Human Security

Get Full Text in PDF Abstract This article discusses how the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) held in January 2024 highlighted the growing connection between technology and human security. CES, held annually in Las Vegas, is one of the largest technology conferences in the world. In recent years, the organizers recognized the role of technology in addressing major social challenges and partnered... Read more

Get Full Text in PDF Abstract The purpose of this paper is to lay the foundation for development of a new strategic plan for the work of the Academy to 2030. Its aim is to invite suggestions from WAAS members and partners regarding priorities for future work. It traces the origins and historical development of the Academy leading up to the present and provides an overview of recent activities and... Read more

Get Full Text in PDF Abstract Physics is the basic natural science that studies fundamental constituents of matter and related entities, with the main goal being to understand how the universe behaves. Its contribution to human security is, therefore, at least twofold. On the one hand, physics contributes valuable knowledge to addressing various critical issues confronting the world today,... Read more

Get Full Text in PDF Abstract This article argues, on the basis of insights1 drawn and generalized from six recent global events identified as relevant in this analysis, that the notion of Human Security as currently presented needs further refinement. The six global events (2019-2023) are: The COVID-19 Pandemic, The Ukraine War, COP-27 in Egypt, The World Cup in Qatar, The Arab-China Summit in... Read more

Get Full Text in PDF Abstract A key priority for Human Security in the 21st Century is the prevention of existential threats to human civilisation to ensure the well-being of our future generations. This article describes the significant and escalating nexus between human security and existential threats and outlines the main risks to humankind from existential threats, considered under the... Read more

Get Full Text in PDF Abstract Human Security has had a checkered history since its formal announcement in the 1994 UNDP HDR. This paper argues that current circumstances should be exploited to recontextualize security to better acknowledge planetary realities. Humans’ security is only one of three fields of planetary security and needs to be considered in concert with the other two; states’... Read more

Get Full Text in PDF Abstract This article explores the complex and multifaceted nature of human security, which extends beyond protection from military threats to encompass physical, food, health, financial, community, political, and environmental dimensions. It traces humanity’s historical challenges, including natural disasters, epidemics, and food shortages, and highlights how technological... Read more

Get Full Text in PDF Abstract Among the topics discussed is the current crisis of civilization, to which the institution of war in an era of all-destroying thermonuclear weapons strongly contributes. Another issue that is discussed is the human emotional tendency that might be called “tribalism”. It is our tendency to be kind and altruistic towards members of our own group, and extremely hostile... Read more

Get Full Text in PDF Abstract In the second decade of the 21st century, humanity again faces existential risks related to the risks of global wars. The collective decision to make wars obsolete (or not) will be the crucial choice that will determine our capacity to survive and thrive. Yet since the global security architecture has been established in the aftermath of World War 2, the notion of... Read more

Get Full Text in PDF Abstract One of the most overlooked but significant phenomena in today’s world and the world of the future is that our future must be organised and shaped according to values. Women naturally hold the keys to implementing these values and should ideally be the caretakers of the future world. The masculine world of numbers and models based on past experience is inadequate to... Read more

Get Full Text in PDF Abstract The UN Secretary-General is currently preparing a New Agenda for Peace, which is expected to broaden the traditional framework of security as it relates to relations between nations, to also include the notion of Human Security which focuses on well-being of individuals and communities. This Human Security framework integrates traditional peace and security... Read more

Get Full Text in PDF Abstract Achieving Human Security For All (HS4A) is a process that depends on our ability to imagine a future state that is different to present conditions, under which HS4A remains elusive. Only a very few eminent thinkers have recognised, however, that imagination is its own unique and important noetic or cognitive function independent of rationality, giving us access to... Read more

Get Full Text in PDF Abstract This article addresses existential security, an aspect of security that has to do with the sustaining of the individual as a physical and mental being as well as the larger context of this individual. The ‘larger context’ can mean many things, including physical reality at different scales, socioeconomic realities, cultural conventions, the political state of the... Read more

Get Full Text in PDF Abstract While the overall theme selected by the World Academy of Art and Science (WAAS) for the 2023 6th Future Education Conference was that of Human Security, the particular panel* in which I contributed the presentation upon which this article is based focused more explicitly on Education and less obviously on Security, with a particular emphasis on experimental ways in... Read more

Get Full Text in PDF Abstract In order to ensure security in the education system and, thereby, educate a creatively thinking and acting person, it is necessary to reform education, filling it with a cultural component. The modern educational program urgently needs cultural content and should include an in-depth study of ethics, aesthetics, world cultural traditions and heritage, examples of... Read more

Get Full Text in PDF Abstract This article explores the need for transformative change in higher education institutions (HEIs) to help address the complexity and existential risk resulting from multiple interconnected crises. First, it acknowledges that the rate and direction of change in HEIs have been inadequate and that, despite well-rehearsed obstacles and enablers, much more needs to be... Read more

Get Full Text in PDF Abstract Everybody needs to wake up to the reality of the Anthropocene. At present, humanity appears ill equipped to cope effectively with the mounting problems that it has itself created; we urgently need to update and upgrade the way we educate and train people since, at present, their competences to see the problems we have created and find effective ways to cope with... Read more

Get Full Text in PDF Abstract Zero-sum power politics is a fundamental threat to human security. Synergetic relations among nations are proposed to improve human security. Among existential threats to humanity, the most immediate and little understood is the development of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) before agreements are in place for its management. Examples of potential beneficial... Read more

Get Full Text in PDF Abstract * The global challenges confronting humanity are interlinked and interdependent. They are all global in nature, and none of them can be addressed successfully by individual nations acting on their own. In order to effectively navigate the closely interconnected world that we live in and address its challenges, we need new levels of organization and strategy, and the... Read more

Get Full Text in PDF Abstract The importance of human security has always been a concern for the World Academy of Art and Science (WAAS), which has served as a platform for intellectual debate and the exchange of global ideas. WAAS has influenced the understanding of development beyond economic growth, advocating for a focus on people’s opportunities and choices. It played a significant role in... Read more