About the author and this blog

I run this blog on a voluntary basis, besides my regular work as a communication designer. I am writing here as a volontary rapporteur on digital basic rights for the humanist Giordano Bruno Foundation (gbs), that also supported me with a small grant, when I started this. Many of my postings appear on the German humanist press portal hpd as well, that has > 10.000 daily readers.

Since more than a decade I have a record in campaigning with the gbs and the Zentralrat der Konfessionsfreien on issues like religious fundamentalism, children’s rights, euthanasia, atheist refugees, secularism and other humanist positions.

In 2013 I was deeply impressed by NSA/Five Eyes Scandal – for me the worst case scenario in privacy, right in the center of the supposedly free world. And, as Edward Snowden put it, “I don’t want to live in a society that does these sort of things“. The fact that Russia and China have caught up considerably since, doesn’t make it less urgent.

So, I decided to deal with the subject instead of fearing it undermine our civil societies. I initiated a workshop for the gbs and hpd in 2018, in which humanist positions on a broad width of IT matters were discussed. The resulting position paper How should IT work? can be opened here. It includes a number of proposals concerning digital human rights, that we submitted to the UN and others.

On one hand I was relieved to find, that so many bright people were working on solutions for a future in freedom and a plural society. On the other hand I found that discussions are often intentionally misled into strange areas and the most fundamental questions were slipping out of focus: The human nature and our ability to solve problems by agreeing on rules and standards, such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

So this is what this blog is about: To promote new digital rules that support vivid, pluralistic societies. Because only they are capable to cope with future challenges in our fast changing world.

Peder Iblher, Berlin / Germany

What is the gbs and it’s philosophy?

To call the Giordano Bruno Foundation (gbs, founded in 2004) a think tank is a bit of an understatement. Its advisory board brings together around 50 bright personalities from the fields of science, philosophy, art, journalism and other subjects. Its support group now comprises more than 10,000 persons in the German speaking countries.

The range of topics  – originally based on criticism of religion – has also broadened considerably. It ranges from teaching about evolution in school to a naturalistic world view in medicine or help for atheist refugees to the right to a self-determined death. Fundamental questions are posed, such as basic rights for apes or transhumanism.

The underlying philosophy derives from humanistic classics such as Epicurus or the thinkers of the Enlightenment and refers above all to Julian Huxley’s evolutionary humanism. Huxley was the first UNESCO Secretary General and made a significant contribution to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. “Evolutionary humanists are strongly committed to the values of the Enlightenment, to critical rationality, self-determination, freedom and social justice,” says the gbs brochure Enlightenment in the 21st Century. (And no, we are not defending long outdated notions of eugenics.)

The gbs sees digitalisation as a co-decisive factor in shaping the future. A corresponding ethic is only developing step by step and must be negotiated within the civil society. In several “Zukunftssymposien” (future symposia), the gbs, together with the Integrata Foundation and the Weltethos Institut have conferred on questions of AI and data ethics. The positions on digitisation developed in a workshop I initiated in 2018 are summarised in the gbs brochure How should IT work?.

Resuming the ongoing threads in an easy-to-understand way and across the specialisations should be one of the benefits, that we humanists can add to the discussion. Though we also have our ideas and filter-bubbles, we are free of particular interests, except those of a general welfare to humanity.

Besides the gbs I am a member of the EFF, Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Green party’s net policy working group in Berlin.

Political viewpoints

Since 2020 I am a member of the Green party with which I somewhat share an evolution: „If you weren’t an anarchist at 20, you were never young; if you still are at 40, you never grew up.“ So today I am a convinced advocate of the free constitutional state, pluralism, civil rights, freedom of expression and a vigilant civil society.

In my job, I work for various companies and organizations, including political think tanks, foundations and humanist associations. Here I advise on communication and take care of its medial implementation. My role here is a normal service provider, while others are in charge of the content.

In case you research about me — e.g. in the context of conspiracy beliefs — please do not confuse me with two namesakes named Peter Iblher. One of them is a member of the Rotarians, with whom I otherwise have no connection.

Thanks!

My warmest thanks go to
• the gbs and their members for their inspiration and support
• My son Nikolai for the impulse to start this blog
• the unnamed photographers of Unsplash and Adobe Stock
• Deepl for the tremdous ease of translation
• everyone who follows me on Mastodon or Twitter
• everyone I have linked or liked for their engagement and writing and sharing constructive and inspiring stuff
• everyone who feels that I have taken up their ideas and does not have hard feelings about it