The author will try to address the following issues and elaborate on the following theses. Why do some of the top-notch intellectuals accede to tyrannical political leaders? Their principal motive is the urge to take portions of great power and steer 'the wheel of history'. By doing so, they betray the title of the intellectual. This act must be related to responsibility for evildoing, which is an important feature of repressive, in particular totalitarian social systems. The paradigm of Auschwitz is not a matter of the past. The most important form of modern totalitarianism, assuming global scale, is neoliberal totalitarianism. What are the chances of humanism as practical philosophy and way of life in the contemporary world? It seems necessary to undertake profound theoretical redefinition of the theory of humanism. The mythology of man and unlimited humanism should be replaced with rational and critical humanism differentiated from its contemporary concept. This should be so as there are immense differences in the structure of the human character, and there is also the perpetual spiral of mankind's self-destruction, visible in war and other bloody conflicts. What are the conditions which would, perhaps, make the world a better place? The principal criterion and crucial condition for achieving that goal is to reduce mass, systemic suffering and turmoil, extinction of human beings. In addition to successful economic growth of all countries and nations, if such a goal is to be achieved, universal human values must be first rehabilitated, and then implemented in social life: these include freedom and dignity for every man, social justice reaching global scale, and planetary peace. The deep crisis of morality must be viewed in the context of overall civilization crisis emerging from the blend of profit, an end in its own, and violence. Phenomena such as economy of death and necrophilic ideology are a direct consequence of this blend. A better world is not a historical necessity (it could become worse than it is now), but only an uncertain possibility. Rational humanism is not just a prerequisite for a renewal of morality. It is also a condition for human survival. It is more than necessary to abandon the fundaments of 'transition', in most cases legally sanctioned privatization theft and systemic social injustice in post-real-socialist countries. However, that is not very likely to happen keeping in mind the current power structures in those societies. Intellectuals bear great responsibility for guarding morality and truth not only in their societies, but also in the world they live in.