The Digital Civilizations Interviews

Include all stakeholders in the creation of these plans

In order to avoid such risks, “enlightened catastrophism” (to borrow Jean-Pierre Dupuy’s phrase) should be based on a method that involves local and global populations in a preventative approach that includes risk analysis, detection, and response production. The approach suggested here is one such answer, but should be seen as an illustration of what is possible rather than a complete solution.

Level one: collective prevention, preparation, research and reflection

• Research: a worldwide, deliberately pooled watchdog system should be but in place, focusing on anticipation, means of detection, catastrophe analysis and possible responses on the one hand, and on the steps that could prevent or mitigate the effects of a disaster, such as how and where to replant and redesign forests to avoid the spread of fires, etc.
• Governance: a global, federated decision-making body should be elected to supervise, coordinate, and evaluate each area’s efforts in each of these domains. Its main purpose will be to support the production of participatory local plans, and to share information (and even means) between them.
• «Wikatastrophe»: the catastrophes that lie ahead have not always had a precedent. In order to involve citizens in the construction and implementation of catastrophe plans, even though many plans already exist, one possible approach would be to concentrate on “orphan catastrophes,” those that do not yet have a plan. Citizens, whether they be self-nominated experts or not, would collaborate to come up with the responses to these hitherto unknown situations, and then present their answers to public figures.