Essay · translated from the German original
Parchar — a declaration of love to a word
And what it has to do with an “Encuentro anual de Arquitectura Empresarial Digital” and technology
A personal beginning
A summary of a time in Colombia that made me understand again why it simply feels good to be there — and why it is time to approach things differently in an era in which:
“We are on the cusp of the fastest, deepest, most consequential transformation of human civilization in history.”
An endless thank-you not only to a great nation of hosts, but also to an entirely new idea?
Writing against the algorithm
In moments of looking back, you may go off course and take your time. Even if that has gone out of fashion and this text will probably not go viral: it is too long for automatic two-sentence, three-minute algorithms. And perhaps that is why nobody will read it.
But I do it anyway. Does that make me a rebel?
Or is it already progress that my AI-supported app can read this text aloud to me in my favourite language and my favourite voice? Simply because it sounds good, even if it sounds sentimental? Because it sounds like closeness and warmth?
From Bauhaus back to Baroque
Perhaps this is an invitation to go from Bauhaus back to Baroque — but only the good part. Because as human beings we can learn.
It is not about glorifying the past, but about a leap into a future that is finally beginning:
- no longer selling things ever faster,
- no longer generating revenue in ever shorter time,
- not merely becoming more efficient,
but putting people and our needs first.
Geometry and frequency
Away from straight lines, towards curves. As @Moein Nodehi wrote:
“Geometry isn’t decoration. It shapes how our brains work inside a space. The Earth has a natural frequency – 7,83 Hertz. It’s when our brain feels calm, focused, and balanced. Curves and arches – the shapes we see in nature – spread light and sound more evenly.”
Community instead of KPIs
Doing business and living have to be enjoyable. Networks have to create community worthy of the name.
That can’t be measured in links and likes. Substance only arises when human needs are taken seriously.
That includes hugging each other. “Amor” in an act dismissed as banal, one that creates closeness. Touch heals. A person I have hugged like that stays with me — physically remembered, emotionally anchored.
Human versus machines
What distinguishes us from AI and humanoid robots? We humans touch each other.
I have experienced it myself: when I warmly hug a business partner or friend — not for a photo, but mindfully — it feels good. And it binds more strongly than any formal agreement.
THAT IS HUMAN.
The missing moral code
We need a new corporate culture, a new society. Google & co. try, but it often fails because it turns into a KPI.
What is missing is a moral code — simple, understandable, binding. Guilds once combined economic interests with morality. Today we have a web of laws and lawyers that always offers loopholes.
Has that made the system better? Or is it just a cover for exploitation?
Not a return, but a new start
This is not a call to go back to yesterday, but a call to make things better as a community. To dare more humanity. To hug each other honestly. To take morality seriously.
We have to find our way out of political trench warfare. Community must not become a label for “El Pueblo” or “The Establishment”.
The new Library of Alexandria
Recently a business partner said to me about a new project:
“We will create a new Library of Alexandria! But this time it won’t burn down.”
That moved me deeply. Because it shows how profoundly we have to change things — and will.
Agility instead of rules
The future needs a system that is agile enough to keep up with rapid change. More rules don’t help; total deregulation doesn’t either.
Perhaps it needs more of the lived community that is taken for granted in Latin America during the long nights.
A call to Parchar
The tattoo of my partner, a Colombian, reads:
“Tenemos que hacer las cosas bien desde la primera vez para no tener que repetirlas.” — We have to do things right the first time so we don’t have to repeat them.
In a new agile system the journey has to be the destination. Every step needs morally sound decisions, so that the next hug can again be a warm and loving one.
Conclusion
It is a long, rocky road. But it is worth it. I don’t know that — I feel it. And that is enough.
Where you feel good, you are at home. This morality can be built into systems and used by AI — not to hallucinate its own rules, but to be there for us.
This is our new world. Our new challenge. This time we will make it together.
And all of it in one word: Parchar.
That is human. That is us. Our humane community. That is where we must return.
Thank you
Thank you to everyone who has read this far. With you we will take the first steps into a new, humane future — even if they are bumpy.
Patrick Knoedler