We have not thought about our values for far too long. The last time was at the beginning of the industrialization. At that time, we developed our eco-social system, on which our present society is still based. This industrial value system is in turn based on religious roots that primarily regulate the interaction between people, what is good and what is evil. And if we go one step further, we end up with the ancient Greeks, who shaped our understanding of being human, which is still valid today.

In all this time many norms, rules and laws have been developed with which we regulate our everyday life today. In private life, at work, even love, leisure and quality of life is written down in them. Now we are entering a new era – digitalization. It is not just new technology that is entering our everyday lives, it is a new form of society and economy. It officially replaced industrialization in 2010.

To reduce it only to technology would not only be wrong, but it would also deprive us of the infinite possibilities behind it. Since, due to the new technology, many structures and processes in our lives are changing anyway, we might as well rethink them. During the heyday of industrialization, this would have been nonsense, because the benefits were disproportionate to the effort involved. But now, thanks to the new digital structures, we have different prerequisites. Not only can they be designed much more flexibly and changed more quickly than in the industrial age, but they are also above all one thing: completely new.

Just as an example: our production will change. Instead of being centrally industrialized, it will once again be handcrafted locally, supported by digital machines that already cost only a tenth of what they would have cost ten years ago. Even complete cars will no longer be built on the assembly line in the future, but in somewhat larger garages in the middle of the city, where robots lift all the parts to the vehicle that are stored around the “construction site.” The same applies to textile products, carpentry, plastics – even the production of steel will be implemented in highly efficient electric arc furnaces in the middle of the city. The first machines are being built right now.

And us? Do we really want to carry on as before? Don’t we want to seize the opportunity and redefine ourselves? Don’t we want to ask ourselves questions like: What do we as humans actually want on this planet? What do we want our society to achieve? How do we want to live, dwell, work, keep ourselves healthy? How do we define happiness and joy in life?

The digital enables us to find new answers to all our life issues (health, nutrition, politics, economy, leisure, generations, climate, culture, etc.) – which, by the way, do not have to be 100% digital. Perhaps the digital can give us more freedom in the analog with each other!

Instead, we are trying to squeeze the new digital technology into traditional structures. In doing so, we leave out many possibilities. The result is, among other things, huge tech companies that use digital technology but still operate largely in industrial structures. We could think in a much more democratic, lively and sensible way. We need new frameworks, laws, rules, political systems, new ideas of health prevention, for nutrition. All this will come. And if we keep our values in focus, it will offer new positive perspectives for our society, as well as for all other people on this planet.

The digital age will not be “won” by the one who invents the newest and hottest technology, but by the one who brings the most livable values for people and society.

Stay active, define new values and shape your future!