Journal for independent thought, ethical standards and moral responsibility
For the promotion and respect of public international law,
human rights and humanitarian law
Donation
Dear reader
We are delighted that you also read our newspaper online. As it is important to us that this is possible regardless of the financial situation of the respective user, we have deliberately decided not to charge for our Internet access. We all work on a voluntary basis – nevertheless, the production and dispatch of our newspapers, the maintenance of our online presence and, in some cases, the translations are associated with costs.
With every donation you help us to continue this endeavour.
Thank you very much!
Amendment
In Current Concerns No. 3, the article «AI – it’s not intelligent!» (Eliane Perret) was missing the following footnote:
I borrowed the term “simulated intelligence” from Professor Dr Hans Köchler from: Köchler, Hans. (2024). Die Triviali-sierung des Öffentlichen. Kulturanthropologische Überlegungen zum Digitalzeitalter. Ein Vortrag. (The trivialisation of the public. Cultural anthropological reflections on the digital age. A lecture.) Publisher: IPO International Progress Organization. p. 18 (of the German original) ISBN 978-3-900704-38-4.
There it says: “The latest stage in the development of digital technology is the promotion of ‘artificial intelligence’ (AI), which should actually be called SI – simulated intelligence.”
Current event news
‘Living in dignity’
September Talks “Mut zur Ethik” 4 to 6 September 2026 in Switzerland
(With speakers from Europe and overseas)
Following the fundamental disregard for human dignity in the years prior to 1945, manifested in war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity, the newly founded United Nations declared: All state authority has, first and faremost and as an indepensable requirement, the task and duty to respect and protect human dignity.
In recent decades, the world – and the major Western powers in particular – has drifted ever further away from this. Today, we are facing a total collapse of the human rights and international law systems: in international relations, but also within many states.
Crises and wars are happening more frequently. The existing world order has effectively ceased to exist. There is a threat of a major war in which weapons of mass destruction are also being used. There is a bitter struggle taking place over the future shape of the world order. Countries such as Russia and China, but also the Global South, are openly challenging the previous Western hegemony. What is being demanded is equality and equal rights, just as the United Nations Charter formulated back in 1945.
The moral state of Western power elites is catastrophic. Good faith has been replaced by lies and deceit.
Today, when we can no longer be certain that human dignity is respected and protected by the forces of state, peoples and the human community face an existential challenge: how do we enable and shape a life of dignity, even when our own state authorities fail?
More than ever, we depend on living out our social nature and cooperating as equals. This raises the question of the conditio humana – the fundamental circumstances of our existence. Through reason and compassion, people are capable of recognising the fundamental principles necessary for moral and political action, and of thinking, feeling and acting in a humane manner. We must be, or become, aware of this. We must respect and take these conditions into account so that human coexistence can be shaped in a humane way.
Information and registration
mze@mut-zur-ethik.ch
Current Concerns No. 13, 30 June 2026 as PDF
CH: PostFinance [CHF]:
IBAN: CH91 0900 0000 8764 4472 4
BIC: POFICHBEXXX
CH: PostFinance [EUR]:
IBAN: CH83 0900 0000 9173 8798 6
BIC: POFICHBEXXX
IBAN: DE09 6039 1310 0067 5170 05
BIC: GENODES1VBH A: Raiffeisen Landesbank [EUR]:
IBAN: AT55 3700 0001 0571 3599
BIC: RVVGAT2B