YEREVAN, JANUARY 27, ARMENPRESS. President of Armenia Armen Sarkissian visited the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology on the sidelines of his working visit in Israel, the Presidential Office told Armenpress. The Technion is the oldest university of Israel, the only technological institute in the world to have a medical school.

The Armenian President met with the teaching staff and students of the Institute. President of the Technion Uri Sivan said it’s a great honor to host the Armenian President and a double honor to host him as a scientist-president.

President Sarkissian thanked for the reception and stated that he first time visited this Institute in early 90s of the 20th century when he was conducting research on astrophysics and gravity field. “Institutes like this one will become the base for the world development”, Armen Sarkissian said.

He said today most of the youth wants to create a startup, have a company of new technologies. “This world is a new startup, and each young man has an opportunity to create”, he said. “The world is becoming a place where innovation and idea are the most important. Even the large companies pay a great importance to innovation and startups. In the 21st century innovations and new ideas will be encouraged. This is a new world that is changing quite rapidly. We are at the crossroad of change. This change is impressing and will be more dramatic in the future”.

The Armenian President continued his remarks, adding that “today we live in a new world”. “Each of us is mutually connected like the elements. We are communicating with the pace of light and start showing the behavior of quantum subjects. Today we all are mutually connected, the global risks are becoming quantum risks”, he said, adding that this also relates to politics. “If 100 years ago the scientists discovered that nature is not classical, but quantum, now I am trying to convey the message that the human behavior today is a quantum behavior”, he said. “We need to change our logic on how we manage politics, foreign relations and how we look at the future. In the new world many things are unpredictable, and if we change our logic and philosophy, it would be possible to understand many things. The quantum world is attractive as it opens new prospects to operate a new logic”.

Speaking about the artificial intelligence and its impact on the world, the Armenian President said in the conditions of artificial intelligence development the most important person will be the man. “If we lose the simple human feelings, such as love, respect, honesty, moral values, we will create a hell on this planet. Thus, morality will remain one of the greatest human values”, he said.

Touching upon the cooperation with the Armenian universities, the President introduced one of the presidential initiatives ATOM (Advanced Tomorrow) on science and technology development. “It aims at gathering major international companies in the field of artificial intelligence and math modelling, as well as creating bridges with the famous universities. I would like to see this institute as well in the list of our partners”, President Sarkissian said.

He also met and talked to the Armenian students studying at the Technion.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan