An emotionally intelligent society
The true nature of human progress: are we naturally bound to cycles of violence or do we have the power to bridge the divide and change the course of history?
Katja Geršak
Editor-in-Chief, Bled Strategic Times

- This article was originally published as part of the 2018 edition of Bled Strategic Times, the official gazzette of the Bled Strategic Forum (BSF) international conference. You can access the full version of this and other BSF publications by visiting our official website.
We pride ourselves on being progressive and there is no doubt that we are. We brought our human race out of caves to the 162nd floor and from the dark ages to the age of tweets and likes.
The pace of human technological development over the past century is impressive to say the least. If we plot it on the graph and put it in a historical perspective it would closely resemble a vertical line.
Furthermore, I believe, we are only now entering an era of exponential technological leaps in the areas of computing, biotechnology and nanotechnology. Hence we place a lot of emphasis on these topics at this year’s Bled Strategic Forum.
AI has huge potential in almost every aspect of our personal and professional lives — from automating customer support and improving targeted marketing to developing self-driving vehicles. There is no stopping the development of AI. As authors of two articles in Bled Strategic Times point out many jobs might become obsolete or be replaced by computers in the coming decades. We could be looking at a massive scale of social displacement or ‘digital communism,’ as one of the articles terms it.
What we are now learning and able to do in biotechnology is nothing short of miraculous as well. Replicate nature, create life and tailor it. Biotechnological methods promise a variety of important social and environmental benefits, such as cheaper and effective medicines, more efficient farming and pollution abatement. While areas of biotech remain controversial and ethnically questionable the pace of biotech development is not slowing down. Will we be able to double our life span soon? Will we be able to alter detrimental genetic traits before birth? I think the answer to these is probably yes, particularly when we also take a look at the great advancements in the field of nanotechnology. And where is that taking us? Nanotechnology could hold answers to resource scarcity and environmental deterioration, for instance our ability to simply transform plastic waste into organic matter, which will not harm our environment. Exciting times indeed.
However there is a question begging to be asked. Amid these technological leaps what is the true nature of human progress? Are we more emotionally intelligent now than our race was 100 years ago, how about 1000 years ago?
Despite of immense technological leaps the phrase ‘Human history repeats itself’ still rings true because we are prone to undergoing bouts of violence and wars followed by years or decades of peace … but not centuries.
We have progressed. The concepts of universality of human rights and our great efforts to resolve conflicts in a peaceful way attest to that. We have developed complex institutions, rules of engagement, process of mediation and conflict resolution all in the effort to prevent large scale violence.
I firmly believe that societies, which enable free expression, protect individual human rights and strive towards equality, can claim a higher level of emotional intelligence then societies based on repression and fear. Unfortunately the fact that there are more democratic countries globally then ever before does not in any way ensure that this trend will be sustained. Democracy and the ideas of a democratic society go back more then 2000 years.
Were Greeks at the time of the first democratic republic of Athens in Ancient Greece in 510BC more or less emotionally intelligent then Germans under Hitler in 1936? This might sound like a completely erroneous argument, but think about it. With all this new technology are we just going to end up killing each other in more sophisticated ways? Are we bound by cycles of violence because of our very nature?
Just take a look at the backlash to the immigration crisis in Europe and see how easy it is to slip back to the natural human reaction — dividing people between us and them, making ‘them’ into less worthy human beings who are dangerous therefore pose a threat to our society. And up come the walls, loud are the nationalistic leaders and revived are the extremist groups. And yet we call ourselves a tolerant and progressive society.
Note that the advancement of digital technology has not helped, it is only amplifying the existing differences between us in digital space.
So if the cycle is upon us again, then ask yourself, do we have the power to break it.
It would take a substantial departure from historic norms not to turn new technology into advantages of power, develop ever more sophisticated means of control and domination. And what of AI and military? Some technologies are so powerful they are nearly irresistible and militaries are coming to the same conclusion with regards to Artificial Intelligence. Building a new breed of military equipment with AI is a question of when and not if. Many of the great tech thinkers and companies have warned of dangers of AI and have signed on to a document swearing not to build autonomous weapons. Among these are Elon Musk, Demis Hassabis (Google’s DeepMind project) and Jeff Dean (Chocolate Factory’s AI lab).
This is the step in the right direction, but does humanity have the strength, the collective intelligence, to truly progress, emotionally progress and to do so on a systemic level.
Emotional intelligence starts with every individual — having self-awareness of emotions, self-management of impulsive feelings, empathy towards emotions, needs and concerns of others, as well as ability to build good relationships and manage conflict. Fortunately emotional intelligence (EI) can be learned and schools, which implemented such programs are seeing positive results. This needs to move to a systemic level in our education systems. We need to start in kindergartens and primary schools as well as reach families, communities and businesses. That truly is an investment into a better future.
We are now aware of the fact that EI is a key skill set for leaders, yet we do not place any minimum requirements on our top government leadership. Heads of state should be emotionally intelligent people. Period. Without having this skill, you do not qualify to lead a nation, to make decisions, which will impact on society for decades, to make history.
It is painfully clear that we have not yet graduated to this level, that we set considerably lower standards for ourselves and consequently for our leaders. But if we educate the coming generations they may make better decisions.
Can we become an emotionally intelligence society? I believe we should certainly strive towards it, as the next great leap in human progress. We need to take an introspective view of ourselves, and improve relations on a societal level to lessen conflict and pave the way to a more peaceful and secure future for generations to come.
The concept of an emotional intelligent society is still in its nascent stage and history may well catch up with us again. Given that we are enjoying a relative period of peace in the West then what are we leaving to our children? The signs of trouble are already on the horizon — regression of democracy globally, rising nationalism in Europe and the US.
We have always been known for great leaps. But our greatest leap forward will be steering technological progress away from destruction.

