Louis Bec's keynotes speech forms the introduction to the three day conference whose objective is to question the major mutations that weigh on the future of our world.  He uses the metaphor of extremophiles to confront various aspects of human activities that urges questions of survival and meaningfulness.

"We are all extremophiles who possess the memory of the origin of life."

Our accountability as being part of the environment and our awareness of its fragility and its current state which is undergoing multiple amputations.  He also mentions Gilles Clements’ 'Third Landscape Manifesto’, which advances ideas of risks involved in environmental worries addressed through fear, marketing and other profit inspired commerce or politics.

"We are predatory extremophiles"

Through our imperialistic acquisition of riches (territories, cultures, energies and raw material)

"We are creative extremophiles"

We have an obsession with discovering and surveying unknown territories - either the infinitesimal or the other space.

 "We are thinking extremophiles"

By equipping ourselves with efficient cognitive tools we are not only moving to the point of exploring the brain itself as a new space but also on the knowledge that the survival of the planet depends on better cognitive tools of predicting the future.