DAVOS, SWITZERLAND — Come, let us build a city and a tower whose top reaches to heaven, and let us make our name famous before we are scattered to all lands.

The funny thing about themes is that they repeat themselves regardless of the era.

The ultra strong and
rich
met again for the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in
Swiss Alps
. The Davos Summit claims it is committed to “improving the state of the world” through dialogue and political action. What is the best way to achieve such a lofty goal, and what should underpin this endeavor? Of course, human ingenuity and determination. Nothing more, certainly nothing beyond man’s immediate control.

To call the peak secular would be an understatement. It’s aggressively secular. Apart from the occasional Buddhist monk and the centuries-old churches that dot the Swiss landscape, Davos almost makes you forget to be organized
religion
even exists, it’s so absent from the week-long event. One gets the distinct impression that organized religion is not only undesirable in Davos but is actively discouraged from attending, which may explain the many contradictions of the meeting and why it seems doomed. It certainly doesn’t seem destined for the success and longevity that has accompanied mankind’s two greatest achievements in the name of liberty, self-determination, and “betterment”: the Constitution and the Magna Carta.

The main difference between these achievements and Davos is that the former are united by a collective understanding of goodness and truth ultimately rooted in the divine and a sense of natural law. Davos, on the other hand, feels more like a carnival for the blind, wannabe do-gooder clowns who tinker in the dark, relying entirely on a mundane and thus fallible understanding of truth à la Sesame Street, a world view no more profound or meaningful than the kind of message conveyed can be found in a fortune cookie.

Slogans abound in the small Swiss town, whose shops and restaurants have been remodeled to cater to the lodging needs of the WEF and dozens of independent organizations looking to capitalize on its proximity to the summit’s high-profile attendees, amounting to absolutely nothing, platitudes , which crumble at the slightest scrutiny. “What if peace of mind came through mindful technology?” “Everything starts with ambition.” “Growth in times of uncertainty,” reads another sign. What does that mean? What age was ever safe?

Unfortunately, the presence of American politicians and journalists does nothing to make the week’s celebrations any clearer. Contrary to what some might believe, Americans are just as vulnerable to peer pressure and fads. In Davos, US lawmakers including Sens. Chris Coons (D-DE) and
Joe Manchin
(D-WV) and Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA), are perfectly happy to come along to get along. Indeed, Moulton and Manchin even side with the anti-freedom of expression rhetoric so popular in Davos, the latter retracting his comments after his fellow Americans collectively asked, “What the hell?”

The aggressively secular event continues, led by people who genuinely care about the well-being of the world’s population. The problem is, these “elites” and “experts” have no clearer idea of ​​what they want or how to get it than the average conclusion that happens to be drawn from the Yellow Pages. Where a defining and unifying faith in a Higher Being and natural law is almost entirely absent, there is an abundance of incoherent and contradictory messages.

Stomp up Main Street, stomp through snow beaten to a gray mush by the gathering’s many speakers and attendees, and marvel at the fact that the Equality Lounge (“The Place for Conscious Leaders”) is home to the Female Quotient’s almost exclusively female panels and audience, located next to the Mohammed bin Salman Foundation Youth Majlis. You can’t miss them. They are opposite the Blockchain Hub Davos and the Ukraine House Davos.

Chance to meet Wendy Diamond, the founder of Women’s Entrepreneurship Day at a Wall Street Journal-Host a cocktail party and learn all about her efforts to empower and honor women. Exit the building, whose halls are lined with signs advertising Audi limousine services and whose offices are home to HSBC, Pfizer and IBM, and head across town to hear a speech from Liu He, Vice Premier of the People’s Republic of China , to hear, in which sex-selective abortions are the most popular way. Hear from several speakers about the dire ills of Russia, whose representatives are not welcome in Davos this year, and consider why members of the Chinese
Communist
Party leading genocide against China’s Uyghur population are not similarly unwelcome.

Attend a joint event hosted by CNBC and the financial times and speak to representatives of the “ecocide” movement, which is campaigning in The Hague to treat carbon emissions and deforestation with the same severity as honest genocide. Think again about why CCP officials are not treated like this personas non grata near Davos. Ride the ski lift to Hotel Schatzalp to partake in the Swedish lunch, and along the way meet an American professor best described as a Davos groupie. It’s her fifth year at the summit. She reveals that her best experiences, even her best friends, are all from Davos. It’s not just a political movement. It’s a lifestyle. Listen carefully as she explains why climate change is “the new holocaust.”

As with the Holocaust, she says, “we know it’s wrong, but we’re doing it anyway.”

Reach the mountaintop and the Professor blends into the crowd, hugging and kissing old friends in the swanky indoor/outdoor affair with enough champagne to drown a fraternity. Over lunch, meet representatives from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology yourself and learn about their combined efforts to wean modern man off fossil fuels. Try not to think about how the 100+ lunch guests, including the American professor and MIT officials, found their way to Switzerland. You probably didn’t walk.

Join any panel and you’ll hear speakers preaching the gospel of “Peace Through Technology,” “Peace Through Sustainability,” and “Peace Through Economic Interdependence.” Try to ignore
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
. Try, but you will probably fail.

“The only thing that matters right now is Russia,” JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said at a private event hosted by Female Quotient. The invasion is a constant topic of discussion at Davos, a looming cloud that serves as a stark, real contrast to the gathering’s otherwise flowery and optimistic themes of international cooperation and partnership. A whiplash is enough.

But that is what happens when man relies entirely on himself. He is an unpredictable animal, prone to ignorance, contradictions and passion. In the absence of something greater than himself, he tends to revert to his lower inclinations. It should come as no surprise, then, that a movement as outwardly secular as Davos exhibits much ignorance and passion (and not the good kind).

In Davos, few, if any, can coherently (or realistically) explain the “how” of the movement’s stated goals, or what “improvement” looks like. There doesn’t seem to be a consistent understanding of what “good” even means. All WEF officials and attendees know is that they want to go to heaven. But lofty aspirations, ignorantly informed, usually lead to failure, if not disaster. The road to hell is paved with good intentions, as the saying goes. If Davos hasn’t directly harmed the average citizen, it certainly hasn’t helped them even after five decades.

Global discontent hit record highs in 2022, according to Gallup, a disturbing trend that comes amid the WEF’s 50+ year effort to improve “the state of the world” while the “elites” stumble around in Switzerland every year with it With only a vague and undefined understanding of “good,” the exploration and promotion of new regulations designed to “improve” the global community, the average citizen has become unhappier, more stressed, and unhappy. Health experts recommend “coping toolboxes,” packages containing everything from stress toys to aerosol sprays with essential oils to sugar-free chewing gum.

Most notable is the fact that Gallup’s “well-being” score for the top 20% has increased over the past 17 years, while the same metric has increased reduced for the bottom 20%. The rich get happier while the poor get sadder. Or, to put it more bluntly, while the kind of person who leads WEF lectures has gotten happier and happier, the average Joe who can’t afford a plane ticket to Switzerland has gotten more despondent. One might think that after 50 years of the WEF’s high-level political engagement, global discontent would at least remain stable. But you would be wrong. It has seen strong increases across the board and has continued to rise year after year. We shouldn’t be surprised. How much “good” can an international conference do when the conference does not seem to have a clear understanding of what the word “good” means?

Like Babel, Davos seeks, through man’s own ingenuity and determination, to conquer the world and shape it to his own liking. But like the fate of Babel itself, no one in Davos seems to understand exactly what that means or how it can be achieved, and that’s precisely because there’s no unified truth or framework that ties the event together. WEF officials and spokespeople have only an ambiguous idea of ​​what they want and how they expect to get it, and each man has his own unique interpretation.

In the posh European ski resort of Davos, nestled comfortably and safely in the Swiss Alps, the world’s most privileged people lecture each other on subjects they could not possibly understand, it’s all so far removed from their daily life and lifestyle. Luckily, not everyone who performed in Davos this year is so disconnected from the realities of the world.

“Never do business with assholes and criminals,” said Ukrainian parliamentarian Maryan Zablotskyy, referring to the predominantly naïve understanding of the West
China
and
Russia
. “It will always end badly. Forget it.”

Finally a man who knows what he’s talking about.

Speaking of criminals, who invited the Vice Premier of the People’s Republic of China to this party?

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Becket Adams is program director for the National Journalism Center.