Humancentric

Humancentric

25 January 2026

What is increasingly being described is a system that has become stuck: what it looks like, and how it is likely to end. The system is unsustainable and is changing — unintentionally, though preferably by design. Some examples of this stagnation are the pension system, the housing crisis, and the psychological distress of people who feel trapped in a system that no longer works for them. Due to ageing populations and inflation, the pension system is no longer sustainable. Through the privatization of the housing market, homes have become investment assets and are unaffordable, especially for young people. As a result of these and other problems — in particular the uncertainty caused by geopolitical shifts, but also insecurity about basic provisions — more and more people are falling into psychological distress.

Many people trust, or hope, that technology will solve these problems, but machines will not be able to resolve the emotional and relational problems of human beings, even though more and more people are beginning to imagine close relationships between humans and AI.

This is Society 4.0, driven by technology, in which technology itself is central. The solution, however, is a human-centered society: Society 5.0, whether or not supported by technology, in particular AI. Its concrete form and implementation still have to take shape, but the guiding principle is together‑living and human-centeredness. It is about creating more lateral connections from human to human, in which interactions between people are no longer seen as transactions, but as intrinsically human.

It is not the individual and technology that should be central, but the whole. It is about the inclusion of both people and nature. This calls for a redefinition of progress, in which human beings and nature once again come before the machine — and for political choices that place the common good above market logic, and a spiritual reorientation in which connectedness, meaning, and care for one another once again become guiding principles.

Miguel Goede