Our Common Humanity in the Information Age. Principles and Values for Development

partnership among the various actors of the development process. The Economic and 
Social Council has always played a leading role in that respect, including by consulting 
and opening its deliberations to accredited non governmental organizations, a pioneering 
approach, which has inspired many initiatives since then. In deed, the spirit of 
inclusiveness is another value that could be discussed at this meeting as a most 
appropriate approach to building a common humanity. 
TECHNOLOGY AND HUMANITY
Louise T. Blouin Mac Bain, Chairman and Founder, Louise T. Blouin 
Foundation
On November 29th 1929, Byrd flew for the first time over the South Pole. The headlines 
then were full of wonder. The frontier of human achievement opened to an applauding 
world. But today, 75 years after Byrd first surveyed it from the sky, the South Pole 
shrinks and thins as a result of human action. Perhaps this offers a lesson for the future. 
So often we are dazzled by the great strides of invention, but we easily neglect the slow 
march of decline.
Today, it is a world of geo-economics, geo-technology, geo-politics and geo-
environment. Governments, corporations and citizens are required to learn a new art: 
balancing local needs and national identity in an international world. Not only are we 
challenged to think more globally, but also long term. Out of sight is no longer out of 
mind. The world lives in a more precarious balance, with a thinner margin of error. Like 
chaos theory, where butterflies’ wings start hurricanes, today cartoons start riots. And 
today, with the Middle East at the front of all our thoughts, we see the precarious balance 
of the situation in Israel/Palestine. All of our futures will be defined by how we respond 
to this issue. The need for a solution has never been more urgent and the price of failure 
never more costly.
This new global proximity brings into a greater focus the gaps between societies. We 
may have flattened the economies of our world, but the valleys between cultures – 
between rich and poor – are deeper than ever. Within this context, we face a dilemma 
identified long ago by Einstein: how do we stop our technology exceeding our humanity? 
This dilemma could not be more important when we consider the internet. A digital 
divide threatens us all. Both between rich and poor, but also in testing our values: 

---

Chapter I – Introduction | 11 
pornography and violence are the underside of the web. A new generation of children has 
grown with entirely new stimuli from the internet, yet we know so little about the effect 
of this new world on the brain. Terrorists use the internet like caves, hiding in uncharted 
locations. We can swap recipes for bombs as easily as recipes for cakes. So although we 
so rightly celebrate the breakthroughs of our age, we must ask ourselves a question: are 
we googling while Rome burns?
We must realise the other side of the role of the internet which offers a greater 
opportunity to unite and understand than any tool in history. Dialogue is so easy now. 
Schools in Beijing talk to Berlin, the stories of the world are shared on the web. A new 
global conversation offers extraordinary possibilities to reach out to those furthest away.
If we can live second lives on the internet, surely we can create games that encourage 
cultural understanding and enhance creativity? The democratization of knowledge of the 
internet can build bridges of trust. And we can create stronger security – to protect both 
our children and our identities.
Our Foundation is working with the OECD and major universities on developing a better 
understanding of cultural dialogue to design new education systems that enhance 
creativity, and we are working on TV and internet projects to further some of these 
solutions. The great prize of the internet is to create the most powerful tool for generating 
empathy that the world has ever seen. This is our next challenge. We need technology not 
just to take us to the skies. We need it to understand the world we share with others. We 
need it to be the foundation of our common humanity. Establishing this foundation can 
only partially be the responsibility of political leaders, who are too often bound by short-
term national agendas.
We turn to the UN to approach today’s global challenges and ask it to take a more 
important role than ever: to preside over the common hopes of this fast-moving world. 
Yes, technology can help to close the gaps of the world, but it must be built on respect, 
humility, and love of our neighbours. Let us march together towards a composition of a 
more peaceful world, where our differences will continue to nourish our souls for the 
future of our grandchildren. The United Nations is the hope and the home of the dialogue 
of the world. 

---

12 | Our Common Humanity in the Information Age