World Academy Projects page

The World Academy of Art and Science was established in 1960 as a non-official network of individual Fellows from diverse cultures, nationalities, and intellectual disciplines, “chosen for eminence in art, the natural and social sciences, and the humanities. Its activities focus on “the social consequences and policy implications of knowledge.” The Academy serves as a forum for reflective scientists, artists, and scholars to discuss the vital problems of humankind independent of political boundaries or limits, whether spiritual or physical — a forum where these problems can be discussed objectively, scientifically, globally, and free from vested interests or regional attachments.

In 1992, MSS began a series of discussions with Carl Goran Heden and Harlan Cleveland, the former and then present Presidents of WAAS, to explore areas of common interest. Mr. Cleveland participated in the final meeting of the International Commission on Peace & Food in 1993 and contributed ideas for ICPF’s report, Uncommon Opportunities. The report was released by Mr. Cleveland at WAAS’s General Assembly in Minneapolis in October 1994. Over the past fifteen years, MSS has collaborated with WAAS on a number of conferences and research projects.

In 2012, MSS Vice President Garry Jacobs was elected Chairman of the Board and CEO of WAAS, MSS was recognized as an official international center of the Academy, and the secretariat of the Academy was formally shifted to Pondicherry.

Future of Science
MSS co-sponsored a special half-day session on, New Foundations of Knowledge for Science immediately following WAAS’ 1994 General Assembly. More than fifty WAAS Fellows participated in the meeting and a follow-up session was organized by WAAS in 1995 under the leadership of Dr. Jonas Salk.

Development Theory
In 1998 Harlan Cleveland collaborated with researchers at MSS to prepare a book on development theory which was subsequently published by WAAS as Human Choice: The Genetic Code for Social Development. A special session co-chaired by Harlan Cleveland and Garry Jacobs was conducted at WAAS’ Vancouver General Assembly in 1998. MSS also chaired a workshop on Economic Development at the GA and presented a discussion paper entitled Economic Development in the Global Century. In summer 1999, MSS and WAAS co-sponsored a workshop on Development Theory in Washington DC and in fall of the same year MSS and WAAS conducted an international symposium on Development Theory at Chennai, India.

In 2008 the Society undertook research on the relationship between economic development and environmental sustainability. The findings of this research project were completed by mid-year and presented at an international conference organized by the World Academy of Art & Science at Hyderabad.

Peace & Global Development
In November 2004 WAAS and MSS were co-sponsors of an international symposium on peace and development convened in New Delhi to examine the relevance in today’s world of recommendations contained in the report of the International Commission on Peace & Food, Uncommon Opportunities: Agenda for Peace & Equitable Development, which was submitted to the UN in 1994. The conference was inaugurated by Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, President of India. The keynote address was delivered by Mr. Natwar Singh, Minister of External Affairs. The meeting was convened in collaboration with the International Centre for Peace & Development (USA), the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (India), the National Farmers Commission (Government of India), and the UN World Food Program. The conference explored the inextricable mutual interdependence between peace, social stability, democracy, employment and food security.

In September 2005, WAAS and MSS convened a workshop on nuclear disarmament in Washington DC. Robert McNamara, former President of World Bank and US Defencee Secretary, participated together with Fellows of WAAS and three staff members of MSS.

In November 2005, MSS co-sponsored the World Academy’s General Assembly in Zagreb, Croatia. MSS co-chaired and presented papers at a plenary session on Global Employment in a Knowledge Society, and in two workshops on Money and Rising Expectations.

In July 2006, MSS presented a paper at a WAAS workshop on Elimination of Nuclear Weapons at the annual conference of World Future Society in Toronto.

From left, Jasjit Singh (WAAS), Walter Truett Anderson (Former President of WAAS) and Garry Jacobs (MSS) at the annual conference of World Future Society in Toronto-July 2006

In October 2006, MSS sponsored a WAAS workshop on Nuclear Disarmament in New York City in collaboration with the Global Security Institute and Middle Powers Initiative.

In April 2007, MSS participated in a workshop conducted by the South East Asian Division of the World Academy of Art & Science in Zagreb, Croatia on strategies to promote employment generation in SEE countries.

Indian Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, inaugurated an international conference in New Delhi on June 9-10, 2008 to mark the 20th anniversary of Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s historic speech to the United Nations calling for complete nuclear disarmament. The conference was organized by WAAS Fellow Jasjit Singh, head of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, and sponsored by the Ministry of External Affairs of the Government of India. Other keynote speakers included India’s President, Pranab Mukherjee; the Vice President of India, Mohamad Hamid Ansari; Minister Mani Shankar Iyer; Canadian Senator Douglas Roche; Australian Ambassador Richard Butler; senior Indian diplomats and military officers; as well as Fellows Jonathan Granoff of Global Security Institute (USA) and Garry Jacobs of the Society.

On February 7-8, 2011 the Center for Air Power Strategy, New Delhi and WAAS conducted a two day international symposium in New Delhi on strategies to abolish nuclear weapons. The meeting included delegates from USA, Europe and India. Garry Jacobs presented a paper during the conference representing the Society.

WAAS organised an international conference along with The European Leadership Network and Inter-University Center at Dubrovnik, Croatia on September 14-16, 2012, which was sponsored by The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation. Garry Jacobs participated in the conference as a speaker, representing the Society.

Role of the Individual in Social Evolution
In recent years, Individuality has emerged as a pre-eminent social value and driving force for change. Human rights, democratic participation, universal education, economic opportunity, social tolerance, freedom of thought and expression, individual innovation and inventiveness are the dominant levers for human progress. The leader, innovator, entrepreneur and the pioneer are social expressions of this phenomenon. The original thinker, inventor and creative artist are mental expressions. Current trends indicate that individuality will play an even greater role in the future. MSS is undertaking research to determine precisely what individuality is, how it is constituted and developed by the collective, and by what process the individual acts on the collective and creatively enriches it. A global e-Conference was launched in Feb 2010, in collaboration with the World Academy of Art & Science.

Center, Robert van Harten (MSS) at the World Academy’s General Assembly in Zagreb, Croatia-November 2005

From front left, Walter Truett Anderson (President WAAS), Jo Anne, Ashok Natarajan (MSS), and Jasjit Singh at the annual conference of World Future Society in Toronto-July 2006

In 2008, MSS collaborated with the World Academy of Art & Science to organize and conduct four sessions at the General Assembly of the Academy in Hyderabad on October 17-19. MSS chaired a plenary session on Development and Environment, which included two presentations by Society staff. MSS also organized sessions on the Global Financial Crisis, Development Theory and Limits to Rationality.

MSS continued its major research project on the role of Individuality in Human Accomplishment and Social Development. Research focused on examples of outstanding individuals in history, literature and biography. Research explored the sources, expressions, determinants and consequences of the creation, distribution and exercise of social power in its various expressions in politics, economy, society and culture and its consequences for the evolution of society as a whole.

Publications: “The Significant Individual, Values and Social Evolution: How one man changed the world” by Janani Ramanathan and Garry Jacobs was published in Volume 3 Issue 5 of Cadmus Journal.

The Power of Mind
“The Power of Mind” was the theme of the Club of Rome annual conference which concluded in October 2012 in Bucharest. That theme was of immense relevance to addressing the multiple crises that afflict humanity today. The essential message of the conference was that solutions do exist to the problems confronting humanity today, but those problems necessitate fundamental changes in the way we think about global society, public policy and humanity’s future. Garry Jacobs, representing the Society, presented during the conference on “Towards a New Economy” on October 2012. Enough time and energy have already been spent defining and quantifying the global problematique of persistent hunger and endemic poverty, rising unemployment and growing inequalities, resource depletion and environmental damage, financial instability and soaring public debt, growing insecurity, cultural tensions and social unrest both domestically and internationally. Business as usual, more of the same, simply will not do. We need a radical change of course. Mind has the power to formulate effective solutions, if it consents to cast off the blinding constraints of conventional wisdom and vested interests.

Mind, Thinking and Creativity
PG Roundtable Seminar: MSS continued its study of Sri Aurobindo’s conception of the nature of the human mind, thinking and creativity. The Society is collaborating with WAAS and WUC to create a comprehensive outline for a book and an online course on this subject. The research involves identifying different systems of thinking, the nature of the human Mind and its evolution, the limits to thinking and rationality etc. MSS also collaborated with WAAS, WUC, Dag Hammarskjöld University College for International Relations and Diplomacy (Croatia), and Person-Centered Approach Institute (Italy) to conduct a PG level seminar on Mind, Thinking & Creativity at the Inter-University Center in Dubrovnik, Croatia on November 6-8, 2017. The Dubrovnik roundtable confirmed the self-evident truth that creativity is not merely an act of genius or luck. It is a process, a process that can be learned. The meeting explored many of the mental processes that lead to the discovery of new relationships, unperceived opportunities and untapped potentials. It concluded with a core set of recommendations on how these insights can be applied in classrooms and findings were presented the following week at the 2nd International Conference on Future Education at Rome. Participants in the roundtable included six members of the MSS research team.

International Workshop: MSS also conducted a workshop on this theme at the Second International Tesla Conference in Belgrade, Serbia on June 2-3, 2017.

Publication: Ashok Natarajan’s paper “Human attitudes that prevent the advance of human progress and civilization” was published in the October 2017 issue of Cadmus Journal.

MSS is collaborating with WAAS-WUC to create a comprehensive outline on Mind. The research involves identifying different systems of thinking, the nature of the human Mind and its evolution, the limits to thinking and rationality etc. MSS staff will continue research on the nature and evolution of mind and their role in human and social evolution. A research team is working on designing a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on the theme based on the comprehensive outline.

Science of Networks
The World Academy initiated a series of e-seminars on the ‘New Sciences’, the first being on the subject of ‘The Science of Networks’ on November 8, 2012. Networks play a central role in the biology of organisms and their physiological functioning, social organizations and relationships, domestic and international political processes, business, finance, development of new ideas and discoveries in science and technology. The discussion focused on the scientific and sociological dimensions of networks and the principles governing their operation. Examples were drawn from various fields of application, including the internet, money, international affairs, scientific research and micro-biology. MSS staff participated in the econference and Garry Jacobs presented on the topic of “Social Evolution and Network Science”.

Transformational Global Leadership
In 2018 MSS prepared a research paper and a proposal in association with WAAS for a project in collaboration with the United Nations Office at Geneva (UNOG) to develop strategies to fill the global leadership vacuum. The project was approved and was inaugurated during a high-level meeting held at Baku, Azerbaijan titled in April 2019 entitled “Global Leadership in the 21st century.”

This project was jointly launched by WAAS and the United Nations Office at Geneva (UNOG) in June 2019 to accelerate progress on pressing challenges and emerging opportunities, and accelerate implementation of the SDGs. This multistakeholder, multi-sectoral project will culminate in a major conference at UNOG on October 27-28, 2020 on the occasion of the UN’s 75th anniversary celebration, followed by a final report to the UN, development of university level courses and media outreach strategies. MSS is a core partner in this project.

In November 2019 MSS participated in two executive briefings at UNOG for UN agencies, UN member states and leading international NGOs. In December MSS collaborated in launching an online survey of these agencies and other collaborating partners in order to identify fundamental principles and effective strategies that can be applied to consciously accelerate the process of global social transformation. MSS staff have been providing administrative and research support for the project.

On March 5-7, 2020, MSS participated in the 2nd World Sustainable Development Forum (WSDF) at Durango, Mexico. A meeting with 35 representatives of international youth groups, including Fridays for the Future, enabled WAAS to enlist the active participation of youth groups in GL-21.

Part I of an online roundtable on “Catalyzing Rapid Social Transformation” was held electronically on March 11, 2020 over a webinar to discuss topics included in the Dubrovnik Roundtable originally scheduled on March 8 evening to March 11 afternoon and subsequently postponed due to the Corona Virus threat. A second online meeting, Part II, has also been proposed at a later date to cover other topics of the original agenda. MSS presented at the conference.

Publications: “The Leadership the World Needs” [10] and “Ideas that Changed the World” [11] by Ashok Natarajan were published in the October 2018 and May 2019 issues of Cadmus Journal. An article titled “Global Leadership in the 21st Century” [12] by Garry Jacobs, Donato Kiniger-Passigli and David Chikvaidze will be published in the May 2019 issue of Cadmus Journal.

Future Capital Initiative
The Future Capital initiative is focused on restoring the right relationship between consciousness and capital, as creative force and constructive resource. The project was initiated in collaboration with the World Academy of Art and Science, United Nations Office for Partnerships and UNCTAD.

A principal objective of FCI is to support and accelerate existing transformation initiatives while also identifying and promoting new and emergent initiatives aimed at improving the quality and speed of implementation of the UN SDGs. MSS staff are represented on the FCI organising committee.

The inaugural gathering of 50 founding members of the Future Capital Initiative was held at the United Nations in New York, September 12–13, 2019, in collaboration with WAAS, the UN Office for Partnerships, and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). MSS staff was part of the invite-only event.

A Roundtable organised by WAAS on “Future Capital: Financing Global Development” was held at The World Bank, Washington D.C. on September 16-17, 2019, in which MSS staff participated.

MSS staff participated in a roundtable discussion at the Inter-University Centre, Dubrovnik, Croatia on November 18-20, 2019 to explore the psychological and social foundations of money, the financial linkage between economic and political equality, and the utilization of money as an instrument for either concentration of power or the wellbeing of all.

MSS staff have started collaboration a project titled “The TAO of Finance” which seeks to study proposals related to development of a cryptocurrency using Distributed Ledger Technology to finance investments needed to achieve the UN SDGs.

Science, Technology and Society
WAAS is facilitating the development of a new field of Symbiotic System Science in collaboration with IEEE to promote the development and application of advanced technologies in a harmonious manner that supports human-centric economic and social growth and wellbeing. MSS staff provide research and administrative assistance to the project.

The 18th International Conference on Cognitive Informatics and Cognitive Computing (IEEE ICCI*CC 2019) was held at Politecnico di Milano University, Italy on July 23-25, 2019, in which MSS Staff presented a paper. MSS also provided organisational assistance for the event in collaboration with IEEE.

Following this event, another conference was organised by the Politecnico di Bari University, Bari, Italy, on October 6-9, 2019 on the theme “Systems, Man, and Cybernetics.” MSS staff presented a paper at the conference.