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Sicut in Caelo, Et in Terra
When Pope John Paul II visited Romania in 1999, he achieved a historical landmark as it was the first time the head of the Catholic Church visited a primarily Eastern Orthodox country since the Great Schism in 1054. While his papacy did not escape criticism and controversy, John Paul II was arguably one of the most charismatic and well-liked popes in recent times, having received recognition for several breakthroughs: he is widely credited for his role in motivating political movements that led to the collapse of Communist regimes and of the Duvalier rule in Haiti; he publicly addressed apologies in the name of the Catholic Church to those individuals and groups who had suffered because of it, for instance the Galileo affair, the actions of the Inquisition or the Church’s underwhelming response to the Holocaust. Another key feature of his tenure was the efforts he invested to establish and sustain dialogue among the Abrahamic faiths. Although, from a theological viewpoint, he is considered to have been a conservative, he came under criticism from both progressives and traditionalists for issues such as failing to adequately handle the sex abuse of children by Catholic prelates, his stances against artificial birth control methods or his support of religious freedom. More
How Many Healthy Life Years for Romanians in EU Context
In 2020, the number of healthy life years at birth in the EU was 64.5 years for women and 63.5 years for men. Romanians had a significantly shorter healthy life span, four years less for women and 4.2 years less for men. Nevertheless, we ranked at 17 for women and at 19 for men in-between the EU27 member states. More
The Supreme Unity, the Unity of the Species
After exploring continents, seas, and then, with great sacrifice, the air, we wanted to know for sure what lies beyond the Earth’s confines. Mankind’s scientific adventure in outer space and even beyond, in the interplanetary area, is directly connected with the long-lasting question regarding the origin of life on Earth. Did the seed of life originate from our own planet, or is it coming from the galactic space? If Panspermia is indeed true, does life outside of our world hold the same Carbon building blocks and RNADNA construction? Could we be compatible? However, if our life began on Earth, birthed by our planet’s unique conditions, what would life look like in the other parts of the Universe? In lieu of concrete methods of analysis, these questions are being approached by scientists in a rather philosophical way, but they are indeed questions which will, sooner or later, require an answer, once incremental steps take us to the exploration of place where alien life may be present, even in our Solar System. More
Economic Sovereignty: Between Slogans and Realities
In the speeches of some politicians and in the writings of some Romanian journalists and economists, the slogan of economic sovereignty is often present. The economic conception expressed by this phrase is obviously inspired by the xenophobic-autarchic model of the Communist economy, but it is also reminiscent of the “Through Ourselves” policy applied in the interwar period. In order to be economically independent, Romania must come out of the world in one way or another! The problem is that in the face of globalization, leaving the world can have serious consequences. Ultimately, autarky means reducing imports and limiting foreign capital inflows, which impedes economic development and makes economic sovereignty impossible. More
To the Moon and Back
On July 20th 2019, the world celebrated the 50th anniversary of the first manned mission to touch down and explore the Moon’s surface. At the time, this was generously presented by the Americans as an achievement for all mankind, but it was, in fact, a near knock-out punch in the Space Race between the US and the Soviet Union. This race was, among other things, a competition for prestige in the eyes of the world and a validation of each country’s individual development model. It was also what Jerry Pournelle and Stefan Possony termed “technological war” in their landmark book “The Strategy of Technology”. Conquering and developing space or “the high frontier” became a priority for the rapid advancement of the military applications of the new space technologies – reconnaissance, early warning, command, control and coordination of conventional and strategic military assets etc. More
The Post-Cold War Hybridization of Geopolitical Concepts
On November 9, 1989, humanity registered an event whose concrete, yet symbolic value continues to echo to the present day: the wall that had split not only Berlin, but Europe and the whole world as well, started to crumble… Was the Cold War ending? Did the bipolar world not exist anymore? Were the spheres of influence disintegrating? What was going to happen to the US and USSR, the two superpowers? These questions were waiting for an answer. Scenarios such as The End of History (Fukuyama, 1992) and The Clash of Civilizations (Huntington, 1996) were trying to predict what the world would look like after the fall of the Berlin Wall while new phrases were starting to materialize gradually, first in the media, then, timidly in the academic circles, both as discourse and in university courses, after half a century of geopolitical “prohibition”. However, the great international events were not waiting. The start of a new geopolitical world and international order were foreshadowed. More
The Steering Wheel with Free Will
“The advent of AVs on the busy roadways of the world’s nations represents a sea change in the way human transportation is conceived and enacted. We are now witnessing an epoch of significant transition in which active control of the vehicle is being taken from the human driver and placed within the charge of the on-board computer systems themselves.”Hancock P.A. 1997. Essays on the Future of Human-Machine Systems. Eden Prairie, MN: Banta Information Services Group. More
The Anthropocene-Fallacy: Learning from Wrong Ideas
The Anthropocene is a proposed geological epoch dating from the commencement of significant human impact on Earth’s geology and ecosystems, including, but not limited to, anthropogenic climate change. While it is not an academically established definition, as of yet, it is proposed to have begun in the 1950s. This article posits that the concept is erroneous in at least two ways. First, it relies on a normative, activist, appropriation of science. Second, it disregards the system-property of the ecosystem, which is marked by the continuous interaction between the system and its parts, or agents. But more than this, the idea of the Anthropocene is a case study for how activist agendas appropriate science and academia depriving it from an important academic feature, its skeptical method. More
Europe’s Self-Inflicted Energy Disaster
The European Union has many inherent advantages and a number of good policy decisions made over the years, to promote convergence and take advantage of its size for economies of scale. However, there are a few sore spots as regards major policy trends that produced significant damage to the fabric of the European Union and divided it. One such problem is that of energy, and the impact of the recently begun war in Ukraine and the response of the EU to the war throw these issues in stark relief. Having achieved a surprising unity of perceptions throughout the West as regards the illegality of Russia’s actions in Ukraine and the need to both deter, discourage and punish those actions, a comprehensive set of sanctions was agreed upon and implemented. More
In Memory of Romania’s Last King: His Royal Majesty Michael I (1921-2017)
The life of King Michael I (Mihai I, for Romanians) embodies almost perfectly the tormented and tragic destiny of Romania, his country, in the 20th century. His quiet and reserved personality, almost a monument to stoicism, was testimony to a man who, in the face of great adversity, always tried to do everything right, but in the end to no avail. More
Technology and Ethics: Of Man and Wisdom
In Isaac Asimov’s Bicentennial Man, the fictional robot character of Andrew Martin spends centuries suffering many modifications in order to be accepted by humanity as one of their own.The story shows Andrew, whose name comes from the Greek Andras, meaning man, as an innocent being endowed with unique skills and creativity, one of a kind among his robot peers. His original name was NDR, but the young girl who was a member of the family that owned him called him Andrew. Andrew becomes sad once he is acquainted with idea of death, especially after the demise of his master, whom he called Sir. Soon after this acquaintance with death he starts wearing clothes, as he is changed by the experience and for some reason starts to feel bare without them. Slowly, he works towards transforming everything he is into what his master was, a human. The story ends with him making the ultimate sacrifice, trading his immortality for the right to be called human. More
The Grapes of Parnassos: Is the West Withering on the Vine?
The West – what Philip Rieff called “church civilization” – is succumbing to the false fruits of cultural revolutions which succeed in part because the passing of a single generation is all it takes to wipe the slate and in part because its custodians lack the requisite faith and courage to resist. First, the public memory fades or is subtly reinterpreted. Then, citizens fail to convey the wealth of their experience and tradition through nurturing, teaching, and testing. Finally, they even neglect to produce heirs to carry the enterprise forward. More
