In a world where technological progress races ahead faster than our capacity for ethical reflection, we face a paradox: the more we refine weapons, the less security we actually enjoy.
Jonathan Granoff, President of the Global Security Institute, Trustee of the World Academy of Art and Science, Senior Advisor and Representative to the United Nations of the Permanent Secretariat of the World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates, and a signatory of the Initiative for a Global Peace Offensive, warns in his influential address that we have reached a crossroads where the decisions of a few shape the fate of all humanity and the "web of life" of which we are a part.
The brutal mathematics of inequality
Today’s reality is staggering: 50% of the world’s population shares less than 2% of the world’s wealth. While mothers in poorer parts of the world decide every day which child will get enough calories to survive the week, global spending on armaments reaches a dizzying $2.5 trillion.
Granoff highlights a harsh fact: to completely eradicate extreme poverty we would need less than $18 billion. So the problem is not technical in nature or a lack of resources. The trouble is that, as a civilization, we have forgotten the "why"—the purpose of knowledge should be care for people. Instead of Elon Musk and other visionaries speaking only about expanding consciousness, they should speak about expanding conscience.
From mutual to self-destruction (SAD)
During the Cold War, the MAD doctrine (Mutually Assured Destruction) prevailed. Today, with 13,000 nuclear warheads in the hands of nine countries, we have moved into the phase of SAD (Self Assured Destruction – self-assured destruction) . The use of a mere 2% of this arsenal would lift enough soot into the stratosphere to destroy agriculture and thus the foundations of our civilization.
The security of states as we have known it since the 17th century has become obsolete if it does not include human security. "Trust is the currency of our planet’s security," Granoff emphasizes. When trust disappears, it is replaced by fear, which leads to rearmament—and that only deepens the spiral of irrational behavior.
When diplomacy overcomes fear
Despite bleak forecasts, history offers recipes for success. Did you know that Richard Nixon unilaterally ordered the destruction of biological weapons, which later led to an international ban? Or that the U.S. and the Soviet Union, in the midst of the Cold War, cooperated scientifically in eradicating polio?
These examples prove that science is not neutral, but must be accountable to morality and law. Granoff calls for similar "reins" in the field of artificial intelligence as well, which we still do not fully understand and do not have under control.
The Golden Rule for the 21st century
To survive, we need a new ethical principle: "Let us treat the lives and well-being of future generations as we would want to be treated". We have no moral or legal right to destroy nature’s regenerative processes for our own greed.
Granoff’s call for a "global peace offensive" is not merely a utopian wish, but a practical necessity. As stated in the Einstein–Russell Manifesto: "Remember your humanity and forget the rest". We are only a thread in the web of life—if we destroy the web, we destroy ourselves.
Today, peace is not merely the absence of war, but active cooperation, building trust, and an unflagging commitment to the future of our children.
