Have you doomscrolled the news lately? I’m sure you’ve felt the same depression that I have.
The future of Europe feels shaky and uncertain. The war in Ukraine is still raging, the American alliance seems to be shifting, our economies are bending under pressure, the climate crisis is proceeding, and AI is about to turn into AGI that will change everything and we seem to have almost no part in it.
But now is not the right time to get depressed.
We, the Europeans, have an incredible chance to take charge and change the trajectory of the future for better.
We still have an abundance of brilliant minds—innovators, dreamers, pioneers—who have already enriched humanity with art, technology, and ideas.
We should focus our efforts on building AIs with European ethics and morals: AIs that solve healthcare and aging, AIs that provide abundant free public services to everyone, AIs that reinvigorate our industrial base and defense industries.
We can — and must — take charge of our own destiny. We should take moral leadership and leadership in advancing humankind with artificial intelligence.
It’s not impossible.
For generations, Europe has led in science, culture, and social justice. Yet, we’ve watched our leadership slip away in the past few decades.
We let the United States dominate globally with money and weapons and allowed China to take over our industrial base.
Now we know they aren’t our friends. They are rival powers who will use us for their goals if we let them.
We can do better. We can lead.
Alliances matter, but we can’t rely on others to care for us. We must own our choices, stand up for our interests, and trust our collective power to chart our path forward.
There’s something we can learn from the US, too. We need to cut our bureaucracy. We need to help our tech startups be more ambitious and grow faster. There are many things to fix, and we must become faster at fixing them.
We need to build back our defense industries to beat Putin’s imperialistic Russia and other threats we face. We can’t rely on others to do it for us.
We must take charge of our destiny to be able to lift our communities and bring back peace and shared prosperity.
If we pool our resources, modernize our capabilities, and push the boundaries of technology, Europe can and will remain secure and prosperous for generations to come.
Standing strong means standing together, side by side, protecting ourselves and the ideals we cherish.
Europe already has everything it needs to succeed. We just have to be bold and believe in ourselves. Our destiny lies in our own hands.
I am trying my best to build an optimistic future with European values.
Are you with me?