Festival dell'Economia

QUO VADIS? THE DILEMMAS OF OUR TIME

A minute after choosing the title for the nineteenth edition of the Festival dell'Economia in Trento, we got confirmation that it was the right decision. What is happening in the world increasingly justifies the question "Quo vadis?" and the related subtitle "The dilemmas of our time." This is the case with wars, which have once again become an instrument of conflict resolution, dumping hundreds of thousands of innocent civilian victims on peoples. But also on so many other fronts. So numerous that they undermine the party of optimists and sow, especially among the younger generation but not only, anxieties and uncertainties about the future of the earth and humanity.

What kind of fate awaits the world in the face of a climate crisis that disrupts the rhythm of the seasons and causes environmental disasters in a chain? Will the high public debt eventually destabilize the authority of states? Will economic development win the day against the squeeze needed to beat inflation? Is energy transition achievable within the tight timeframe dictated by the West?"

How will work and personal life change with the irruption of artificial intelligence? Will the demographic winter eventually overwhelm welfare systems? Can populisms and democracies be reconciled? Will the pneumatic vacuum following the collapse of ideologies be filled by the emergence of new values? Will autarchies really end up crumbling? Will the emerging new health care really improve the quality of life? Surely humanity must come to terms with pressing questions, precisely the dilemmas of our lives.