“I can manage on my own!” – is anyone who says that sentence happy? You go on a world trip, but never speak a word to anyone on your way – are you happy then? Can anyone who is on their own be happy?

This question was also asked by the happiness researcher Christopher Peterson. He found out in his studies that we apparently receive our greatest happiness through other people. His formula for happiness is: Other people count!

Today is the best time to be happy!

Why? Beauty is best enjoyed in company. The most important building blocks of a happy life are social integration. Good relationships are considered the basis of a happy life.

Today, digitization and globalization have networked our world. We can connect with almost everyone globally and – regardless of distance – have social proximity with other people. These connections are also called “long-distance links”. No outsider has to remain an outsider any longer. He can connect with other people worldwide and turn his back on the excluding community. The new technologies provide us with an unprecedented range and intensity in our exchanges with other people.

The Internet has revolutionized interpersonal relationships

For the first time in human history, social relations are possible independent of a physical place. Interactive Internet platforms and SharePoint solutions, such as those offered by the multinational software and hardware provider Microsoft, as well as social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram make social and scientific exchange much easier. Companies and research institutions have recognized this and are using web-based technologies for marketing and communication purposes to be closer to their customers. All places are committed to exchange, dialogue and togetherness. There is no better breeding ground for individual happiness than the technological innovations of our time.

From the biochemical basis of happiness to the welfare nations: Other people count!

Students from the field of positive psychology find their way into all research institutions. They are always concerned with the question of what makes life especially worth living. Even if happiness researchers have not yet found a universally valid world formula for human happiness, one thing is certain: all studies in positive psychology emphasize how immensely important other people are for our personal happiness. In order to distinguish ourselves from artificial intelligence in the future, the core of human happiness will become an increasingly important topic.

This is the rebirth of all professions that have as their object the human being and the exchange with others. In the social sciences and humanities, the sense of we and close cooperation have long been regarded as the pacesetter for human evolution.

Renaissance of a philosophical old question

But global networking and cooperation also raises the question of what is just. If we are all connected worldwide, don’t we also need a common understanding of justice? The question of a just society has preoccupied people for thousands of years and has been answered differently by different thinkers. For justice means more than judging right and wrong.

When we talk about justice, it is always also about how much freedom we allow ourselves in our social interaction and how the limits of the individual’s freedom are to be defined. But also how we value certain human virtues and whether we consider some of them more valuable than others are important questions if we want to address the issue of justice.

The philosophers’ hour has come

In the media today, philosophers and social scientists of all stripes are often asked about their views. This is not surprising, as technologies have created a new type of person – the “Homo Connectus”. The person who can connect with all others and go in cooperation.

This new type of person also raises the question of the rules of cooperation and collaboration in a completely new way. Our understanding of justice is still determined by formal norms that end at national borders. What is considered law here is not legal in another place. But these national borders no longer apply to human interaction. Today we exchange ideas globally.

This can be illustrated by the question of the legitimacy of same-sex relations: In some states these people are allowed to marry, in other nations their love is considered a crime. In all probability there are same-sex couples whose partners met in global Internet forums and yet are subject to very different national legal regulations. While one of the two is allowed to marry, the other must fear for his or her freedom. This despite the fact that both performed the same action, namely falling in love on the Internet.

Therefore, against the background of a global society, it is helpful to train our moral reflection and to constantly deal with philosophical positions. Whether just actions are measured by the common good of all, by the freedom of individuals or by the goal and purpose of the action: There are many subjective opinions as to what is just, and it is necessary to weigh them up again and again.

The history of philosophy shows us that the answers to questions of justice also always depend on the time and culture in which they are posed. In a world in which the individual happiness of people is at the centre of attention, an examination of the question of what was globally considered just is elementary.

A humanity that is globally networked also needs a consensus on the question, was globally considered just. In order for each of us to be happy and to experience the world as a just place, it is imperative to confront the philosophical positions of justice.

That is why the birth of the globally networked human being – Homo Connectus – equally signifies the renaissance of philosophy.