Presentation of Vital Challenges 2023

Session Description

Presentation of the book Retos Vitales 2023, Humanismo tecnológico y resiliencia. Prevalecer en los límites del crecimiento. Edited by McGraw Hill.

Fernando Ónega López, Honorary Academic Elect of the RAED, points out in the prologue:

I think about inequality, polarization and lack of access to basic rights that persist as obstacles on the path to a more just and equitable society. How can we build bridges to harmonious coexistence through the so-called “economy of the common good”?

I think about the recent crises and the sad legacy they left: the fear of degrowth and the tendency to deteriorate business leadership and its development. How do you restore it, if only to generate a positive social impact?

I think of Europe, which is heading towards the 2024 elections with the risk of definitively feeding the monster of the extreme right, which is touching centers of power in countries of the Union and lives faced with the expansionist temptations of its aggressor, who also threatens with the nuclear bomb or World War III.

I think of urban development at a time of strong demand for housing and high pressure for spaces and services and of a cry from our cities in demand of intelligent projects, of human adaptation to social changes and demands and of incorporation of all citizens to all the facilities of the welfare society.

I think about new technologies, of spectacular and surprising progress every day, and about aspects that still seem mysterious to me, such as artificial intelligence, whose practical application, but also its dangers, offer so many unknowns. When these lines are written, the newspapers are full of questions about the role of human beings in front of machines, about the predominance of technology over feelings, about our personal data converted into bargaining chips in an uncontrolled market.

I think about health, the first right of the person. I celebrate, like everyone, the prodigious advances of medicine in each of its specialties, which surprise us every day. I also celebrate, like everyone, living in a public health system that guarantees universal care, without distinction of origins or classes. But I am equally concerned about the trend towards robotic medicine and, above all, the cutting of health spending, the consequences of which we have seen in the recent Covid-19 pandemic.

And I think, naturally, of the climate crisis, which I do not hesitate to describe as the most transcendent challenge of our era, which threatens the existence of the planet, which endangers the survival of humanity and which sends fearsome signs of a very dark future. for the new generations: if temperature records are broken daily today, if large lakes dry up, what world will the children who are born live in, let’s say from the year 2020? And something also very disturbing: do the current governments and supranational organizations have the capacity to respond – I hope they have it at least as an initiative? Until now they have not demonstrated it, despite the multitude of meetings, assemblies and summits they have held.

Each of these issues is a piece of the puzzle of society in the first third of the 21st century. I need to say that in this Vital Challenges for a new era I found – and I believe the most demanding reader will find – the plurality of criteria and the intellectual authority that this mosaic requires.

Vital Challenges 2023 website

Consult the website of the Vital Challenges 2023 document

Participants

Presentation:

• Alfredo Rocafort Nicolau, President of the Royal European Academy of Doctors.

Moderator:

• Cecilia Kindelán Amorrich, Full Academician of the RAED.

Speakers:

• José María Baldasano Recio, Full Academician of the RAED.
• José Ramón Calvo Fernández, President of the Institute of International Cooperation of the Royal European Academy of Doctors.
• Ma. dels Àngels Calvo Torras, Vice President of the RAED.
• Teresa Freixes Sanjuan, Vice President of the RAED.
• Jaume Llopis Casellas, Member of the Governing Board of the RAED.
• Aldo Olcese Santonja, Vice President of the RAED.
• Jordi Martí Pidelaserra, Member of the Governing Board of the RAED.
• Miquel Ventura Monsó, Pro Royal European Academy of Doctors Foundation.

Vital Challenges 2023 Book

At the presentation event, a copy of the book can be purchased with a donation of €30 to the Pro Royal European Academy of Doctors Foundation.

If an order is placed at a later date, it can be purchased with a donation of €40 to the Pro Royal European Academy of Doctors Foundation, requesting it to the email address secretaria@raed.academy, or to tel. 93 667 40 54.

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