On August 12, millions of citizens mobilized to witness and experience a historic moment: the total eclipse. The Moon came between the Sun and our planet Earth, darkening it for just over a minute. The scientific, social, economic, and personal impact affected millions of people worldwide.
This experience has led me to extrapolate the situation humanity is living through and to consider that we are very close to a “total eclipse” in the development of our own existence.
Three realities stand between our human condition and our planet, just as the Moon stood between the Sun and the Earth.
The first is environmental: the fight against climate change can no longer be denied. This year we have witnessed, again, countless floods, typhoons, fires, earthquakes, and droughts. Immediate and permanent climate action is needed. Partial measures are not enough; the economic and social model must be changed, which, until now, as the French scientist André Michel points out, has measured its value in destruction. Therefore, this scientist calls to defend the value of “what is created, resilience, and the regeneration of life.”
The second, interrelated with the first, is the state of global warfare. The “no to war” is not a utopian political slogan; it is a necessity. What use would saving the planet be if we are not capable of saving humanity? Wars do not end in “six days,” not even in three weeks… Ceasefires are not respected; they are interpreted unilaterally and diplomacy has disappeared.
Supposed negotiations are carried out by businessmen, military personnel, or intelligence agents, and international norms and proposals that humanity has built over several centuries to, precisely, as the preamble of the United Nations Charter rightly says, “save future generations from the horrors of war” are ignored.
A lobby for peace must be created, against the powerful war lobby. Against the war economy, we need a response that does not reside solely in strengthening the rule of law, but that, as Professor Michel defends, “builds a broader, more attractive, and prosperous economy, based on the protection, restoration, and regeneration of the living.”
The economic and social model that has measured its value in destruction must be changed
These two priorities are affected by a third challenge: AI. This intelligence has entered our lives like a bull in a china shop. Its initial reception was enthusiastic. No one can deny the positive side of AI, but few have considered the lesser-known side of its consequences. Our reaction must be responsible to avoid irreversible consequences from not having reacted in time.
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Experts, scientists, businessmen, and media gather to discuss AI, but there is a lack of clear direction on how to approach this debate. The UN has tried to centralize a universal regulatory framework, but unfortunately, this goal has not yet been achieved. “Wise committees” proliferate, although, in general, they are made up of technicians and scientists very favorable to promoting trillion-dollar investments in new AI capabilities.
Millions and millions are invested in AI, but practically nothing is invested in human intelligence. Moreover, the existential consequences for human beings have been sidelined.
There are practically no philosophers, anthropologists, sociologists, or religious leaders in the bodies studying and reflecting on AI. The only guidance in this regard came through the encyclical Magnifica Humanitas by Pope Leo XIV. His Holiness recommended five principles and placed all his moral and ethical weight to defend the human being as the essential center of our community. He did not accept the thesis of a hybrid human – half robot, half person. He demanded democratization of AI and rejected the control of oligarchs who want to monopolize and decide the future of scientific advances to impose them on us without reflection. If we are not able to react in time, we will build, as the Pope rightly points out, a new Tower of Babel that will soon sink solidarity and justice due to lack of solidity.
Another great Italian-Swiss writer, Giuliano da Empoli, calls for greater critical sense when welcoming AI. In his book Predator, he identifies these new predators of the use and abuse of this technology. There is a solid connection between these oligarchs and the new “lords of TECH.” We must not be submissive to the “new technology gurus.” The author indicates that AI is not a simple accelerator of power; it is, above all, a form of power. If automation previously focused on means, AI is interested in ends. It sets its own objectives and develops a capacity that until now we all believed reserved for human beings. Therefore, Empoli states that “the power of AI is neither democratic nor transparent. More than artificial, AI is a form of authoritarian intelligence.” Moreover, there is a risk that it will not even strengthen our intelligence, but our stupidity.
These three challenges can lead us down a pessimistic path. However, the three challenges must awaken us from an unreal dream of self-satisfaction and resignation. The history of humanity has been a constant struggle for survival and the development of our consciousness and well-being.
Human capacity allows us to understand the complexity of existence and must also allow us to rethink a new action in which the universal citizen finally makes peace with nature and living beings, puts an end to wars, and develops new discoveries in the service of all the citizens of the world. It is not a utopian approach; it is the only possible one.
Therefore, if we have mobilized to know and experience an astronomical phenomenon of a minute and a half, why can we not mobilize urgently and for as long as necessary to avoid a total eclipse of humanity?
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