Making Human Civilization More Adaptable to the Future: The ASTO Manifesto

Human civilization is undergoing unprecedented systemic pressures—from climate disruption and artificial intelligence to geopolitical reconfiguration and value fragmentation. These challenges cannot be adequately addressed through isolated solutions alone. What is required is a foundational framework capable of explaining how civilizations preserve coherence, resilience, and agency across profound transitions. Attribute-Set Transition Ontology (ASTO) is proposed as such a framework. Centered on the concept of the attribute set, ASTO analyzes how entities maintain identity through continuous change, and how qualitative transformations emerge when critical thresholds are crossed. Rather than prescribing normative values or policy outcomes, ASTO offers an ontological and analytical toolkit for examining complex systems in transition. Specifically, ASTO enables us to: Identify structural vulnerabilities and sources of resilience within civilizational systems Analyze the dynamics, thresholds, and irreversibility of systemic transitions Distinguish negotiable adaptations from non-negotiable boundaries Preserve human agency amid accelerating technological and social change This work does not aim to predict the future. Instead, it provides a conceptual framework for understanding and intervening in transitions as they unfold. It is intended for thinkers, researchers, and practitioners seeking to support the long-term adaptability and continuity of human civilization.