In a recent conversation, historian Yuval Noah Harari, Nobel peace prize-winning journalist Maria Ressa, and former Conservative MP Rory Stewart discussed how to navigate an increasingly fragmented world. The discussion, which touched on AI, democracy, and global instability, began with a central question: how to live a good life in difficult times.
Harari noted that modern liberalism and democracy have allowed people with different views of a good life to coexist by agreeing on basic rules. However, he warned that those who believe they have the absolute answer often try to impose it on others, citing medieval crusades as an example. 'What we are witnessing in the world right now is more of the same,' he said.
Stewart reflected on the decline of the liberal model that emerged after the Second World War, characterised by democracy, free trade, and a rules-based international order. He argued that this model has unravelled since the mid-2000s, replaced by authoritarian populism, protectionism, and isolation. 'The strong do what they can, the weak must suffer what they must,' he said, adding that social media and AI have reinforced these trends.
Ressa emphasised the threat of impunity in both the physical and virtual worlds, where big tech uses surveillance for profit and manipulates individuals at a cellular level. She invoked religious teachings about the inner battle between one's better and worse selves, asking how to maintain such values when the means of connection are corrupted. Harari concluded that the new danger is the ability to hack human beings and manipulate that inner battle, a power that did not exist in previous centuries.
