Innovation, Technology and Transformation: The Need for a New Framework

The first two centuries of the Bahá'í Era have been characterized by unprecedented developments, including “scientific and technological advances” that “portend a great surge forward in the social evolution of the planet.” Yet barriers persist to realize their full potential to provide “the very means for the administration of the complex life of a united world.” Many practical, philosophical and even existential questions are being raised. How do Bahá'í beliefs and practice bear on these questions? How can experience with applying Bahá'í Teachings provide new insights? What might we expect in the remaining decades of the second century? This presentation attempts to explore only a few of these questions through the lens of humanity’s movement from adolescence to its collective maturity.