“I believe that history calls us ... to a destiny beyond détente, beyond peaceful coexistence, into a new era which might be best described as an era of “common existence”. Common existence recognizes that even coexistence by itself is not enough – that even though there are proper areas of competition, there are inescapable and increasing imperatives of cooperation.”
Our Quote of the Week calls on us to work towards a world in which cooperation is more important than competition, in which we, as global citizens, pull together to preserve and protect our common right to exist in safety and peace.
This week’s NATO Summit, set against the backdrop of the US Presidential election, calls to mind a trip Sargent Shriver took to Russia, then the Soviet Union, in 1975. He was considering running for president at the time, and indeed, he would announce his candidacy for president five months later. Sargent Shriver gave this particular address, Toward an International Ethic of Science, at a scientific conference in Novosibirsk, Russia. Our Quote of the Week comes from the beginning of the speech, in which Shriver acknowledges the political tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union, emphasizing that the two countries must go beyond the easing of tensions (“détente”) to a more peaceful and collaborative state, i.e., a “common existence”. He goes on to say:
"[I believe] that the Soviet Union and the United States must change with the world we inhabit – and that this world will be neither habitable nor hospitable for ourselves or for others unless we invest less in rival endeavor and more in shared enterprise.”
Shriver then speaks of advancements in society related to technology and warfare, and lists global threats to our common existence including nuclear war, environmental disasters, and even climate change. The evolution we are undergoing as human beings, argues Shriver, brings opportunities as well as risks. But what’s crucial, as this evolution unfolds, is our ability to organize and cooperate across borders:
“Problems of staggering complexity – from the prevention of nuclear holocaust to the preservation of ecological integrity – pose new necessities and summon us all to new levels of international effort. At the same time, the very forces of science and technology which have thrust upon us this need for action offer new possibilities and hold the promise of a new framework for human progress. The framework – the structure of possibility – embodies an ethical system drawing in part on the ideals of science, a range of problem-solving techniques drawing on the methods of scientific inquiry, and a set of international arrangements drawing on the global unity of science as an enterprise.”
It has been almost 50 years since Sargent Shriver spoke these words, and in that time, the significance of his observations has become ever more apparent. We must recognize ourselves as members of a global human family. And we must demand that our leaders foster international collaboration, pursue diplomacy, and de-escalate conflict whenever it occurs.
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