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Volume 4 Issue 4
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Abstract
There is an imperative need to reconceptualize the role of the firm in modern society based on a holistic perspective in order to correct the imbalances and excesses generated by a too narrow conception of purpose and the inadequacies of current theory to explain and reveal the underlying process by which firms, stakeholders and society at large grow, develop and... Read more
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Abstract
Events over the past decade revealed a new systems clash: Open Societies versus digital autocracies which are competing to provide better solutions to tackle climate change and pandemics, overcome poverty, and offer reasonable jobs. However, which is doing a better job? The text argues that the current autocratic experiments are flourishing based on the preconditions... Read more
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Abstract
The challenges we face today can be transformed into opportunities if the motivation of short-term, myopic social values is replaced by commitment to psychological values such as unity, harmony, freedom and equality. Values are commonly dismissed as utopian ideals of little practical relevance, whereas in fact they possess an enormous power for self-realisation. A... Read more
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Abstract
Social theories and humanitarian movements, despite their good intentions, have had limited effectiveness. This paper introduces Socio-Systemic science as a conceptual and implementation framework designed for effective high impact systemic action. The science of Socio-Systemic impact is led by the Social Architect who understands how to consciously catalyse key... Read more
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Abbreviations
CA: Catalytic AllianceFC: Field CatalystGAN: Global Action NetworkTC: Transformation CatalystSES: Socio-Economic/Ecological SystemsT-system: Transformation system
Abstract
This article lays out the emerging roles of new entities here called transformation catalysts (TCs). Transformation catalysts act catalytically by aggregating, cohering and amplifying actions... Read more
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Abstract
The first survey of 25 recent online reports on the global environmental emergency was published in CADMUS (4:1, 2019), with emphasis in the title on “Scientists Reporting.” This second survey also covers 25 recent reports on sustainability issues, but it is juxtaposed with a relatively long review of the March 2021 global trends report of America’s... Read more
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Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has shown that in a global systemic crisis, differences in impact are not confined to immediate threat, in this case virus infection and mortality rates. Indirect impacts such as reduced affordability of food due to income loss can be and often are more severe. Economic inequality thus acts as a massive amplifier of disaster impact. Inequality... Read more
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Abstract
Nearly all money in the US, UK and many other countries is created by the private sector through lending. Private sector money creation provides many benefits, but also imposes large costs on society. Transitioning to public sector money creation can provide equal or better inflation control, economic prosperity, credit availability and monetary value stability. It... Read more
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A first systematization of new financial engineering that can hedge unchecked risks, enable unmet needs and finance our future.
Abstract
Cost analyses and risk assessments in the Anthropocene era need to differ from those of the past. Future developments now are determined by opportunity costs and planetary risks. We provide a first comprehensive systematization that can... Read more
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Abstract
The last 60-70 years have seen the end of the industrial revolution and the rise of the post-industrial era. The way we, as humans, are treating our environment (and each other) is threatening our very existence on our planet. This becomes apparent when we examine the reality of climate change, pollution, destruction of biodiversity, inequality and more. We must... Read more
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Post-Keynesian and post-Kaleckian approaches, as part of the heterodox family, have been progressing fast in the last few decades. They have made important contributions to the socio-economic thought, providing necessary opportunities to alternative policies as well as significant stimulus for new areas of research. They are not immune to controversies and probably a... Read more
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After the 65th anniversary of the Russell-Einstein Manifesto, origin of the Pugwash Movement, and the 60th anniversary of the foundation of the World Academy of Art and Science, Cadmus is celebrating its 10th anniversary with a special issue with Seed Ideas on inspirational topics related to the commitment of WAAS to the application of Knowledge to address humanity’s... Read more
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Change is inevitable, as Heraclitus said many years ago. Science has gone a long way towards predicting change in nature. However, change in society is much more unpredictable: it is governed by culture with its thoughts and beliefs about the world. This is because humans are blessed (?) with consciousness, something which allows them to accept or reject the findings of... Read more
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Art and science are complementary. At the highest level, artists and scientists converge at the level of the polymath, the renaissance man, and ultimately, to da Vinci.
As mentioned in the “Retrospective and Reflections on WAAS@60” paper, which has been remarkably well prepared: “Science has improved our lives in many ways… On the other hand, it has also given us the capacity... Read more
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"Governments and business leaders are shortterm thinkers. True leaders are ones with longterm foresight!"
We are living through the Anthropocene era, an era where humans have become the major force affecting change on our planet. Environment and social risks are threatening the “thrive-ability” of our society.
In combating these risks, we require trillions of dollars in... Read more
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"The development of technology must run in parallel with the growth of our ethical conscience”
I think that one of the most important topics about which we all need to reflect is the future role of Artificial Intelligence. AI must be at the service of human beings, not the other way around. The same ethical conscience that we have developed in connection with nuclear weapons... Read more
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The Sustainable/Responsible Investing (SRI) market is over $30 trillion and growing faster than traditional investments. Over the past 20 years, SRI and the sustainability movement in general have provided large benefits to business and society. But in spite of this good work, environmental and social conditions are declining rapidly in many areas. Clearly, new approaches are... Read more
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While emerging from the emergency of the largest pandemic in a century, many of us are at the end of our emotional ropes and are longing for normality in an uncertain world. We are troubled by the lack of leadership, poor behavior, and the inability of governments to address a pandemic that could have been prevented, had we heeded the warnings of experts and scientists. We... Read more
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The range of interests of the World Academy of Art and Science is vast, but the Academy has yet to adequately engage with the fundamental idea of global constitutionalism.
Constitutionalism is one of the foundational principles for human peace and world public order. Yet, the work of our Academy has tended to avoid a deeper understanding of constitutionalism at both the... Read more
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My idea for creating a better world is to update the Paris climate agreement, combining it with a plan to put poor countries back on a growth path by modernizing their farming sectors.
Climate change is a case of global atmospheric pollution; but it is not the first. Twenty years ago, we were emitting CFCs which thinned the ozone layer, increasing the risk of skin cancer.... Read more
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Out of engaging and fruitful conversations held with WAAS and other partners, the Club of Rome initiated in 2021 ‘The Fifth Element program’ (T5E). Its name is a tribute to Life and the weaving of many threads we will need to face the existential challenges we face today: as much ancient wisdom as modern science, as much everybody’s learning potential as expertise, as much... Read more
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A dichotomy emerged about a little over a decade and a half ago polarizing the view of academic disciplines into two polarities: inter (cross, trans) disciplinarity, to aim for, versus autonomous fields of research & teaching, which have come to be labelled “silos”, a term which I consider derogatory and manipulative, deployed to bias valuation and attempts at reform.... Read more
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Democracy is under pressure worldwide from the outside and from within. Democracy’s decline is destabilizing societies and the global order. It is high time we stepped up our efforts to make it stronger and to defend it against its enemies.
According to Freedom House, the global balance in 2020 has been shifting further “in favour of tyranny”. For the 15th consecutive year,... Read more
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The evolution toward a global human society depends on a variety of social movements. Parallelly, new societal paradigms emerge from time to time. The “Global Leadership for the 21st century” Project (GL21) is a catalytic initiative to create consciousness of high complexity of transformational processes. Implementation of SDGs will decisively be enhanced through creation of... Read more
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The indispensable missing link in the debate on sustainability is the monetary system. To date, the Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs) have primarily been financed through private sector financing, conventional public sector funding (taxes and fees) and philanthropic commitment. However, these are not enough in scale and speed to finance our future.
“The introduction of a... Read more
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Economics is a science of context, the nexus of social conventions framing and directing the behavior of economic agents, while the economy is an aggregation of different forms of such behavior. The economy is a man-made system, highly nonlinear, with frequent paradigm shifts, with a set of rules explaining the behavior of economic agents.
"The first in line for undergoing... Read more
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Science academies have several roles to play in contemporary information-rich society. The most important roles are: (i) to promote science and scholarship; (ii) to provide advice and expertise; (iii) to promote scientific understanding. The roles (ii) and (iii) are clearly related to multilateral activities because of the links to partners but (i) have a dual structure:... Read more
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In 1954, the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), Geneva, Switzerland, was founded. Today, it is the largest laboratory for particle physics in the world. A similar institution, the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR), was founded in 1956 in Dubna, USSR. Currently, it is one of the largest research centers in the world devoted to particle physics,... Read more
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The COVID-19 pandemic constitutes an acute global challenge at present, touching nearly all aspects of our lives. At its 60th anniversary conference, WAAS thus held a 2½ hours session on this issue, featuring an interdisciplinary line up of nine speakers and five respondents, and entitled: The COVID Pandemic as a Systemic Crisis: What can we learn from a diversity of... Read more
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Sustainable development is just a nice word if it is not people and person-centered, which means that the values and actions taken for a sustainable future need to be based on respect, empathy, equity and responsibility—meaning developing the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to be response-able.
Respect for ourselves includes the awareness and acceptance of the different... Read more
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The time has come to take steps allowing us, before it is too late, to correct current trends on a global scale. Otherwise, we would not fulfill our inter-generational duties and the Earth’s habitability would be seriously deteriorated.
In the past, social evolution used to be very slow. For centuries, power was in the hands of just a few men. Citizens had no voice and were... Read more
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Achieving the SDGs by 2030 is still possible,* but it requires bold policies leveraging bold action. Luckily, we have the SDG and Financing for Development (FFD) framework to guide us. The SDGs unanimously agreed by all nations cover the world’s most pressing social, environmental and economic issues. Yet despite unprecedented buy-in by governments and other stakeholders,... Read more
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We are today living not in a mere shifting environment but a pivotal moment. The essentials of eras change only every century or so, when the existing social and economic paradigm has exhausted itself and a new one emerges. The era we have entered upon began with the end of the Cold War. Yet, neither the end of an ideological standoff nor even the disappearance of... Read more
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Knowledge is power and power lends itself for good or for evil. The World Academy was founded by eminent scientists deeply concerned by the realization that the invention of nuclear weapons posed an existential threat to the future of humanity. Despite their efforts, more than 125,000 nuclear weapons were built during the Cold War and the nuclear genie remains at loose.... Read more
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Abstract
Facing the XXI century and its challenges means finding a concrete strategy, one that can make it possible for WAAS and its Fellows to reach their full potential. Sometimes what we do is look for new strategies to reach our goals, when the simple answer has always been right in front of our eyes: we need a non-original, organizational yet individual, holistic yet... Read more
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Abstract
Albert Einstein said that art and science are branches of the same tree. Indeed, there is no dichotomy between art and science: they are an integral part of the same nucleon. Art is the ability to create, which implies inspiration and learning. Liberal arts, from medieval tradition till date, include humanities and physical, biological, and social sciences. There is... Read more
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Abstract
In this short article, the author traces the sociological origins of WAAS and traces briefly the history of the scientists‘ nuclear abolition movement, which was a main reason for the founding of the Academy. A lot remains to be done by the world community to address the multifaceted problems we face today. WAAS has been playing a crucial role in this process.
In the... Read more
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Abstract
Solution to the complex nexus of problems confronting humanity exceeds the capacity of any individual or small group of individuals or organizations. But it does not lie beyond the capacity of the collective aspiration, intelligence and determination of humanity. The world needs aspirational leadership that transcends the partisanship and limitations of self-... Read more
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2020-2021 is a period of momentous events with unforeseen consequences. The COVID-19 Pandemic has altered the rules in countless ways, overthrowing conventional wisdom and long-established practices in a desperate attempt to cope with the unexpected. The celebration of the UN’s 75th anniversary during the Pandemic with climate change crises around the corner reminds us just how essential a strong... Read more
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Volume 4 Issue 4