May 2023 - Logics of the Human Story - Contribution to GTI Forum Big History and Great Transition

Four Logics and Three Eras I suggest a metanarrative of four basic logics at the core of the human condition to help understand Homo sapiens’ history and to find a way into the future: the pie of resources, the security dilemma, the future time horizon, and social identity. [...] 1 We can trace these logics through the three major eras of human existence: a) the era of pristine pride, b) the era of honor, and c) the era of equal dignity in solidarity.2 1 | GTI FORUM • The first logic addresses the question as to whether and to what extent the pie of resources is expandable. [...] Most importantly, the fourth logic issues the alert that the human rights ideal of equal dignity for all (in contrast to unequal honor for all) introduces a new form of humiliation, namely, dignity humiliation, which is more hurtful than honor humiliation and thus can create fault lines of polarization and confrontation that are unprecedented and have the power to undermine, obliterate, and malign. [...] Presently, we are participating in yet another radical shift, with the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in the year 1948 as one of its most prominent markers, aspiring to an ethos and emotional coinage of equal dignity in freedom and solidarity, a shift that is as significant as the one twelve thousand years ago. [...] The Usefulness of the Four Logics Narrative for the Great Transition Even though this is such a simplified model of the human condition, it offers an overarching metanarrative for a dignified course into the future in times of crisis.