A twofold question emerges from our journey: How can we maintain a broad perspective on the human condition while at the same time not losing sight of the fact that it manifests itself in all its singularities – whether individual or collective – which, paradoxically, may distance us from such a perspective? It is then that a new stage takes shape: representing the human condition in all its complexity, while bringing to light the countless interactions that run through it. This is what we propose here with the “Problem Wheel”, beginning first by drawing on the seven pantopic variables…
7 Pantopic Variables
Time, Space, Society, Knowledge, Power, Economy, Communication: these are the seven variables. Their purpose is not to confine the human condition to seven definitive categories, but to offer a framework through which we can attempt to view it in its full scope. Of course, any framework involves a degree of arbitrariness: it selects, orders, connects, and separates. Its value lies in the fact that it reveals certain relationships we did not previously perceive – provided we never forget that none of these seven dimensions exists in isolation. The wheel, therefore, is not a sequence of seven segments, but an invitation to turn the problem around…
Click a sector to read the variable; hover a dot to see the reference point.
Time sheds light on the human condition because nothing of who we are – individually or collectively – exists outside of history. Each “I” enters a world that preceded it, receives legacies it did not choose, lives in a present that is constantly becoming the past, and finds itself – consciously or not – engaged in a future it may never know. Societies, too, experience new beginnings, evolutions, ruptures, transmissions, acts of forgetting, and disappearances. The world, for its part, preserves the traces of this long human adventure, while certain contemporary transformations can accelerate it to the point of altering our very relationship to time. “What’s the problem?” – viewed through the lens of TIME – can thus point to memory and forgetting, to what we wish to preserve or let fade away, to what we pass on to future generations, and to what they may still receive. It can also arise from a certain contradiction between the urgency of the present and the long-term nature of consequences. For example, how can we decide today when the effects of a decision will be felt tomorrow – and sometimes far beyond our own lifetimes? Time, therefore, is not merely the framework within which problems arise; it transforms their nature – and often their severity.
Space, in turn, shapes the human condition through a seemingly basic question: Where are we? For each individual, this involves a body, a home, a familiar territory, and places I can explore or from which I may be separated. And from the outset, a foundation for the entire human condition becomes evident: that of its physical, environmental, and climatic reality – the balances or imbalances I experience within it, which I enjoy or endure. Then, for communities and societies, space becomes territory, a border, a resource, a place of belonging or conflict. It can be shared, appropriated, defended, colonized, developed, destroyed, or made inaccessible. Finally, on a global scale – as has already been noted – human movements, migrations, exchanges, changes in ecosystems, and the considerable differences between territories reveal an interdependence that borders alone cannot contain. Let us also note that addressing the issue in terms of its spatiality often points to its social and political dimensions: Who can enter, leave, stay, live, exploit, or own? Who decides how a territory is used, and on behalf of which community? Approaching the issue from a spatial perspective therefore means questioning our own place, that of others, and the way we organize the world we share…
From its very definition, society frames the human condition from the perspective of “us”: How do people – who differ in their histories, circumstances, aspirations, and worldviews – manage to cooperate, recognize one another, and decide on their shared future? Over time, every community and every society has developed institutions, rules, hierarchies, bonds of solidarity, and ways of allocating roles and resources in order to address the challenges it faced. But these responses can themselves become problematic when they fail to meet – or no longer meet – certain needs, or when they exclude others, especially when they result in domination, exclusion, discrimination, or inequality. The human problem then reveals itself in all its complexity: how can we reconcile the uniqueness of each individual with the demands of the collective? Furthermore, when different societies come into contact, how can differences in norms, histories, beliefs, or interests – and the diversity of our cultural codes – enable new forms of cooperation or, conversely, lead to conflict?
Knowledge is inevitably linked to the human condition because no society and no individual can act without some conception and understanding of what is, what has been, and what might be. Knowledge enables us to understand, communicate, anticipate, create, and, if necessary, solve problems. However, knowledge is always situated, incomplete, and open to question. For each individual, this raises the question of what I truly know, how I learned it, and what I hold to be true. For societies, it raises questions of transmission, education, the recognition or erasure of certain forms of knowledge, as well as the authority granted to those who possess knowledge. On a global scale, the dizzying proliferation of available knowledge by no means eliminates ignorance. On the contrary, it can make it more difficult to distinguish between established knowledge, opinion, belief, information, interpretation, or manipulation. The contemporary problem thus appears to be our ability to navigate a world where we have access to more knowledge while being confronted with more contradictory narratives. This is where artificial intelligence plays a particularly significant role, further highlighting this issue by now influencing not only our access to information but also to knowledge, as well as our production of content and the way we frame problems. Ultimately, what do we know, how do we know it, who gets to decide, and what do we do with what we believe we know?
The human condition, of course, cannot be separated from its fundamental relationship with power, which leads us to ask: Who can do what, to whom, in the name of what, and with what consequences? Power, of course, belongs to institutions, states, governments, and organizations that make decisions, enact laws, administer, or exercise force. But it also exists in relationships between people – in the family, at work, in education, within communities, in networks, and even in each person’s ability to speak, remain silent, act, or refuse. For me, the problem may lie in my own capacity to act. For others, it lies in the relationships of domination or dependence that develop between us. And for the world, it lies in the powers capable of mobilizing entire populations and permanently altering the global balance of power. Power can thus protect, organize, and enable collective action, but it can also be monopolized, transferred, contested, misappropriated, or used to impose a particular representation of reality.
How can we address human issues by focusing not only on what enables people to act, produce, trade, and satisfy their needs, but also on how they organize the distribution of resources they consider necessary or desirable? Every person grapples – to varying degrees of urgency or comfort – with questions of livelihood, work, activity, consumption, and access to goods. Societies, for their part, revolve around the dimensions of production, employment, trade, inequality, and redistribution. The world, meanwhile, is shaped by the interplay of economic interdependencies, limited resources, production chains, environmental changes, and vast disparities in wealth and living conditions. Here, it appears paradoxically that the economy can offer a genuine collective capacity to transform our environment and improve our living conditions, just as it can produce imbalances when accumulation, competition, or the pursuit of profitability become absolute and exclusive ends in themselves. What may seem like an individual choice – buying, working, producing, traveling, consuming – is in fact part of mechanisms that extend far beyond the individual. Conversely, economic decisions made by governments, companies, or markets ultimately affect even the most individual lives.
Communication addresses the human condition through its most directly relational dimension: how do we “share something”? How do we do this when we realize that we do not necessarily perceive, know, believe, or feel the same things? For me, communicating means seeking to express my thoughts, emotions, needs, or experiences. But in interpersonal relationships, this involves languages, signs, narratives, and codes that are sufficiently shared to allow for mutual understanding – yet there is no guarantee that such understanding will actually occur. This makes us realize that, for any society, communication plays a powerful role in the transmission of knowledge, the construction of identities, the organization of debates, the establishment and dissemination of norms, and the creation of a representation of the world. Finally, when viewed on a global scale, we cannot help but observe the unprecedented circulation of information and narratives taking place today, while at the same time exposing everyone to manipulation, disinformation, polarization, the concentration of media outlets, and the disappearance of certain languages and forms of expression. Let us also emphasize the role played by artificial intelligence, which now adds a new dimension to this issue by intervening in the production, translation, circulation, and interpretation of contents.
52 reference points…
The seven pantopic variables thus invite us to articulate dimensions that are essential to understanding the human condition. It is at this point that the 52 pantopic reference points come into play in all their diversity, serving as focal points from which contradictions, losses, inequalities, conflicts, and misunderstandings – but also projects, initiatives, and opportunities for action – can emerge.
Click a sector to read the variable; hover a dot to see the reference point.
BEING TRAPPED WITHIN ONE’S OWN FRAMEWORKS OF REFERENCE
FAILURE TO UNDERSTAND OTHERS…
“Where’s the problem?” when we’re no longer quite sure where to look, what to refer to, or how to interpret what’s happening to us? The loss of reference points can be individual, when familiar frameworks are no longer sufficient to understand a situation, but it can also become collective when shared points of reference become blurred, contradictory, or no longer shared. It can arise from rapid change, relocation, a historical rupture, cultural confrontation, or an overload of information that does not necessarily facilitate understanding. This raises a fundamental question: Are we disoriented because the world is changing, because our points of reference are changing, or because we no longer know how to relate our points of reference to those of others? Finally, the difficulty may stem from the fact that each of us remains trapped within our own frame of reference and struggles to understand that of others……
TIME
2TimeConsidering multiple time frames at once…
SENSE OF URGENCY
LACK OF TIME
SUDDEN ACCELERATION
FORGETTING THE PAST
UNCERTAINTY ABOUT THE FUTURE…
Already introduced as a variable, time is, of course, a defining reference point in understanding any problem. Every problem exists within a timeframe: it may have been prepared over a long period, appeared suddenly, resulted from a legacy, transformed over time, or produced consequences that will only become apparent much later. It thus compels us to reconcile the time of individual experience with that of generations, the time of the event with that of the processes that made it possible, the time of memory with that of forgetting, and the time of urgency with that of waiting. “Where is the problem?” when we look only at a single moment of what unfolds over time? A decision made today may address a past situation while shaping a future that is still unknown. A present difficulty may be the delayed effect of actions whose origins we have forgotten. Conversely, what we consider a problem today may be perceived differently by those who come after us. Time thus also raises the question of transmission: what do we receive from the past, what do we choose to preserve, and what do we, in turn, pass on? There is certainly a sense of urgency, a lack of time, or the pressure to move faster, but there is also the need to know how to slow down, wait, anticipate, remember, and sometimes accept that we don’t yet know. Human problems thus always unfold across multiple time frames simultaneously: the one in which we are experiencing them, those that gave rise to them, and those in which their consequences will continue to unfold…
TIME
3LifeFragility…
VULNERABILITY
INFANT MORTALITY
COMPLICATED OR UNWANTED PREGNANCIES
INEQUALITIES IN LIVING CONDITIONS…
How can we frame the question “What’s the problem?” in light of life itself – the primary condition of all human experience? Its fragility reminds us that existence is neither equally granted to all nor equally protected everywhere. From the very first moments, conditions at birth, infant mortality, and access to healthcare, food, housing, or a sustainable environment can vary profoundly. A difficult or unwanted pregnancy, a premature birth, an illness, or simply the social conditions into which a child is born show that what may appear to be an intimate experience immediately involves collective dimensions. Life thus compels us to reframe the issue: what determines the possibility of living, and why are these conditions so unevenly distributed? It also leads us to other key areas – health, nutrition, family, the economy, the environment, and justice – and reminds us that protecting life is never strictly an individual matter…
TIME
4DeathFear, Suffering, and Loss…
FEAR
GRIEF
SUFFERING
DENIAL OF DEATH
MURDER
SUICIDE
GENOCIDE…
Death is part of the human experience, yet it remains perhaps the thing we most seek to keep at a distance. It can be feared, mourned, ritualized, denied, inflicted, or chosen. It can mark the end of a single life or take on the scale of a murder, a suicide, or a genocide. “So where, then, is the problem?” Is it in death itself, which seems to constitute a limit of the human condition, or in the very different ways in which we encounter it, represent it, and give it meaning? Fear and grief are deeply personal, but societies also organize rituals, memorials, taboos, and forms of justice around death. Some deaths are mourned; others are rendered invisible. Some are considered tragic; others, acceptable or necessary. To question death, then, is to question at once our relationship to life, to suffering, to violence, to memory, and to the value we place on human existence…
TIME
5AgeGrowing Up, Growing Old, Belonging…
AGING
AGEISM
IMPOSED RITES
MARGINALIZATION OF YOUNG PEOPLE OR THE ELDERLY
INTERGENERATIONAL INEQUALITIES
INTERGENERATIONAL CONFLICTS…
Age may seem like a natural given, but it quickly becomes a social construct: it determines rights, duties, expectations, roles, and sometimes exclusion. Being young or old does not simply mean going through a stage of life. It can mean being viewed as too young to make decisions, too old to take action, too inexperienced to be heard, or too old to be considered fully useful. Imposed rituals, the marginalization of young or elderly people, intergenerational inequalities, and intergenerational conflicts show that the problem also lies in the way a society organizes the passage of time among its members. Who has the right to speak on behalf of the present? Who carries the past? Who will decide the future? The concept of age thus links individual experience to social structures and the transmission of knowledge: it invites us to consider not only the differences between generations, but also the relationships they maintain and the way each generation imagines those that came before it and those that will follow…
TIME
6HealthTaking Care…
ILLNESS
EPIDEMICS
INEQUALITIES IN ACCESS TO HEALTH CARE
NEGLECT OF THE BODY…
Health reveals another essential dimension of the human condition: we do not all have the same opportunities to take care of ourselves, nor the same means of receiving care. Illness can affect each of us – our bodies, our independence, our work, our relationships, and our plans – but it also becomes a collective problem when epidemics arise, when access to care is unequal, or when certain populations are more vulnerable than others. Added to this is my own relationship with my body: what do I know about it? What am I entitled to ask of it? Do I sometimes find myself neglecting it? Why? How? Health thus lies at the intersection of life, food, housing, the economy, knowledge, the environment, and politics. “What’s the problem?” when it’s not enough to know what cures, but we must also ask who can be treated, by whom, under what conditions, and with what resources?
TIME
7FoodEating, feeding others, sharing…
HUNGER
MALNUTRITION
FAMINE
OBESITY
FOOD WASTE
FOOD INSECURITY
INEQUALITIES IN ACCESS TO FOOD…
Eating seems like the most basic of necessities; yet, food is a powerful indicator of human contradictions. Hunger and malnutrition can coexist with obesity; waste with food insecurity; abundance, refinement, and even luxury with the inability of some to access sufficient food. What we eat affects not only our bodies and our health, but also our cultures, our economies, our territories, our beliefs, and our relationships with other species and natural resources. We must therefore ask not only who eats what, but also who produces, who owns, who distributes, who decides, and who has access to food. The issue takes on a new dimension when we consider the consequences of our choices on soil, water, animals, future generations, or the populations that produce what others consume. Eating is thus at once an individual necessity, a cultural practice, a social relationship, and a global challenge…
TIME
8The Five SensesPerceiving the World…
DISABILITY PHOBIA
LOSS OF INDEPENDENCE
SENSORY IMPAIRMENT…
Seeing, hearing, touching, tasting, and smelling are among the first ways in which each of us interacts with the world. But perception is never as simple an experience as it seems: our senses do not capture everything, do not all select the same information, and are themselves shaped by the body, age, environment, experience, and culture. What I see, hear, or feel may therefore differ from what another person perceives, without either of us necessarily having a “wrong” perception. Some differences are related to sensory abilities; others to circumstances, habits, or learned behaviors. Some may lead to a loss of autonomy or to situations of disability when the environment is not designed to accommodate this diversity, and may then give rise to prejudice or discrimination. “Where is the problem?” – in the way we perceive, in the limitations of our senses, or in the world we construct based on what we are capable of perceiving? This question leads us to reconsider our relationship to spaces, objects, images, sounds, tastes, smells, and other bodies, but also to recognize that the world we believe to be shared is always, in part, a world perceived through a singular experience. The five senses thus remind us that understanding the world is not just about knowing what it is, but also about questioning how we perceive it, what we do not perceive, and what we make of others’ perceptions…
TIME
9SexualityDesire, intimacy, domination…
SEXUAL OR GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE
DESIRE FOR SEXUAL DOMINATION
SEXUAL EXPLOITATION…
Sexuality is a deeply personal matter, but it is never solely a private affair. It involves desire, the body, identity, relationships with others, and the social constructs that a society builds around these experiences. It can be a space for connection, pleasure, and self-expression, but it can also become a site of sexual or gender-based violence, exploitation, or domination. “What’s the problem?” when one person’s desire meets another’s freedom? And how does a society distinguish between what falls under intimacy, coercion, the norm, or violence? The answers vary across eras, cultures, and value systems, while power dynamics can permeate even the most personal relationships. This perspective thus urges us not to isolate sexuality from the rest of the human condition, as it touches on freedom, the body, family, law, culture, beliefs, and representations…
TIME
10HistoryWhat We Remember, What We Forget…
FORGETTING HISTORY
FALSIFICATION OF HISTORY
PROPAGANDA
CONTRADICTORY ACCOUNTS
HISTORICAL CONFLICTS
THE TRANSMISSION OF HATRED…
History is not merely what happened before us: it is also what we remember, what we pass on, and what we sometimes choose to forget. The problem arises when memories diverge, when certain events are erased or falsified, when propaganda transforms the past into a tool of the present, or when competing historical narratives themselves become sources of conflict. What is a founding memory for some may be, for others, a memory of domination, violence, or humiliation. Who tells the story? From whose perspective? With what words, what sources, and what omissions? These questions concern our relationship to the past, but also the relationships we maintain with others and with the future: passing on hatred can prolong a conflict long after the events that gave rise to it, while a shared memory can help make reconciliation possible. Questioning history, therefore, also means questioning how we use time and the way in which the past continues to shape the present…
TIME
11CrisesDisruptions and Uncertainties…
DISRUPTIONS
INSTABILITY
DISASTERS
UPHEAVALS
LOSSES
UNCERTAINTY
DIFFICULTY ADAPTING…
A crisis is not merely a serious event: it often reveals a disruption in the usual way of living, thinking, or organizing the world. It can take the form of a disaster, political or economic instability, social upheaval, personal loss, or environmental change. It thus introduces uncertainty that affects the self, others, and the shared world: what I believed to be stable is no longer so, the bonds that tied us together may unravel, and what seemed external may suddenly affect me directly. But a crisis is not limited to what it destroys. It also forces us to examine our capacity to adapt, the bonds of solidarity that emerge or fade away, the decisions made in the heat of the moment, and the sometimes unexpected consequences of those decisions. “Where is the problem?” then, in a crisis? In the disruption itself, in our inability to adapt to it, or in what it reveals about vulnerabilities that already existed? The question immediately opens up to issues of time, power, the economy, society, the environment, and intergenerational relationships…
SPACE
12The UniverseAccepting the Unknown…
FEAR OF THE UNKNOWN
LIMITS OF KNOWLEDGE
CONFLICTS BETWEEN KNOWLEDGE AND BELIEFS
MISMANAGEMENT OF SPACE EXPLORATION…
The universe, of course, broadens the scale on which we can frame the human condition. There we discover both the immensity of what we know and the limits of what we can still understand. The fear of the unknown, questions about our origins and our place in the universe, conflicts between scientific knowledge and beliefs, and the ambitions of space exploration all show that our relationship with the universe is as much a matter of knowledge as it is a matter of meaning. But as soon as we become capable of exploring, observing, and eventually exploiting spaces beyond our immediate environment, new questions arise: How far do we want to go, why, with what means, and with what responsibilities? The universe thus confronts us with both our smallness and our power, our desire for knowledge and our temptation to view any accessible space as a space at our disposal. Above all, it compels us to situate the human condition within a history and a geography that far exceed the scale of our individual lives…
SPACE
13EnvironmentTransforming What We Depend On……
POLLUTION
CLIMATE CHANGE
ECOSYSTEM DESTRUCTION
NATURAL DISASTERS
DEFORESTATION
DROUGHT
FLOODS
FIRES…
Where does the problem begin and where does it end when our surroundings affect us just as much as we affect them? The environment is never merely a backdrop: it determines our ability to live, to feed ourselves, to move about, to protect ourselves, and to pass on our heritage. Pollution, global warming, deforestation, droughts, floods, and wildfires thus reveal interdependencies that make it difficult to distinguish between the problem of the one who acts, the one who suffers, and that of an environment that cannot always make its own interests heard. A change brought about here can have consequences elsewhere. A decision made today can alter the living conditions of people who have not yet been born. But the environmental issue also compels us to examine inequalities: Who benefits from resources? Who bears the brunt of environmental degradation? Who can protect themselves? Who is forced to leave? The problem, therefore, is not only that of the environment we are transforming, but also that of the relationship we maintain with what we depend on…
SPACE
14SpeciesLiving Among Other Living Beings…
SPECIES EXTINCTION
HABITAT DESTRUCTION
ANIMAL EXPLOITATION
LOSS OF BIODIVERSITY
ECOLOGICAL IMBALANCES…
The human problem takes on a different light when we stop viewing other species as merely the environment in which we exist. We depend on a multitude of living beings, some of which feed us, protect us, or help maintain the ecological balances from which we benefit, while our activities can simultaneously destroy their habitats, lead to their exploitation, or contribute to their extinction. The extinction of a species, the loss of biodiversity, or the disruption of an ecosystem’s balance are therefore not merely ecological problems: they call into question the place we assign ourselves among living beings. What does it mean to live alongside other species when our interests do not always align with theirs? This question concerns our food, our economy, our territories, and our sciences, but also our perceptions and our ability to recognize value in what is not human. It thus leads us to expand the triad of “self,” “other,” and “world”: the “other” may be human, but it may also be another living being with whom we share the very conditions of our existence…
SPACE
15MatterExtracting, transforming, consuming…
EXCESSIVE EXTRACTION AND EXPLOITATION
RESOURCE DEPLETION
LAND CONVERSION
WASTE
OVERCONSUMPTION
WASTEFULNESS…
Even before they become objects, buildings, machines, or waste, the things around us are matter. We extract minerals, alter the soil, harvest resources, manufacture, consume, and then discard a considerable amount of matter. The problem arises when our ability to transform the world exceeds our ability to measure the consequences: resource depletion, land development, waste accumulation, wastefulness, and overconsumption reflect a relationship with matter that often treats limited resources as if they were unlimited. But the issue is also social and geopolitical: who extracts, who processes, who consumes, and who bears the consequences of these activities? A material may be indispensable to my daily life while coming from a distant region where I know neither the conditions under which it is extracted nor the people who depend on it. This perspective thus reminds us that behind every object lie resources, places, people, skills, and transformations that intimately link individual daily life to the economic, social, and global dimensions of the human condition…
SPACE
16MovementSetting the world in motion…
EXILE
FORCED MIGRATION
BORDER CONFLICTS
TRAFFIC CONGESTION
ACCIDENTS
INEQUALITIES IN MOBILITY…
Movement is everywhere: the movement of people and animals, of goods and information, of vehicles and resources, but also of societies and the transformations sweeping across the world. Moving from one place to another can be a choice, a necessity, a pleasure, a constraint, or an impossibility. The modes of transportation and the infrastructure that make these journeys possible have profoundly transformed the ways we live, work, do business, and interact with others, while also creating their own problems: congestion, accidents, energy consumption, pollution, urbanization, and environmental impacts. Mobility itself remains profoundly unequal: some can cross distances and borders with ease, while others cannot leave, travel, or – in some cases – even access the means of transportation necessary for their daily lives. Movement can thus become exile, forced migration, flight from war, displacement caused by a disaster, or the forced transformation of a place of residence. “Where is the problem?” Is it in the act of moving, in the conditions of that movement, in what it produces, or in those it leaves behind? This question also leads us to consider the right to stay, to leave, to return, or to welcome others, and reveals borders as a particularly telling site of the relationship between mobility and power. Movement thus connects the self, others, and the world, but also time, space, society, the economy, technology, and the environment. Understanding the issue of movement ultimately means seeking to determine how we want to set the world in motion without making movement itself unlivable, inaccessible, or destructive…
SPACE
17HousingWhere Can We Live?…
HOMELESSNESS
INSECURITY
OVERCROWDING
UNSANITARY OR DANGEROUS HOUSING
FORCED DISPLACEMENT
SEGREGATION…
Having a place to live is about more than just having a roof over one’s head. A home can provide protection, allow for privacy, and anchor a person in a neighborhood and a community. Conversely, the lack of a home or living in precarious conditions can lead to insecurity, isolation, and vulnerability. Homelessness, overcrowding, dangerous or substandard housing, forced displacement, and segregation show that access to housing depends largely on resources, public policies, the market, and power dynamics. But housing also raises a more fundamental question: where do we have the right to live, and under what conditions? This question becomes particularly pressing when populations are displaced, when a territory becomes inaccessible, or when certain people are gradually pushed into less favorable spaces. Living, therefore, involves both the body and space, the private and the collective, the present and the future. It thus reveals that the issue of housing is also that of the place each person can occupy in our shared world…
SOCIETY
18SocietyHolding It All Together…
SOCIAL INEQUALITIES
EXCLUSION
MARGINALIZATION
SOCIAL CONFLICTS
DISINTEGRATION OF SOCIAL BONDS
As the name of the variable itself suggests, society does not hold together merely because individuals live in the same place: it refers to relationships, rules, institutions, solidarity, and shared values that are sufficiently common to enable coexistence. The problem arises when these bonds weaken: inequalities, exclusion, marginalization, social conflicts, or a loss of trust can transform difference into distance and distance into separation. But the question runs even deeper: what enables us to form a society despite what sets us apart? Who is included in the “we”? Who is excluded from it? Who benefits from collective protection, and who remains on the outside? Society thus becomes a space where individual experiences intersect with the collective structures that either enable or limit them. It must also navigate historical, economic, technological, and cultural transformations that continually reshape the ways we live together, while reflecting our ability to build relationships open enough for diversity to become a component of the common good rather than a cause of fragmentation…
SOCIETY
19HumanityWho Do We Count as Human?…
DISCRIMINATION
RACISM
XENOPHOBIA
MISANTHROPY…
Talking about humanity seems to refer to all human beings. Yet history shows just how fragile this seemingly obvious truth has been and remains. Discrimination, racism, xenophobia, and contempt for others reveal that certain groups may be considered less legitimate, less worthy, or less fully human than those who speak from the perspective of a dominant “we.” The problem thus lies at the very heart of the word “humanity”: whom do we include when we say “we, humans”? This question ties into our triptych, for the other can be recognized as our equal while still being treated as inferior, foreign, or undesirable. It also involves history, cultures, power structures, narratives, and economic systems that have at times provided justification for these hierarchies. But above all, it compels us to examine our own categories: can a truly shared humanity be built if some must still prove that they belong to it? The human problem then paradoxically becomes that of our ability to recognize the unity of the species without erasing the diversity of those who comprise it…
SOCIETY
20FamilyThe first “we”…
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
FORCED MARRIAGES
ABANDONMENT
DIFFICULT SEPARATIONS
FAMILY CONFLICTS
ISOLATION
DIFFICULT WIDOWHOOD…
For many, the family is the first environment in which attachment, trust, the passing down of traditions, and a sense of belonging are formed. But this first “we” can also be marked by tensions, violence, abandonment, separations, or imposed obligations. Forced marriage, domestic violence, family conflicts, isolation, or difficulties related to widowhood show that the closest relationships are not necessarily the simplest. The family is also a place where multiple generations, different outlooks on life, and diverse cultural heritages come together. What seems self-evident to some may be incomprehensible to others. “What’s the problem?” when the very framework meant to provide protection becomes a source of vulnerability itself? Conversely, how can we preserve these bonds without turning belonging into a constraint? The family thus serves as a lens through which to view nearly the entire complexity of the human condition: the body, age, sexuality, culture, economics, emotions, power, transmission, and the way in which each of us learns, from our very first relationships, to be ourselves among others…
SOCIETY
21CultureLiving in Different Worlds…
ETHNOCENTRISM
ACCULTURATION
CULTURAL DISAPPEARANCE
INTERCULTURAL MISUNDERSTANDINGS
CULTURAL APPROPRIATION
IDENTITY CONFLICTS…
Culture provides us with ways to name, understand, believe in, create, and engage with the world. It is thus an essential source of richness, but it can also become a barrier when we take our own way of life for granted as a universal truth. Ethnocentrism, acculturation, the disappearance of cultures, intercultural misunderstandings, cultural appropriation, and identity conflicts all reflect this ambivalence. “What’s the problem?” when what allows us to recognize ourselves also becomes what prevents us from recognizing others? The question is neither to deny differences nor to lock them into immutable identities, but to understand how cultures encounter one another, transform, influence, and sometimes dominate one another. A culture can pass on a legacy while itself being transformed by those who receive it. It can preserve a memory while simultaneously becoming a site of conflict over what deserves to be preserved. The cultural issue is thus inseparable from history, languages, narratives, power relations, and the ability to make diversity not an obstacle to understanding, but a prerequisite for deepening it…
SOCIETY
22Games & SportsPlay, learn, push your limits…
EXCESSIVE COMPETITION
CHEATING
VIOLENCE
DOPING
COMMERCIALIZATION
DISCRIMINATION…
Playing and participating in sports are particularly enriching ways to test and develop our abilities: learning to follow rules, discovering our own limits, exercising our bodies, developing our focus, coordination, and perseverance, and experiencing the joy of effort, teamwork, and success… However, these potentials can also backfire when they become subject to stakes that exceed them – when winning matters more than playing, when performance matters more than the person, when the opponent ceases to be a fellow player and becomes someone who must be defeated at all costs. The problem then shifts from the game itself to the values we project onto it and the ways we use it. “Where is the problem?” Is it in competition itself, in the way we experience it, in the interests tied to it, or in what we’re willing to sacrifice to win? Games and sports thus offer us a unique space to examine a profoundly human question: how can we make rules a condition of freedom, turn confrontation into an opportunity for connection, and transform pushing beyond one’s limits into an experience that does not require the defeat or exclusion of others?...
KNOWLEDGE
23KnowledgeWhat we know, what we don’t know…
IGNORANCE
OBSCURANTISM
INEQUALITIES IN ACCESS TO KNOWLEDGE
LOSS OF KNOWLEDGE…
Knowledge, one of our seven variables, helps humanity understand its surroundings, pass on what it has learned, and expand its capabilities. It enables each person to better understand their place within their own body, their environment, in relation to others, and within their own history. It makes learning, discovery, invention, transmission, and action possible. But knowledge is never an abstract or uniformly accessible reality: it exists in multiple forms – scientific, technical, practical, artistic, local, traditional, experiential, and symbolic – and circulates within societies that decide, consciously or unconsciously, what will be taught, preserved, valued, or forgotten. “So where, then, is the problem?” Is it in what we do not know, in what we think we know, in what is inaccessible to us, or in the way we use what we know? Ignorance may simply be a limit to our knowledge, but it can also result from exclusion, confiscation, obscurantism, or the disappearance of knowledge. Conversely, abundance guarantees neither understanding nor the ability to discern. Knowledge can ultimately become an instrument of power when it is reserved for a select few, or lose some of its richness when one type of knowledge claims to be sufficient on its own to account for the world. The human challenge, therefore, is to understand what we know, what we do not know, where our knowledge comes from, what its limitations are, how different forms of knowledge can engage with one another, and how to make them more widely accessible.
KNOWLEDGE
24EducationWhat do we want to pass on?…
ILLITERACY
EDUCATIONAL INEQUALITIES
SCHOOL DROPOUTS
INDOCTRINATION
LACK OF RESOURCES
SCHOOL EXCLUSION…
To educate is always to make a choice about what deserves to be passed on to those who come after us. The problem with education, therefore, does not lie solely in illiteracy, school dropout rates, a lack of resources, or inequalities in access to schooling. It also concerns the content, methods, values, and representations that education helps to reproduce. What do we want others to know, understand, be able to do, or be able to question? Education can empower, but it can also exclude, conform, indoctrinate, or perpetuate inequalities already present in society. It thus lies at the intersection of knowledge and power, culture and the future, the individual and the collective. It particularly involves the relationship between generations: those who teach pass on something of the world they have inherited, but those who learn will experience a world that will be significantly different from that of their teachers. The human challenge of education may therefore lie in passing on enough to enable inheritance, and enough freedom to allow that inheritance to be transformed…
KNOWLEDGE
25ThoughtBeing able to think differently…
PREJUDICE
DOGMATISM
CONFORMISM
MANIPULATION
INTELLECTUAL NARROW-MINDEDNESS…
Thinking is not just about having ideas: it is about being able to examine the ideas we have, challenge them, modify them, and eventually abandon them. The problem arises when thought becomes trapped in prejudice, dogmatism, conformism, or manipulation, or when an individual or group encounters only ideas that confirm their own. How can we know if what we think is truly the product of our own thinking? This question becomes particularly important in an environment saturated with information, influences, and narratives that can shape our perceptions without our realizing it. An open mind requires the ability to examine these influences, to debate them, and to recognize their limitations. Thinking alongside others also means accepting that another perspective can change our own. The challenge, therefore, is both to defend our freedom of thought and to foster the intellectual and cultural conditions that make this freedom truly possible…
KNOWLEDGE
26ScienceCan Knowledge Justify Everything?…
MISUSE OF DISCOVERIES
INSTRUMENTALIZATION OF SCIENCE
MISTRUST
CONFLICTS WITH BELIEFS
ETHICAL LIMITS
TECHNOLOGICAL RISKS…
Science has greatly expanded our ability to understand and transform the world. But this very power gives rise to new problems: a discovery can heal just as it can be misused. A technology can liberate just as it can monitor. Knowledge can inform a decision just as it can be exploited for other purposes. The question, then, comes down to what science makes possible and what we choose to do with it. Mistrust of science, conflicts with certain beliefs, the instrumentalization of scientific findings, and ethical questions surrounding new technologies show that the production of knowledge never exempts us from reflecting on its uses and consequences. The problem thus lies in the relationship between knowledge and power: who produces knowledge, who funds it, who uses it, and who can control its effects? Science alone cannot answer these questions, for they also involve society, the economy, values, and our vision of the future…
KNOWLEDGE
27ArtsCreating, Representing, Showing…
CENSORSHIP
DESTRUCTION OF CULTURAL HERITAGE
INEQUAL ACCESS TO THE ARTS
IDEOLOGICAL APPROPRIATION
COMMODIFICATION……
Art can give form to an emotion, a memory, an injustice, a worldview, or an experience that cannot be reduced to a single explanation. However, this freedom to create and represent is itself shaped by power dynamics. Censorship, the destruction of cultural heritage, unequal access to the arts, ideological appropriation, and commodification all demonstrate that works of art never circulate in a completely neutral space. Who can create? Who can be represented? Who decides what deserves to be preserved, displayed, or passed on? Art can challenge dominant representations, but it can also reproduce them. It can bring cultures together, but it can also become the object of appropriation or commodification. It thus maintains a unique relationship with the human condition: where knowledge often seeks to explain, art can compel us to look differently, to feel what we did not understand, and to envision what did not yet exist. It then becomes a reflection of the world – and a way to alter what we are capable of seeing in it…
KNOWLEDGE
28Belief & Non-BeliefLiving with Different Convictions…
FANATICISM
FUNDAMENTALISM
SECTARIANISM
INTOLERANCE
PERSECUTION
RELIGIOUS CONFLICTS
ATHEOPHOBIA…
Believing or not believing profoundly shapes the way each person interprets their existence, the world, and their relationships with others. But when certain beliefs claim to be the only legitimate ones, difference can turn into intolerance, persecution, sectarianism, or conflict. The problem arises when one person’s conviction leaves no room for the existence of another’s. Fanaticism and fundamentalism can transform a belief into a system of division, while atheophobia or other forms of rejection can make nonbelief itself a reason for exclusion. This issue ties into questions of knowledge and truth, but also of power: who can believe, who can practice, who can transmit, who can prohibit? It leads to a broader inquiry into the possibility of living together when the most fundamental conceptions of existence diverge. How, then, can we make coexistence possible in which personal conviction does not abolish the freedom of others?...
KNOWLEDGE
29MeaningGiving meaning to the world…
MANIPULATION OF SYMBOLS
LOSS OF MEANING
CONFLICTS OF INTERPRETATION
INABILITY TO DEFINE……
We do not merely live among things and events: we ascribe meanings to them. A gesture, a word, an image, a ritual, or a symbol can take on different meanings depending on the people, cultures, eras, and situations. The problem arises when these meanings are lost, transformed, manipulated, or become impossible to share. What do we mean when we say that something “makes sense”? And what happens when the same sign no longer means the same thing to me as it does to another person? This difficulty can lead to conflicts of interpretation, but also to a more radical form of disorientation when the frameworks that previously gave meaning to existence no longer function. This framework thus touches on languages, narratives, beliefs, the arts, numbers, and communication, but also on the fundamental question of our ability to understand one another. Giving meaning is certainly an individual act, but we also construct part of our meanings together with others, within histories and cultures that predate us and that we, in turn, transform…
KNOWLEDGE
30NumbersMeasuring Without Reducing…
OBSESSION WITH MEASUREMENT
REDUCING REALITY TO NUMBERS
STATISTICAL MANIPULATION
QUANTIFIED INEQUALITIES
ERRORS IN CALCULATION OR INTERPRETATION…
Numbers allow us to measure, compare, predict, and sometimes make visible what would otherwise be difficult to grasp. They can thus contribute powerfully to our understanding of a problem. But what happens when what is measurable ends up being considered more real than what is not? An obsession with measurement can lead to reducing complex realities to a few indicators, manipulating statistics, or confusing the precision of a calculation with the accuracy of its interpretation. Does a number really say what we think it says? An average can mask considerable variations. An indicator can reveal an inequality while concealing the human stories that make it up. Numbers are therefore both tools of knowledge and potential instruments of power: those who choose what is measured, how it is measured, and how the results are presented also influence the perception of the problem. This insight thus urges us to remain vigilant: measuring the world can help us understand it, provided we do not confuse the world with what we have managed to measure…
KNOWLEDGE
31QuestionsStill Being Able to Question…
LACK OF QUESTIONING
FEAR OF ASKING QUESTIONS
SELF-CENSORSHIP
SUPPRESSED CURIOSITY…
A problem may remain invisible not because it is impossible to see, but because no one dares, thinks, or is allowed to ask the question that would bring it to light. Asking questions does indeed require a certain freedom: the freedom to doubt, to ask why, to challenge what is taken for granted, and to reframe what seems already established. The fear of asking certain questions, self-censorship, or the stifling of curiosity can thus constitute problems in and of themselves. “Where is the problem?” when the question becomes harder to formulate than the answer we are asked to accept? On an individual level, it may be a doubt I dare not voice. On a collective level, it may be a topic that has become taboo. On a global scale, it may be a reality that no one wants to face because it would call into question certain interests or certainties. Asking questions obviously does not guarantee that we’ll find a solution, but it at least allows us to verify that we’re looking in the right place…
KNOWLEDGE
32TruthWhat we hold to be true…
LIES
PROPAGANDA
MANIPULATION
DOGMATISM
IMPOSED TRUTHS…
Truth seems to be what all inquiry should strive for, but human history shows just how difficult it can be to distinguish it from lies, propaganda, manipulation, or mere conviction. The problem is not merely whether something is true: it also concerns who is making the claim, on what evidence, from what standpoint, and with what possibility of contradiction. A truth can be sought, demonstrated, interpreted, contested, or imposed. On an individual level, I may be mistaken while still being sincerely convinced that I am right. Collectively, a repeatedly told narrative can acquire the force of self-evident truth. Politically, an imposed truth can become an instrument of power. The problem then becomes particularly delicate: how can we seek the truth without turning our own certainty into an exclusive truth? The question touches on knowledge, thought, the media, narratives, and digital technologies, and reminds us that a society capable of seeking the truth must also be capable of tolerating contradiction…
POWER
33PowerTo govern, to make decisions, to represent…
AUTHORITARIANISM
DICTATORSHIP
CORRUPTION
ABUSE OF POWER
OPPRESSION
CONCENTRATION OF POWER…
Living together requires agreeing on common rules, designating those who draft or enforce them, organizing institutions, and determining how a community intends to shape its future. Political power thus shapes communal life: it can protect rights, organize services, arbitrate conflicts, represent a population, pursue a policy, or steer a society in certain directions. But it immediately raises fundamental questions: Who governs, on whose behalf, according to what rules, with what legitimacy, and with what checks and balances? Democracy, various forms of representation, the separation of powers, elections, constitutions, and citizen participation are all historically developed ways of addressing these questions, though none of them provides a definitive answer. For power can become concentrated, turn authoritarian, be corrupted, or be exercised to the detriment of those it is supposed to represent. It can also lead to decisions whose consequences extend far beyond those who make them, affecting other populations, other territories, or future generations. “So where is the problem?” Is it in those who hold power, in the way they exercise it, in the rules that govern it, or in the very possibility for those who are subject to it to participate in its transformation? Political power thus leads us to consider simultaneously the citizen, the political community, and the world in which decisions are made, keeping in mind that a collective decision is never solely a matter for those in power: it also calls into question whether or not those being governed are capable of understanding, challenging, participating in, and shaping the conditions of our shared world…
POWER
34Violence & SecurityProtecting Oneself Without Perpetrating Further Violence…
PHYSICAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL VIOLENCE
INSECURITY
REPRESSION
FEAR
SECURITY-RELATED VIOLENCE…
Violence occurs when a person, group, or institution infringes upon the physical or psychological integrity of another, but the issue of security immediately complicates the problem. Protecting oneself against violence can lead to the exercise of another form of coercion. Preventing danger can justify surveillance. Maintaining order can generate fear or repression. How far can we go to protect ourselves, and at what point does protection itself become a form of violence? This question concerns the individual seeking to feel safe, the societies that organize this security, and the authorities to which they delegate the right to use force. It also concerns those who are more vulnerable than others to insecurity or violence. The problem cannot, therefore, be reduced to a simple opposition between violence and the absence of violence: we must also examine the causes of insecurity, the means employed to address it, their legitimacy, and their consequences. Security has human meaning only if it protects without making others less free, less dignified, or less secure……
POWER
35JusticeGiving Everyone Their Due?…
CRIME
INJUSTICES
IMPUNITY
CORRUPTION
INEQUALITIES BEFORE THE LAW
ARBITRARY LAWS
RIGHTS VIOLATIONS…
What is just, and for whom? The existence of laws does not necessarily guarantee justice, just as formal equality before the law does not eliminate the real inequalities among those who must abide by it. Crime, impunity, corruption, discrimination, violated rights, and arbitrary laws show that justice always lies at the intersection of law, power, and values. It concerns those who suffer injustice, those who are accused, those who judge, and society as a whole, which defines the common rules. It also unfolds over time: should we redress today the injustices inherited from the past? How can justice be served when those responsible are no longer here? The human problem of justice, therefore, consists not merely in applying rules, but in seeking the conditions under which a rule can be recognized as legitimate and redress as equitable…
POWER
36Peace & WarManaging Disagreement…
CONFLICTS
WARS
ARMS RACE
MILITARISM
ARMED VIOLENCE
FORCED DISPLACEMENT
DESTRUCTION
LACK OF RECONCILIATION…
War represents one of the most visible and destructive manifestations of humanity’s inability to resolve certain conflicts without resorting to violence. But peace cannot simply be defined as the absence of war. It requires an understanding of the disagreements, power dynamics, wounds, interests, and memories that can continue to fuel a conflict even after the fighting has ended. Wars, militarism, the arms race, forced displacement, and destruction affect both individuals and societies, while decisions made by a few can impact entire populations and span multiple generations. How do we move from victory to reconciliation, from the cessation of fighting to the possibility of living together again? This question leads us to consider the issue not only from the perspective of the attacker and the defender, but also from the perspective of those who suffer, those who flee, and those who will have to rebuild. Peace then appears less as a definitive state than as an ongoing effort to nurture relationships that prevent disagreement from turning into destruction…
THE ECONOMY
37ActionDoing, not doing, producing consequences…
INACTION
USELESS WORK
OVERPRODUCTION
UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES…
Between identifying a problem and solving it lies action, with all the uncertainty it entails. Doing nothing can have consequences just as significant as acting too hastily. Acting with good intentions does not guarantee a desirable outcome. A decision can produce effects that no one anticipated. The problem thus arises from the gap between what we want to do, what we actually do, and what our actions produce. Inaction can perpetuate a situation that has become untenable, while excessive activity can lead to a proliferation of unnecessary interventions, aimless work, or overproduction. This issue cuts across all other variables: power decides, the economy produces, science transforms, communication influences, and society organizes. But above all, it introduces a forward-looking dimension: before acting, can we envisage several possible consequences? And after acting, are we capable of recognizing that the result may not be what we had hoped for? To pose the problem of action is therefore to learn to act without confusing movement with progress, intention with consequence, decision with solution…
THE ECONOMY
38EmploymentWorking, making a living from one’s work…
UNEMPLOYMENT
PRECARIOUSNESS
EXPLOITATION
HARSH WORKING CONDITIONS
SLAVERY
DISCRIMINATION
BURNOUT
LOSS OF MEANING
WORKPLACE INEQUALITIES…
Work allows us to produce, earn a living, develop skills, meet other people, and sometimes give meaning to our lives. But it can also lead to precariousness, exploitation, discrimination, burnout, a loss of meaning, or exclusion. The problem, therefore, lies not only in whether or not one has a job, but in the conditions under which each person carries out their work and the place that work occupies in their life. What do we do with our time when work becomes an absolute necessity, and what becomes of our existence when our work ceases to have meaning? Technological and economic transformations further complicate the issue: some jobs disappear, others emerge, while productivity gains are not necessarily distributed equally. Work thus leads us from the self to society and the economic world: it involves the body, knowledge, money, power, recognition, and time. The human challenge, then, is also to figure out how to make work an activity that serves life…
THE ECONOMY
39TradeExchanging without turning everything into a commodity…
FRAUD
UNFAIR COMPETITION
MONOPOLIES
OVERCONSUMPTION
COMMODIFICATION…
Trade organizes a large part of human exchange: it enables the circulation of goods, services, expertise, and resources between distant people and regions. But exchange becomes problematic when it is based on fraud, deception, unfair competition, monopolies, or a profoundly unbalanced relationship between sellers and buyers. The issue broadens even further when everything can gradually become a commodity: which aspects of reality do we want to subject to commercial exchange, and which do we consider to belong to a different realm? Water, data, knowledge, living organisms, or certain cultural productions can thus be viewed simultaneously as resources, common goods, rights, or commodities, depending on the societies and interests involved. Commerce therefore intimately connects the individual consumer to the global economic systems that make their choices possible. Behind every exchange lie producers, intermediaries, resources, and rules. Understanding the issue thus requires examining not only what exchange brings together, but also what it may render invisible…
THE ECONOMY
40MoneyMeasuring Value?…
GREED
AVARICE
POVERTY
CORRUPTION
DEBT
SPECULATION
DOMINATION
INEQUALITIES…
Money facilitates exchange, allows us to save and invest, and provides a common measure for very different realities. But it can also become an end in itself and profoundly transform relationships between people. Poverty, wealth, debt, speculation, corruption, greed, and domination reveal the tensions within a system in which access to resources depends largely on one’s ability to have money. What does money really measure: the value of a thing, its price, its scarcity, the power it confers, or simply someone’s ability to acquire it? The same sum of money can represent a minimal opportunity for one person and a considerable one for another. Money thus links personal experience – the ability to find shelter, feed oneself, receive medical care, and pass on one’s legacy – to economic systems that far exceed the scope of the individual. It also raises the question of what lies beyond market calculations: time given, solidarity, relationships, knowledge, or life itself…
THE ECONOMY
41SharingWhat we agree to pool together…
SELFISHNESS
ACCUMULATION
INEQUALITIES
EXCLUSION
LACK OF SOLIDARITY
INDIFFERENCE TOWARD OTHERS…
Sharing seems to be one of the simplest acts of communal life: giving, passing on, distributing, making available. Yet sharing immediately brings to light issues of power and inequality. Why do some accumulate what others lack? What leads people to keep for themselves what could be shared? Selfishness, hoarding, indifference, or a lack of solidarity are not merely individual attitudes: they can become enduring social mechanisms. What are we willing to consider sufficiently “common” to agree to share it? The question concerns money and possessions, but also time, knowledge, spaces, opportunities, and responsibilities. It involves the self, which must relinquish a portion of what it owns or controls; others, whose needs may differ from one’s own; and the shared world, whose resources cannot be indefinitely appropriated by a few. The issue of sharing thus leads us to question the foundations of solidarity and, more profoundly, the way in which we decide what belongs to each individual and what can belong to everyone…
THE ECONOMY
42ObjectsOwning, Using, Hoarding…
OVERCONSUMPTION
HOARDING
WASTE
OBSOLESCENCE
DEPENDENCE
WASTE AND SCRAP
MATERIAL ATTACHMENT…
Objects accompany us everywhere: they serve us, protect us, facilitate our activities, and sometimes hold memories or sentimental value. But our relationship with objects can also become a source of dependence, accumulation, and waste. Overconsumption, obsolescence, hoarding, waste, or excessive material attachment are signs of a relationship that goes far beyond the need for practical use. At what point does the object we own begin to own us? The question arises on a personal level – in our desires and habits – but it immediately extends to the economy that produces and markets these objects, to the societies that value their possession, and to the material world that provides the resources necessary for their manufacture. Every object has, in a sense, a history: raw materials extracted from somewhere, energy consumed, labor expended, transportation, use, and finally, its transformation into waste. Questioning objects, then, amounts to asking how we can satisfy our needs without endlessly turning the world into a reservoir of objects to be produced, consumed, and discarded…
COMMUNICATION
43CommunicationFinding a Way to Understand One Another…
INABILITY TO COMMUNICATE
MANIPULATION
MISUNDERSTANDINGS
ISOLATION…
Communication is one of the fundamental conditions of our existence with others. Through speech, gestures, but also through eye contact, silence, images, writing, signs, or technology, we express what we feel, share what we know, pass on what we have received, and seek to understand what others are trying to tell us. Communication thus enables us to form bonds, cooperate, learn, tell stories, negotiate, remember, and build shared realities. It connects the self to others, but also communities, societies, and – nowadays – people separated by vast distances. Yet communication is never synonymous with mutual understanding: a message may fail to get through, be misinterpreted, lose some of its meaning when translated into another language or placed in a different context, or be deliberately distorted. The inability to communicate can lead to isolation or conflict. Misunderstandings can arise from differing frames of reference. Manipulation can specifically exploit the mechanisms of communication to shape a perception, an emotion, or a decision. The proliferation of communication channels in today’s world raises another question. On a global scale, the instantaneous flow of information brings some people closer together while potentially distancing those who lack the same access, speak different languages, or use different codes. How, then, can we create the conditions in which the speaker can be heard, the listener can understand, and everyone can still recognize the other as a conversation partner rather than a target, an audience, or a mere recipient? Communication thus emerges as one of the essential arenas where the very possibility of a shared world is either built – or fails to be built…
COMMUNICATION
44LanguagesUnderstanding Through Diversity…
LANGUAGE LOSS
LINGUISTIC DOMINATION
MISUNDERSTANDING
DISCRIMINATION
LINGUISTIC IMPOVERISHMENT
VERBAL ABUSE
LANGUAGE BARRIERS…
Languages are much more than mere means of communication: they allow us to name the world, express our feelings, articulate our thoughts, pass on knowledge, stories, and imaginations, and recognize ourselves as members of a community while connecting with others. Each language organizes, in its own way, a part of the human experience – through its words, sounds, writing systems, nuances, and the relationships it establishes between things, people, and the world. Learning another language can thus open up a new space for understanding, while failing to share a common language with another person can create a distance that is not merely linguistic. “So where is the problem? ” Is it in what we cannot say, in what we cannot understand, or in the power dynamics that determine which languages can be heard, taught, and passed down? Languages can bring people together and drive them apart, grant a place and take it away, facilitate exchanges while simultaneously producing forms of domination when certain languages become necessary for access to knowledge, work, institutions, or social recognition. They may face discrimination, verbal abuse, poverty, or barriers that make some people’s voices less heard than others’. The disappearance of a language, for its part, is one of the most extreme forms of this vulnerability, since it can take with it words, knowledge, stories, and unique ways of interacting with the world. How do we make so many different languages coexist in the same world?...
COMMUNICATION
45WritingRecording, Transmitting, Transforming…
ILLITERACY
LACK OF LITERACY
CENSORSHIP
FALSIFICATION
THE DISAPPEARANCE OF WRITING SYSTEMS…
To write is to give a visible and transmissible form to a word, a thought, knowledge, a memory, or the imagination. Writing allows us to preserve a record when the voice has fallen silent, to bridge distances, to pass knowledge down from one generation to the next, to compare what has been said, to build knowledge, and to bring into being narratives that can span the centuries. In this way, it profoundly transforms our relationship to time, knowledge, and others: what is written can be reread, interpreted, discussed, translated, and taught – but it can also be forgotten or rediscovered. “What’s the problem?” Is it in what could not be written, in what cannot be read, in what has been written, or in what we do with the traces that have come down to us? Illiteracy and functional illiteracy can deprive some people of this capacity for access and expression. Censorship can prevent a voice from being recorded or disseminated. However, writing is never static: alphabets and writing systems evolve, practices change, and digital technologies, in turn, are revolutionizing the ways we write, publish, preserve, research, and share. What is written thus becomes both a memory and a responsibility, raising the questions: Who can write the world? Who can access what has been recorded? Who can alter its interpretation, and who can decide what will remain as a trace? Writing thus leads us to consider both the signs we produce and the social, cultural, and technical conditions that enable humanity to leave traces, pass them on, and keep them alive…
COMMUNICATION
46NamesTo be named, to be recognized…
ANONYMITY
STIGMATIZATION
DISCRIMINATION
IDENTITY THEFT
IDENTITY ERASURE
CONFLICTS RELATED TO NAMING…
A name seems to be one of the simplest things that allow us to designate someone or something. Yet, naming can mean recognizing, distinguishing, and belonging, but it can also mean reducing, stigmatizing, or erasing. Being deprived of one’s name, seeing one’s identity distorted, being designated by an imposed category, or suffering identity theft directly affects the way each person exists among others. Who has the power to name me, and what does that name do to me? On an individual level, a name contributes to identity. On a collective level, it can become a social, cultural, linguistic, or political marker. Some names are valued, others stigmatized. Some are difficult to pronounce or are deliberately altered. Conflicts surrounding the names of people, places, or peoples also show that naming can become an act of power over history and space. The issue then comes down to the recognition it grants or denies, and to the power exercised by those who have the ability to name others…
COMMUNICATION
47MediaInforming, guiding, selecting…
MISINFORMATION
PROPAGANDA
MANIPULATION
CONCENTRATION & MONOPOLY
SENSATIONALISM
CENSORSHIP
POLARIZATION…
The media make events happening near and far accessible to us, thereby helping to construct a representation of the world that we cannot observe directly. However, this media-shaped world is necessarily selective: some facts are shown, while others remain invisible. Some narratives are prioritized, while others are marginalized. Disinformation, propaganda, manipulation, media concentration, sensationalism, censorship, and polarization demonstrate that information can become a major issue of power. Who decides what deserves to be seen, told, repeated, or forgotten? The problem concerns not only the media that produce the message but also those who receive it, interpret it, and potentially pass it on. In the digital age, the proliferation of sources has not eliminated these questions – it has made them more complex. Information can circulate faster than our ability to verify it. The media thus play a direct role in shaping our perception of others and the world, and the problem becomes one of our collective ability to construct a representation of reality without letting selection, speed, or the pursuit of an audience alone determine what we should consider important
COMMUNICATION
48NarrativesThe stories we weave about the world…
MYTHIFICATION
MANIPULATION
TRANSMISSION OF STEREOTYPES & PREJUDICES
BIASED REWRITING…
Humans do not live by facts alone: they connect them, interpret them, and weave them into narratives. A narrative can preserve memory, give meaning to an experience, bring a community together, or allow us to understand an event from a different perspective. But it can also create myths, perpetuate stereotypes, justify domination, or rewrite the past to serve present-day interests. What story are we telling? Two people can experience the same event and produce radically different narratives, without one account simply being reduced to an error on the part of the other. Narratives are therefore linked to memory, culture, language, the media, and power. They can be limiting when they impose a single interpretation of the world, but they can also be liberating when they allow other voices to emerge. The problem, then, is not having narratives, but knowing how to create a dialogue among them without confusing narrative diversity with indifference to the truth…
COMMUNICATION
49Digital Technologies & AIWhen Our Tools Transform the Way We Are Human…
MISINFORMATION
ADDICTION
SURVEILLANCE
PRIVACY INFRINGEMENTS
DIGITAL DIVIDE
MANIPULATION
LOSS OF REFERENCE POINTS
ALGORITHMIC BIAS
JOB LOSSES……
Digital technologies and artificial intelligence are not merely new tools: they are gradually transforming the conditions under which we obtain information, work, make decisions, communicate, and perceive ourselves. “What’s the problem?” Is it the technology itself, the ways we use it, those who design and control it, the data it facilitates access to, the dependencies it creates, or the changes it imposes on our activities? The question becomes even more complex when systems can generate content, decisions, or recommendations that, in turn, influence how we perceive the world. Disinformation, surveillance, privacy violations, the digital divide, algorithmic biases, the loss of reference points, and the transformation of work are therefore not isolated problems: they relate to knowledge, power, the economy, communication, society, and the relationship we have with our own capacity to think and make decisions. The human challenge posed by AI may therefore lie less in knowing what it can do than in understanding how its presence changes what we do, what we know, what we believe, and who we are becoming…
COMMUNICATION
50AppearancesWhat we show, what others see…
SUPERFICIALITY
DISCRIMINATION
CONFORMISM
CONCEALMENT
SOCIAL PRESSURE
THE CULT OF IMAGE…
We are constantly presenting ourselves to others – whether intentionally or not – through our appearance, the way we dress, behave, present ourselves, or stage our lives. Appearance can be a means of self-expression and identity-building, but it can also become problematic when it turns into a norm that everyone is expected to conform to. Superficiality, discrimination, social pressure, self-concealment, or an obsession with image all demonstrate just how much the gaze of others can influence our relationship with ourselves. Am I who I am, what I show, or what others see in me? This question takes on new significance when technology makes it possible to produce, modify, and disseminate representations at a remarkable speed. Appearance then no longer concerns only the body: it touches on digital identity, reputation, social comparison, and the narratives each of us constructs around our own existence……
COMMUNICATION
51EmotionsWhat moves us and connects us…
FEAR
HATRED
JEALOUSY
ANGER
FRUSTRATION
LONELINESS
SUFFERING…
Fear, hatred, jealousy, anger, frustration, loneliness, and suffering are part of our intimate experience, but no emotion remains entirely confined within the individual. Our emotions influence our relationships, our decisions, and sometimes our collective behaviors. They can bring us together, drive us apart, mobilize us, or lead to violence. What do we do with what we feel, and what do we do with what others feel? The difficulty sometimes stems from the emotion itself, but also from the inability to recognize it, name it, or share it. An individual fear can become a collective fear. Frustration can be fueled by a narrative. Anger can lead to mobilization or violence, depending on the form it takes. Feelings are thus closely intertwined with the body, society, narratives, communication, and power. Viewing them as a dimension of the human condition does not mean pitting reason against them, but rather understanding that thinking, deciding, and acting also involve beings who feel…
COMMUNICATION
52HappinessWhat Are We Ultimately Seeking?…
DISSATISFACTION
EXCESSIVE COMPARISON
SOCIAL PRESSURE
OBSESSION WITH PERFORMANCE
FRUSTRATION
LOSS OF MEANING…
Happiness seems to be the ultimate goal of many human pursuits, but its definition remains deeply subjective. What makes one person happy may leave another indifferent, and what is presented as a prerequisite for happiness can sometimes lead to dissatisfaction, comparison, or frustration. Social pressure, an obsession with performance, the constant pursuit of success, or comparing ourselves to others can turn the quest for happiness into a new source of unhappiness. What are we looking for when we seek to be happy, and who taught us what happiness should be? The question touches on the meaning we give to our lives, the relationships we maintain, the possessions we own, the work we do, and the images to which we compare ourselves. It also raises the issue of the self in relation to others and the world: can we conceive of our own happiness independently of the conditions in which those around us live? Happiness thus sets the wheel in motion again by posing perhaps the most demanding question of all: if we seek to solve human problems, what kind of world do we ultimately want to make possible?
A wheel of human problems…
The wheel of problems thus invites us to shift our perspective. For example, starting from the self to reach out to the other, to others. Starting from the world to explore the seven variables related to a given theme. Starting from a society to examine how it fosters – or fails to foster – interrelationships through a number of the 52 reference points. Spinning the wheel means recognizing that a single problem can take on different forms depending on the perspective from which we observe it, but also that an individual problem can reveal a collective dimension, or that a local problem can have global implications, and just as much that a contemporary issue can have its roots in a longer history. The wheel thus clearly invites us to broaden our perspectives, to cross-examine different dimensions, to reveal interdependencies, and, perhaps, to address the question “Where is the problem?” by asking ourselves: from where should we look at it, with whom should we look at it, or to what extent are we willing to accept its consequences?
