A virus turned our lives upside down and shook our societies at the foundations. While every one of us was affected, the young, the elderly, women, and the destitute were disproportionately impacted, often dramatically so. The virus has forced us to face the music that scientists and philosophers have been hearing for
some time now, that we are vulnerable members of an interdependent species reliant on not only our fellow human beings, but every living organism in the biosphere. This was the awakening of a “planetizen” consciousness that resulted from the experience of the pandemic.
This is a book of hope. It’s a call to action in communion with others because alone we are nowhere near as strong as we are in numbers. What if the only thing keeping us from taking better care of ourselves, others, and the planet was simply a matter of coming across the right information to nurture our natural, cultural and digital commons ? What if we could renew the legacy of Athens and the Enlightenment— citizenship, democracy, science, culture, debate, and education—to build a new, more inclusive, more global, more ecological Enlightenment, a Planetizen Enlightenment, that would better equip us in the digital age to preserve our precious planet for future generations?
Drawing inspiration from real-world examples where collective intelligence has fostered collective action, François Taddei invites us to imagine a future in which knowledge is shared freely across the globe, there’s no limit to the enfranchisement of civil rights, and everyday people can become «good ancestors» and craft the world the way they want it to be.