Be quick or die: why the world needs Godspeed now

Have you ever heard of the expression Godspeed? It's a parting wish, conveying hope for a person's success, safety, or good fortune, particularly when they're embarking on something significant, a long trip, a dangerous mission, or a major life change.

The term carries a certain gravitas because of its historical and religious roots, so using it for trivial matters dilutes its impact.

So much for the historical roots. As an active reserve officer in the Swiss Armed Forces, I command a battalion. In our battalion, we often use the term Godspeed, albeit not in the historical context: for us, it's rather a battle cry when we want things to move faster than at snail-speed.

No matter if you look at the current efforts to rearm Europe, the fight against climate change, or at digital transformation: things move awfully slowly, and a little Godspeed would do us good.

What society does: baby steps

The lazy West has not realised yet that the fat years are over. That's why we drag our feet, waste time and energy on trivialities, and complain about petty things all the time. We have collectively unlearned to solve the big problems, because we were too well off for too long.

And whenever danger is imminent, we fake the impression of progress by taking baby steps. Here are some examples.

Look at defence. Putin's war against Ukraine should have been a wake-up call. Not in 2022, but already in 2014 when Russia took Crimea. In 2026, with a hot war on its doorstep that now takes longer than World War I, Europe is still debating how to increase defence budgets, what to spend the money on, and whether French or German kit should be bought. The military administration still has way too much power over the troop commanders, slowing things down even further.

It's the same with getting rid of fossil fuels. Everybody knows that fossil fuels heat up the atmosphere, and everybody can see that temperatures are rising steadily and glaciers are melting at unprecedented rates. Even if you think the green wave is exaggerated, you can argue we still need to get rid of fossil fuels, as the majority of it comes from the Middle East. But not even a three-month closure of the Strait of Hormuz has accelerated the shift towards renewables. To me, the snail-speed in moving from fossil fuels to renewable energy looks like an alcoholic who proudly announces he will reduce his alcohol consumption by 3% annually to reach sobriety by 2100.

It's no different for digital transformation. At Yonder, the B2B SaaS company I co-founded, we're in the business of digital documentation. Not the paper and PDF way, but more structured and more granular. Believe it or not, but some of our customers took seven years to fully transfer their PDF cemeteries to a modern solution. Of course, while paying for access to our platform during the entire seven years. In those seven years, a thing called artificial intelligence emerged and grew exponentially. Imagine how far they will be behind if they wait for seven years before trying ChatGPT for the first time.

What reality needs: be quick or die

Back to the military. Due to digital transformation and drone technology, the battlefield has become transparent. Everything has become a target, and every movement can be detected and attacked within minutes.

That's why there is a saying in the military that you need to be quick or die. If you're not constantly on the move, your position will be known, and you will be eliminated.

Isn't it the same for fighting climate change or dealing with artificial intelligence? If you're not quick, you will die.

When will we wake up? Whenever we do, I wish us Godspeed.

This article is also published on Tom Vogels' blog. illuminem Voices is a democratic space presenting the thoughts and opinions of leading Sustainability & Energy Thought Leaders, their opinions do not necessarily represent those of illuminem.

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