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On September 21, Kyung Hee University hosted the Peace BAR Festival (PBF) at the Peace Hall to commemorate the 42nd anniversary of the United Nations' International Day of Peace. In a commemorative conversation, Dr. Inwon Choue, Chancellor of Kyung Hee University Systems, Nick Bostrom, Professor of Philosophy at Oxford University in the United Kingdom, and G. John Ikenberry, Distinguished Professor at Princeton University in the United States and Eminent Scholar at Kyung Hee University, discussed the rituals and politics that will create the framework of a new historical civilization beyond the existing civilization paradigm that threatens the existence of humanity.

Kyung Hee University hosts 'Peace BAR Festival' for World Peace Day on September 21st
Nick Bostrom, G. John Ikenberry, and other futurists and international statesmen --- Seeking a New Bow for Transitioning Civilizations
Chairman of Kyunghee Institute, Inwon Choue "You need to have a comprehensive view, a holistic view ---"

"The challenge in the face of the horrors of war is not how to strengthen national interests. It is a question of how to create a consciousness of humanity to work together for peace with our neighbors." Dr. Young Seek Choue, founder of Kyung Hee University, the proponent of the International Day of Peace (September 21) and the International Year of Peace (1986), made this point at the 1986 commemoration of the International Year of Peace at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City.

Thirty-seven years later, "global social peace" is still far from a reality. In fact, it has gotten worse in recent years. "Humanity and our planet are in crisis. We need peace now more than ever," says UN Secretary-General António Guterres in his message for this year's International Day of Peace. The Peace BAR Festival (PBF), which Kyunghee hosted on September 21 to commemorate the 42nd UN International Day of Peace, echoed this sentiment. The theme of this year's PBF was "Peace or Collapse: Planetary Society at an Inflection Point".

In his commemorative speech, "The Future at a Cross Road: New Horizons for Holistic Existence," Dr. Inwon Choue, Chancellor of Kyung Hee University Systems, said, "We are living in a time when human survival and existence are at a crossroads. "The path beyond today's global reality of the Great Dithering is up to the citizens of the future to take on the task of awakening themselves. In the face of the Great Dithering, we must move from 'dwarfed individuals to empowered individuals' and from empowered individuals to citizens who are conscious of themselves, their neighbors, their society, and their world. This is the uplifting task for global existence that the Age of Transition calls for."

▶ Read the full text of Chancellor Inwon Choue's commemorative speech, "The Future at a Crossroads, the Horizon of Total Existence"

In his commemorative speech, "The Future at a Cross Road: New Horizons for Holistic Existence," Chancellor Inwon Choue emphasized the role of future citizens to move beyond the global realities of a time when human survival and existence are at a crossroads.

'Evolution or Extinction' Moves Beyond Civilizational History Studies to the International Community
This year's PBF was held at Kyung Hee University's Peace Hall and included a commemorative ceremony, a commemorative lecture, a commemorative dialog, and a roundtable. The ceremony was broadcast live via webcast (pbf.khu.ac.kr). The commemorative talk was titled "Peace or Disintegration, Consciousness and Politics at an Inflection Point. Panelists included Dr. Inwon Choue, Kyung Hee University Systems Chancellor, Nick Bostrom, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Oxford, UK, and G. John Ikenberry, Distinguished Professor at Princeton University and Eminent Scholar at Kyung Hee University, USA, as well as futurists and international political scientists. The moderator was Kim Sang-jun, professor at the Kyung Hee University Graduate School of Public Affairs. The interlocutors discussed the rituals and politics that will create the framework for a new historical civilization beyond the existing civilization paradigm that threatens humanity's existence. Prior to the commemorative conversation, Professor Nick Bostrom delivered a commemorative lecture on the topic of "The Road to AI Utopia and Its Challenges.

The event began with a diagnosis of the times we live in. Dr. Inwon Choue said, "The world is facing unprecedented conditions that humanity has never faced before, such as catastrophic climate and environmental change, the possibility of nuclear war, the rapid proliferation of disruptive technologies, and realpolitik with unstable fissures. In the face of these unprecedented and complex crises, the topic of 'evolution or extinction' has moved beyond the realm of civilizational history research and into the international community," he said, noting the implications.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned last year that "humanity has only two options: collective action or collective suicide," and recently stated that "the era of global warming is over. The era of Global Boiling has arrived." The ultra-strong tone of the statement was uncharacteristic for an international organization that is used to using diplomatic rhetoric.

"The international community has held numerous international conferences over the past few decades to address global challenges. But it has been spinning in circles, unable to prevent the potential for civilizational catastrophe in our time. Scholars call this the 'great retardation'. "Why is humanity so slow to respond to the issues of our destiny?" he asks, and suggests that the root cause is the perception of reality and the culture that humanity has created in its rush to industrialize. "Modern industrial societies have placed so much emphasis on 'growth' that they have created a way of thinking that reduces everything to economic value. As this tendency has become embedded in modern civilization and modern life, individuals, societies, nations, and the international community have found it difficult to accept the uncomfortable truths behind the achievements of industrial civilization. This is what has led to today's crises and catastrophes."

"Recalling the history of 'great delays' caused by human and systemic desires, it seems difficult to gather the existential will to break through today's civilizational crisis. The last resort is probably the deep reflection of civil society and the breakthrough will of individual citizens to solve the problem."

Prof. Nick Bostrom says, "We need to learn from past experience and change course. During the Cold War, the conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union did not escalate to nuclear war. It was understood that the use of nuclear weapons would result in the self-destruction of all humanity. Now, the existential threats to humanity are not just nuclear. It could be climate, or it could be superintelligence. What is clear is that our current crisis is self-inflicted. With that in mind, we need to take a macro view and deal with it."

"Man-made 'existential threats' -- we need to take a macro view"
Prof. Nick Bostrom raised similar concerns in his lecture and conversation, sharing two stories. The first was that a worker worked hard at his job without thinking about what he was making, and what he made was a weapon that Hitler used in war. The second is that humanity's constant struggles, wars, and political partisanship result in destruction and isolation.

"If we don't think about the direction and consequences of what we do, as in the first case, it's easy to fall into the trap of justifying our actions to ourselves," says Bostrom. "Wars and partisan battles are clear examples of our lack of coordination and harmony," he says. "We need to learn from past experiences and lessons to change course in order to deal with the existential threats we face. During the Cold War, the conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union did not escalate into a third nuclear war. It was understood that the use of nuclear weapons would lead to the self-destruction of all humanity. Now, the existential threat to humanity is not just nuclear. It could be climate, or it could be a superintelligence that surpasses human intelligence. What is clear is that our existential threats are self-inflicted. With that in mind, we need to take a macro view and deal with it."

"The crisis is not only nuclear, climate, and AI, but also political," said Prof. G. John Ikenberry. "At the Security Council meeting at UN headquarters on September 20 (local time), only US President Joe Biden was present among the leaders of the five permanent members - the US, China, Russia, the UK, and France. Russia even threatened war. Multilateral organizations, including the United Nations, are dysfunctional in the face of multiple crises, including geopolitical crises, the climate crisis, and the race for supremacy in the face of advancing technology. Reflecting on the history of the United Nations, the world's nations must build new cooperation and solidarity."

Throughout the 1930s and early 1940s, humanity faced great crises, including the Great Depression, World War II, fascism, totalitarianism, the Holocaust, and the dropping of the atomic bomb, but with the founding of the United Nations in 1945, a new international order was created. It established a system of multilateral cooperation to more actively ensure peace and maintain a stable international order. "This is a very different era than 1945," says Prof. Ikenberry. It is not a time for political interests. Our very survival is at stake, and we must uphold the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Climate Agreement. We need to create a multilateralism based on universal values."

"Universal values of humanity, coexistence and co-prosperity of all beings on the planet Earth, and finding a new path to peace"
After the interlocutors' diagnosis of the times and their troubling remarks, Prof. Kim Sang-jun said, "I could feel the arrival of a complex civilizational crisis in which the existence of humanity is threatened," and led the conversation to explore ways to deal with the existential threats facing global society.

"A holistic way of thinking could be an alternative," Dr. Choue responded. "Starting with the propositions that 'the whole is one' and 'everything is connected,' holistic thinking has its roots in theoretical physics and cosmology. According to Big Bang cosmology, all worlds originated from a point near infinity. Dr. Roger Penrose, Nobel Laureate in Physics, and Dr. Stuart Hameroff, an anesthesiologist, have collaborated on a mechanism for the emergence of human consciousness that follows a quantum wavefunction decay mechanism that bridges the microcosm of quantum science, the macrocosm of human experience, and both. Through physics, cosmology, and humanistic imagination, they continue to reflect on the coolness of all things and human origins. "We need a new paradigm that can create a transition phase," he said, emphasizing that it is time to find a new path to peace that is tangible and public, based on the universal values of humanity, coexistence and co-creation of all beings on this planet. "We need a new paradigm that can create a transitional moment," he said. "I think the holistic way of thinking is very relevant at this time, especially when everything can collapse at the moment when climate, nuclear and artificial intelligence each enter the Singularity. We need to reflect on the scientific understanding and human and social implications of overlap and entanglement, non-localization and unboundedness. That would be the first step in solving the human, political, and social problems created by the modern paradigm."

Prof. Ikenberry also emphasized the need for a "holistic worldview," saying, "The current crisis requires a response that transcends borders. We need to foster a sense of global citizenship where we share a common future. We need to find basic norms and principles that we can agree on. We need to find common ground where there are differences of opinion." "The international order, which was in crisis, was dismantled and disintegrated during the pandemic. Coexistence and cooperation among nations have disappeared, and national self-interest has increased. Global citizenship has also been undermined. While the pandemic has made our interconnectedness more apparent, it has also led to greater isolation and division," he said, adding that there is hope. "Humans are incredibly creative when it comes to developing science and technology. This is how we built industrial civilization. We're the ones who built the global system. We have the inherent capacity to overcome crises. We will be able to overcome the current crisis by utilizing scientific knowledge and imagination."

He also said, "In my lectures, I ask students what kind of future they want, and I always hear that they want an open society with freedom and a society that can overcome global challenges. I think universities have a huge role to play in this. Universities can broaden intellectual horizons, allowing us to move away from narrow, dichotomous, and segmented thinking and open up new possibilities," he said, emphasizing the role of universities.

"The international order, which was in crisis, has been dismantled and disintegrated by the pandemic," said Prof. G. John Ikenberry. Interconnectedness has become more evident, but isolation and fragmentation have become more extreme." While he is concerned, he adds, "Humans are incredibly creative when it comes to developing science and technology. This is how we built industrial civilization. We have an inherent capacity to overcome crises. With scientific knowledge and imagination, we will be able to overcome the crisis." He expressed hope.

"Extraterrestrial intelligent life--superintelligence--must be approached with all possibilities open"
"Some people are excited about superintelligence because it opens up new possibilities. The optimism is that superintelligence will solve problems that humans cannot solve. If artificial intelligence can continue to expand beyond humans in the realm of intelligence and consciousness, I wonder if there could be such beings in the universe outside of Earth." "How should we view the problem of extraterrestrial intelligent life and superintelligence?" asked Dr. Bostrom.

"I think we can think of extraterrestrial intelligent life and superintelligence as the same problem," Bostrom said. We don't know how it's going to play out, so we have to be open to all possibilities. We need to ask questions like, 'What will happen to humanity if alien intelligent life emerges that is superior to us,' and look to history for answers," he said.

As he explains, humans have driven many species to extinction along the path of industrial civilization. It has changed the fate of other animals. Just as the survival of animals like gorillas and chimpanzees is influenced more by humans than by their own will, the fate of humans could be determined by alien intelligent life or superintelligence. "There are extraterrestrial intelligent life forms that are far superior to us," says Bostrom. If we look at what we've done to the Earth and its flora and fauna, it's easy to see the answer. If a superintelligence is developed that far exceeds human intelligence, it will be very powerful. It could be an existential disaster for humanity. Given the pace and course of AI development, this may not be that far off," he warns.

"The good news is that AI is designed by humans. It's the initial design that sets the direction we want to go. Even now, we need to find ways to use AI in ways that are consistent with universal human values and ethics, and for peaceful purposes only. We still have a chance. Extraterrestrial intelligent life is a different matter. We don't know what's going on in the universe. We need to be humble, look at all the options, and be prepared."

The interlocutors went on to discuss the new paradigm of civilization that will usher in a peaceful future, and the consciousness and politics of responding to "collapse. "No one knows the future. We should learn from history and try not to repeat the same mistakes," he said, recalling the history surrounding the nuclear issue. The United States set out to develop nuclear weapons to win the war and dropped the atomic bomb on Japan in 1945. Realizing the dangers of nuclear power, the international community established the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to ensure the peaceful use and international co-management of nuclear energy. However, the number of countries with nuclear weapons has increased, and the emergence of AI-enabled nuclear weapons is on the horizon. "We could repeat the same history with AI. We need to ensure that the new technologies we develop for our own needs are not misused," he said. "Businesses, governments, and the international community must work together to find ways to ensure that the benefits are shared equitably by all."

Prof. Bostrom explained the Fragile World Hypothesis, which proposes the establishment of international governance to keep humanity from entering a path of collapse. He likened humanity's invention of new technologies to taking a ball out of a jar. The jar contains black balls that could lead to the collapse of civilization, gray balls that could be a blessing or a disaster for humanity, such as artificial intelligence, and white balls that could benefit humanity. "If we pull the black ball, there is no turning back," says Prof. Nick Bostrom. Humanity will go to extinction. We need to respond with all our might to avoid going to a fragile world. We need strong surveillance and intervention, a surefire way to prevent civilization from collapsing."

This year's PBF was held under the theme "Peace or Disintegration, Global Society at an Inflection Point". The event consisted of a World Peace Day ceremony, commemorative lectures, commemorative talks, and roundtables at Kyung Hee University's Peace Hall, which were broadcast live via webcast (pbf.khu.ac.kr). The photo shows the performance of "Je Veux Vivre" (I Want to Live) by the School of Music, which culminated the ceremony.

"Be proactive in the era of transition by having a public conversation about what kind of future we want to build"
Prof. Kim said "I agree that there should be a strong surveillance and control system in place. But unfortunately, it is difficult to find success stories in the real world. Boundaries and frameworks are the limiting factors in solving human social problems, and the existing realpolitik, with its pre-existing ideologies, systems, nations, and ethnicities, makes us lose hope. For this reason, Dr. Choue has been emphasizing a shift in consciousness and politics through 'transcendental engagement' and 'politics of transcendence,' please share your thoughts."

Dr. Inwon Choue said, "In 2018, protests calling for action on climate change, sparked by 15-year-old Greta Thunberg, spread across the globe. As shown here, future generations are anxious about the future and distrustful of the established society. The existing generation, the existing society, and the existing politics should listen to the voices of the future generation and expand their horizons of thought. Earlier, we talked about extraterrestrial intelligent life, and this issue also calls for us to go beyond the horizon of 'given reality' and 'stereotypes' that we read."

Public interest in extraterrestrial intelligence has been growing since 2010, when former U.S. President Barack Obama, former CIA Director John Brennan, former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe, and NASA Administrator Bill Nelson made a series of statements about the existence of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) that cannot be explained by the laws of physics. The interest was fueled by scientific findings from the James Webb Space Telescope, which was launched into space in December 2021. The James Webb Space Telescope is rewriting the history of the universe by revealing a universe that humans have never seen before. In July, the U.S. House of Representatives held a hearing on the UAP. There was testimony about the existence of UAPs that cannot be explained by the laws of physics on Earth, and about non-human biologicals that have been found with gases that are believed to have been created by extraterrestrial intelligence (NHI).

"Sightings of UAPs, or what we used to call UFOs, have been reported around the world since the 1940s. Many of those who reported sightings were subject to ridicule and stigmatization. "The events surrounding the search for extraterrestrial intelligent life are controversial, but they also have profound implications for us," says Dr. Choue, who adds, "There are many things we don't know that we don't know about. It reminds us that it's time to open our eyes to the realm of the Unknown Unknowns, the things we don't even know we don't know."

"It's time to open our minds to all possibilities," he said, "and it's important to solve problems in new ways of knowing, beyond the epistemology of modern thought, beyond the boundaries and reductive ways of thinking. We should strive to cultivate intellectual curiosity and expand our horizons of awareness in our personal lives and in our fields of study. We need to be open-minded and actively engage in the transition by discussing what the future holds for individuals, societies, nations, and the international community. Transcendental interventions, or the politics of transcendence, are based on this idea of "going beyond, transcending, and encompassing" our framed perceptions of reality to create open possibilities and a zone of empathy within us. It is about opening new horizons of hope against the possibility of collapse. This task may be the last remaining option for individuals, societies, nations, and the international community in these times," he concluded.

 ** More information about the PBF event is available on the PBF homepage at http://pbf.khu.ac.kr.