Siniša Grgić, a distinguished Croatian researcher, author, publisher, entrepreneur, and philanthropist, who also serves as the Ambassador of the Republic of Croatia to the Kingdom of Sweden and Latvia, participated in this year’s MoStart conference. He spoke about the synergy between artificial intelligence, big data, and social network analysis.
Grgić is an engineer with degrees from several United Nations-related programs at Columbia, Fordham, and Harvard universities, and he earned his Ph.D. from the University of Zagreb in the field of social network analysis. He is an expert in databases and has also completed the Harvard Business School.
In his address, he urged the audience to view societies and technologies as olive trees rather than stones. They are dynamic, adaptable, and defined by information and knowledge networks. Just as an olive tree grows and adapts, so too can our organizations grow if we harness the power of information and collaboration.
He further emphasized that the accelerated pace of change and technological advancements allow us to turn challenges into opportunities, fostering growth and innovation.
"Do not listen to various doomsayers, false prophets, or those who peddle lies, not just on social networks. Even worse are those who want to decide what you can know, say, or think. The world has never been more developed, healthier, more educated, more connected, and closer despite wars and divisions. In the last 30 years, enormous miracles have occurred. What I am about to tell you are probably the most underreported news stories in world history that deserve to be top headlines globally, but they are not," Grgić conveyed.
Three Top News Stories That Are Silenced
According to him, the first news story would be "Never Fewer Poor and Hungry." Fifty years ago, 50% of the world was hungry, he added. Every country that has replaced a planned economy, state interventionism, and other socialist-communist rhetoric with a free market economy has achieved economic progress and emerged from poverty.
"The second piece of news is 'Never Healthier Humans.' Despite the recent pandemic, the global human population has continued to grow year after year, just as life expectancy has. Thanks to tremendous advances in medicine, biochemistry, and pharmacology, today, humans live six years longer than they did 30 years ago. We have eradicated polio and other infectious diseases, especially in children. Many chronic diseases are treated with the same inexpensive medication, whether it's someone like us, the Swedish king, or a Hollywood actor," he emphasized.
Grgić added that our children, regardless of where they are born today, are becoming more alike, regardless of nationality, race, or religion. This is the third most underreported story: "The Creation of a Global Middle Class."
"These people would rather go shopping than go to war, and they are the nightmare of various war-mongers and old-school regimes," Grgić believes.
He explained that the aforementioned economic progress, healthy individuals, and the creation of a global middle class are just some of the areas where our collective knowledge as a civilization has advanced today's world to a level of development our grandparents could not have even dreamed of.
Grgić explains that most researchers, scientists, and technological leaders are convinced that the changes brought about by artificial intelligence will be much greater and far-reaching than the IT revolution. Therefore, he expressed confidence that Homo sapiens will make a greater civilizational leap in the next 50 years than in the past two million years.
He took the opportunity to offer advice to those attending the conference on how to advance in their work.
"You must love, but also learn to love what you do. Try to know more each day and be better than your version from the previous day. Be fully committed to the goal you want to achieve. Strive to replace the desire for personal wealth with gratitude to God, family, friends, and acquaintances who have been and will be by your side. Finally, you must be lucky. But there will be more luck if you practice everything else I mentioned," said Grgić.
The 'Bilateral Navigator' Project
Finally, he introduced his latest and probably most significant project—Bilateral Navigator. It involves creating massive yet highly useful content for diplomats and business leaders worldwide by leveraging big data, social network analytics, and artificial intelligence.
This unique collection of bilateral reports provides in-depth insights into the dynamic interactions between countries, showcasing not only political and economic connections but also cultural, historical, and social ties. The project covers 193 UN member states, resulting in 18,528 different books.
"I am confident that I have created something entirely new, interesting, and above all useful for me in my work. Precisely because I knew what I needed on one hand and what data sources and technologies were needed to turn them into useful content on the other, I set out from the beginning to cover absolutely all the countries of the world, the entire global bilateral network," concluded Siniša Grgić.
The second edition of the MoStart conference was held from April 24 to 26, 2024, at the University of Mostar. The conference was organized by the University of Mostar and the Center for Information Technology of the University of Mostar - SUMIT, in collaboration with the Croatian Academic and Research Network CARNET, the Agency for Commercial Activities – AKD, the Ministry of Science, Education, Culture, and Sports of HBŽ, the Ministry of Education, Science, Youth, Culture, and Sports of SBŽ, the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture, and Sports of ŽZH, the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture, and Sports of the Posavina County, the Institute for Education of ŽZH and HBŽ, and the Institute for Schooling of Mostar.
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