This presentation was held by Max Tallberg, the founder and chairperson of Global Visions, in “Planetary Political Imagination and Democracy: From Ideas to Action”, an event organized by Polifa, in Helsinki, on 20.2.25.
The topic for my presentation tonight is “On the importance of envisioning a better future”. I will approach the themes of this presentation through three questions, which are: Why is it important to envision a better future? What could these future visions look like? And: How could we get there, or move towards these visions?
In today’s world, it is easy to lose hope in the prospect of a better future. Many developments suggest that we are heading toward major disruptions in the near future. The threats we face today seem larger than ever, encompassing not only individual nations but humanity as a whole. At the same time, change is occurring at an unprecedented pace—whether in terms of climate change, technological advancements, or international relations. To navigate these changes in a positive way, we need a new approach to decision-making, cooperation, and governance—one that considers the well-being of the entire world and all its inhabitants.
Given this perspective, it is understandable why many believe that the trajectory of global development is leading us toward destruction. However, this viewpoint may not reflect the full reality of our world and its future possibilities. While it is entirely rational to be concerned about the future of our planet and humanity, we must also recognize that there is always room for hope, for envisioning a better world, and, most importantly, for finding solutions. In a world where change happens rapidly, the threats we face may indeed be significant—but so too are the opportunities, if we can harness change for the greater good.
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So, firstly: Why is it important to envision a better future? For me, the first key point here is to acknowledge that the future is never predetermined, no matter how inevitable certain predictions may appear. We have the power to influence the course of events, even if we do not always recognize this. If we fail to explore and understand the vast range of potential solutions to today’s challenges, we also cannot expect to seize opportunities for positive change when they arise. And they inevitably will arise, regardless of the difficulties or probabilities involved in making the right decisions then.
It is also highly likely that, soon, we will encounter multiple turning points—decisive moments that will shape humanity’s trajectory for generations to come. While we cannot predict the exact actions that will be taken then, we can begin to imagine the possibilities these future choices may offer and work to increase the likelihood of positive outcomes.
Given these realities, seeking solutions—even those that may not be immediately feasible—is more important now than ever before. To bring about positive change, we must have a clear vision of where we want to go and how to get there. This applies not only to the initial steps but also perhaps to defining an ultimate goal—an aspiration for humanity and our planet that we can strive toward.
This is where the Global Visions Association comes in. Our mission is to serve as a platform for dialogue on improving the world, both today and in the future, particularly from a global perspective. We believe the best solutions are those that can be accepted by all, maximizing their positive impact.
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And this brings me to the second question, which is: What could these future visions look like? For me, we cannot answer this question without first examining the individual and collective well-being and the ways we human beings’ function, so I will briefly investigate this first. In many ways, human nature has remained unchanged throughout history, and our actions continue to be influenced by fundamental aspects of our existence.
A crucial insight is that humans are inherently social beings, driven by a complex mix of forces and motivations—many of which stem from our biology and evolutionary history. We can act in both self-serving and destructive ways, but also in rational, altruistic, and compassionate ways. Our deep social nature means we seek connection with others while also desiring personal well-being.
When we examine modern society, we might conclude that many of today’s personal and societal issues stem from the fact that we no longer live in a way that aligns with our natural human tendencies. Fame, social media popularity, and wealth do not seem to bring happiness. Instead, meaningful relationships, shared values, and goals that transcend individual interests are the true sources of fulfillment. One could argue that such well-being is imprinted in the human mind and body. The reported happiness of individuals in modern hunter-gatherer societies may support this notion.
Considering these insights, we must rediscover meaning and well-being through our connections with others and by working toward the betterment of the world. We cannot be happy alone. And while life may not have a universal meaning, individuals can always find purpose in meaningful endeavors in their personal life. As we focus on community and cooperation, we must also remember to respect individuality—without becoming fixated on it.
Perhaps the most fundamental question for humanity is how we can live together in a way that balances both individual and collective well-being. For me, the key here is to create a world where everyone has a fair chance to realize their potential. The individual wellbeing and prosperity this creates should then at least partly be directed back into society to enhance the collective wellbeing of all.
So, our goal should be a society, where individual and collective wellbeing are balanced in an optimal way. This balance has been achieved in the past within smaller communities and societies, as noted by economist Amartya Sen. In many ways, this should be our goal once again, but this wellbeing should now encompass the whole world.
This would not be an impossible thing to do. Even though we know how humans usually function, this does not mean that any behaviors or reactions would be inevitable. For me, the key to shaping the future may lie in how we, as individuals, groups, and members of society, perceive and experience the world, but most importantly, are motivated and incentivized to act within it through this perception.
History has also shown that people’s actions can be influenced. This has often been done by elites who shape societal norms to serve their own interests. We have seen that masses of people can be manipulated into greatly harming one another under such influences.
Yet the opposite is also true: humanity has the potential to act constructively and benevolently. Consider the transformative movements led by Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela, and, more recently, Greta Thunberg. These examples demonstrate that under the right conditions, human beings can come together for positive change. The challenge lies in channeling this potential in ways that align with our natural social instincts and moral inclinations.
Throughout history, humans have also always envisioned a better world. The ancient Greeks and Romans spoke of cosmopolitanism and natural law, ideas that emphasize universal human rights beyond the confines of individual societies. Philosophers like Hegel later conceived history as moving toward a higher purpose. So, this inclination to envision a better world seems deeply rooted in human nature, which also gives us reason to believe that it is still important and worthwhile.
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What, then, could a vision of a better world look like on a more tangible level? I argue that we already possess many of the answers regarding this, and that they all point towards a surprisingly similar end goal, which resembles the end goal I outlined earlier. Some of these answers are ancient, such as the ideals and visions shared by most of the world religions or the previously mentioned ideals of cosmopolitanism. Others are more recent, but at the same time they also perhaps share a basis in history. And maybe, most importantly, one could argue that all these solutions are in some profound way universal.
What could these answers, then, look like today? They include, in my opinion, concepts such as human rights, democracy and the welfare state. They are all partly modern answers that point towards a society and world where the rights, viewpoints, and welfare of everyone are secured and considered, and where personal and collective wellbeing is optimized. This ideal has already been achieved in the past in local communities, such as pointed out by Sen. Today they can best be realized on a societal level in the Nordic Welfare Countries.
When examining these solutions we already have, one could argue that human rights give us the rights and principles that should be respected, democracy the possibility of hearing from all sides, making sure that everyone takes part in those discussions, and gets a chance to defend their rights, and the Welfare State gives us the goal to head for, where both the real ideals of human rights and democracy are realized in a way through which also collective welfare is optimized.
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The future goal for humanity, then, starting from today, would be to secure this welfare on a global level, harnessing the potential of each individual and improving everyone’s life through this. And this brings me to the third question: How could we get to a vision of a better world?
At Global Visions, we have already examined some of these possible solutions. We have been interested in the possibility of a Basic Income, implemented also on a Global level, interviewing experts and holding two events with guests from the University of Helsinki and Kela. This past year we have focused more on the Global South hearing from people in smaller communities and the challenges they face, as well as interviewing representatives of the Debt for Climate movement who propose Debt Cancellation as a means of funding climate initiatives and lifting the Global South out of Poverty. We will be continuing this subject this year.
When trying to utilize the potential of humanity to the fullest, one cannot overlook the possibilities and potential of the immigrant communities all over the world, which is why we started a guest blog series last year that aimed to amplify the experience of immigrants living in Finland and ways to improve the situation for immigrants. Our association has also been interested in the idea of the free movement of people and a few years ago we had a conversation with Professor Alex Sager from the University of Portland, who has extensively researched the ethics of migration and the possibilities of a cosmopolitan approach to migration.
In our annual State of the World event, we have taken a very open and critical approach to the current problems facing the world, as the only way to find solutions is to fearlessly reveal the problems. We also are interested in the role of innovations in the future, and we held a panel on Artificial Intelligence, Democracy and Human Rights that included a Global South perspective, that we feel has been missing in mainstream conversations. This year we will hold three events, one on Climate Change and possible solutions and another event concerning the possibility of a Global Carbon Tax. We also will hold our annual State of the World event in December.
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Once again, the key to positive change is to equip the whole of humanity with the right conditions to discuss, imagine and implement solutions. At the heart of this lies the quest for us to come together in a productive and positive way.
We already have evidence that people can agree on difficult questions, even though they might not share the same initial viewpoints on them. When we, once again, examine the nature of the human being, we know that we are usually friendly to people, even people coming from different backgrounds, but this requires us to get to know them first on a personal level. If we remember for instance this, and use this knowledge in a productive way, positive changes and solutions through joint discussion are possible. This is evident for instance in the deliberative democracy discussions and the solutions regarding them held on abortion in Ireland.
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There are also other genuine reasons for real hope and optimism today. For instance, on an absolute level, global welfare is higher today than ever before, as evidenced by rising levels of education and economic development. Additionally, humanity has access to more knowledge across all scientific and technological fields than at any other time in history. This suggests that our ability to develop solutions that benefit all of humanity is greater than ever. The potential for scientific and technological progress is also vast, and we may not yet even comprehend what could be achieved in the next 50 to 200 years. Today, we also understand human behavior better than ever—both on an individual and collective level and thus have the tools to impact this in a productive way. All of this, however, necessitates that we manage these possibilities together.
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We believe that the best solutions, solutions that point our way towards a brighter future, are such that they can be at least accepted by all, and that the joint benefits of those kinds of solutions are also the greatest. For us to solve for instance climate change, we need to solve it for all humanity – if we are not able to do this, all of humanity will pay the price, including those who are in the most privileged position today.
If we come together in this right way, we will surely realize that there is much more that we have in common than what separates us from each other. Maybe the visions we have as individuals are in the end also surprisingly similar, and we would realize this if we only took the time to discuss them and the values and aspirations behind them together.
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Humanity would also come far if we only took the time to examine the scientific truths, we know about ourselves and how we function together today. These include the facts that immigration does not lead to increased criminality, that the variation between individual human beings is bigger than the variation between groups, that inequality leads to declined wellbeing even for the privileged, or that human rights and democracy are desired all around the world, and autocracy, corruption and wars rejected. Remembering such universal political facts and utilizing them in the right way, through a joint discussion, where we look for common global solutions, is the best way for us to build a better world today and in the future.
