The roundtable will initiate a broader discussion planned by the organisers on the origins and methods of ensuring security in the modern world – first, through the individual human experience. The second part, on how individual states can ensure internal stability as the main prerequisite for their own security, will be discussed the next day during the Valdai Club session at the SPIEF site.
Programme of the Roundtable Discussion of the Valdai Discussion Club “Homo Perplexus: How to Stop Fearing and Learn to Love Change”
St. Petersburg, June 17, 2025
June 17, Tuesday
09:50 – 10:00 Opening of the conference (live: Russian, English)
10:00 – 11:30 Session 1. Navigating in a Thickening Fog: Are Strategies Feasible When Everything Is in Flux? (live: Russian, English)
Can policy be effective without a strategy? The instinctive answer is, of course, no. But what if the sheer scale of change makes foresight impossible? That is precisely the reality we face today. Yet, states cannot afford to drift passively on socio-political currents – or can they? And if not, what path should they take when the situation can shift suddenly and radically? In other words, how can tactics become strategic?
12:00 – 13:30 Session 2. The Natural Limits of Artificial Intelligence: Who Prevails? (live: Russian, English)
Artificial intelligence is the most talked-about topic of our time. The more we learn, the stronger the sense that its evolution will not just transform our lives but may relegate human abilities to the fringes of history. But how accurate is this fear? Where must humans compromise, and where will technology never replace them? Should we fear AI?
14:30 – 16:00 Session 3. Social Harmony: A Goal or a Utopian Dream? (live: Russian, English)
The boundary between external and internal dynamics is nearly erased – global shocks reverberate as socio-political instability within nations. The best defence against external turbulence is domestic social harmony. But how can it be achieved when technology, economics, and competing ideologies foster division rather than unity? How do we strike a constructive balance amid contradictory forces?
The Valdai Discussion Club was established in 2004. It is named after Lake Valdai, which is located close to Veliky Novgorod, where the Club’s first meeting took place.
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