Barry 8. +-1EB6..: 'o-:etition a revolutionary mindset
that com!ines competition and cooperation. 5>>H.
'1EME1-+= Iarlan, Leadership and the information revolution( OWorld -cademy of -rt and
0cienceO pu!lications, 5>>G.
'<+ME;I+; "E'I+<1<;IE0 .< I*:<MI+; I6*-+ :E.<*-+'E& +ational
0cience .oundation, -rlington 2332, +ational Board <f 'ommerce, 6.0.-.
http:BBwww.technology.govBreportsB2332B+BI'B:art5.pdf
=-1J Ierman: 6/or the Common good! reorienting the economy toward the community( the
environment and a sustainable future6 Beacon :ress, Boston, 5>?>
=6'9E :eter: O3ost capitalist society6 Iarper Business, +ew Jork, 5>>D.
EI01E iane, The chalice and the 1lade. Iarper 'ollins, paper!ack 5>??.
0ee also, 0acred :leasure, 0ex myth and the politcs of the !ody. +ew paths to
power and love, 0haftes!ury, =orset, 69, 5>>@.
;-+;E .ran\oise, =Psus et les /emmes$ Editions -lphWe, 233@
;-+;E .ran\oise, Les -ieu) Aenteurs( Editions OIndigoO et O'`tW femmesO, :aris, 5>>?.
;I*B6"-0 *ari7a: The <oddess and <ods of old Europe Berkeley, 6niversity of 'alifornia
:ress, 5>?2.
;I*B6"-0 *ari7a: The civili'ation of the <oddess$ 0an .rancisco, Iarper T ow, 5>>5.
;-+=*-I0<+ 8acCues, 1e dWfi des gWnWrations : en7eux sociaux et religieux du XuW!ec
d/au7ourd/hui, .ides, XuW!ec, 5>>@.
I-*-+ Willis : 6<lobal Aind Change! the promise of the VVIst century6 0econd edition
5>>?, Berret-9oelher pu!lishers, 0an .rancisco.
I-*-+ Willis, An incomplete guide to the future( 0an .rancisco Book 'o, 0an .rancisco,
5>GH.
I-ME1 Maclav: 6Il est permis d0espPrer6 'alman 1Wvy, :aris, 5>>G
IE+=E0<+ Ia,el: Ethical Aar%ets! <rowing the <reen Economy. 'helsea ;reen, Mermont,
233H.
3lanetary Citi'enship, with =aisaku Ikeda, *iddleway :ress, 233F, I0B+ >G?-
3>G2D2HG2?, 2@H pgs Q
Ia,el Ienderson et al, Calvert2enderson Yuality of Life Indicators, 'alvert ;roup,
2333, I0B+ >G?-3>HGH?>53F, D>2 pgs Q
1eyond <lobali'ation. 9umarian :ress, 5>>>, I0B+ >G?-5@H@F>53GH, ?? pgs Q
1uilding a Win2Win World. Berrett-9oehler :u!lishers, 5>>@, I0B+ >G?-5@GHG@32G?,
D23 pgs Q Creating Alternative /utures. 9umarian :ress, 5>>H, I0B+ >G?-5@H@F>3H3F,
FD3 pgs (original edition, Berkley Books, +J, 5>G?) Q
Ia,el Ienderson et al, The ;nited 7ations! 3olicy and /inancing Alternatives. ;lo!al
'ommission to .und the 6nited +ations, 5>>@, I0B+ >G?-3>H@3@?>32, 2H> pgsQ
3aradigms in 3rogress. Berrett-9oehler :u!lishers, 5>>@, I0B+ >G?-5??53@2GFH, 2>D
pgs (original edition, 9nowledge 0ystems, 5>>5)Q
:edefining Wealth and 3rogress! 7ew Ways to Aeasure Economic( #ocial( and
Environmental Change ! The Caracas :eport on Alternative -evelopment Indicators.
9nowledge 0ystems Inc., 5>>3, I0B+ >G?-3>F2?@32FH, >> pgsQ
The 3olitics of the #olar Age. 9nowledge 0ystems Inc., 5>??, I0B+ >G?-3>F5G3@3HH,
FDD pgs (original edition, =ou!leday, +J, 5>?5
96I+ "homas: The #tructure of #cientific :evolutions, 2nd. Ed., 'hicago: 6niv. of 'hicago :r.,
5>G3,
96VWEI1 ay: 6The age of spiritual machinesQ 3enguin, Books, 5>>>,citW par Bill 8oy.
8<J Bill: Why the future doesn.t need us$ -rticle in a Wired _, -pril 2333.
16J'9[ *arc: :eligions confronted with #cience and technology European 'ommission 5>>5.
"his report is availa!le on my !log: http:BBvision2323.canal!log.com, see a eligions and
science _
16J'9[ *arc: The transmodern hypothesis in O/utures6 +ovem!er =ecem!er 5>>>.
(Elsevier) 0ee also on my !log: http:BBvision2323.cana!log.com Oeligions and civilisationsO.
*-"066- 9o^chiro, =irecteur ;WnWral de l/6nesco: Trop cher le dPveloppement durable ?
C.est l.inertie *ui nous ruine O dans O1e .igaroO, 8eudi 55 7anvier 233G, :age 5F.
*-600 *arcel : Essai sur le don 1L-nnWe sociologiCue :aris 5>2F.
*-J< .rederico: La nouvelle page( Editions du ocher, 6nesco, 5>>F.
*<-ME' Ians: :obot! Aere machine to transcend human mind( Cuoted !y Bill 8oy.
+-+<-BI<-I+.<-'<;+<-0<'I<--+"I<-:II1<-O Iigh 1evel European ;roup
.oresighting the +ew "echnology Wave: 'onverging "echnologies 4 0haping the .uture of
European 0ocieties Brussels European 'ommission 233F.
http:BBwww.ntnu.noB2323BfinalRreportRen.pdf
+I'<1E0'6 Basara!: Le sacrP au&ourd.hui$ Editions du ocher, :aris 233D.
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