Introduction to "Cosmic Politics"
Introduction: Education vs. Catastrophe
“History is a race between education and catastrophe.” -- H.G. Wells
The above quote by the visionary writer H.G. Wells, while written at the turn of the 20th century, seems to resonate even more in the 21st. Never before in human history has the balance been more precarious between the potential for a golden age of mankind and an era of wholesale destruction and misery.
On the one hand, we live in an unprecedented age of global unity, with former enemies becoming trading partners, instantaneous communication tying the world together in a “global village,” and technology offering the hope of a brighter future for all.
On the other, disintegrative and destructive forces throughout the world cast doubt upon the ability of mankind to realize the potential of this age. First, there is the threat of global warming and catastrophic climate change, which many scientists see as a greater threat than terrorism. Terrorism itself seems to accelerate daily as growing alienation between the Muslim and Western worlds spawns extremist groups bent on wreaking maximum damage on the West with the horror of nuclear terrorism looming in the background.
The collapse of the Soviet empire brought an end to the so-called “Cold War” but other potential adversaries emerge as China, India and the European Union vie with the United States for superpower status. The competition for limited oil resources is becoming increasingly intense as the booming economies of China and India gobble up more oil. Add to that the threat of unstable rogue nations like North Korea and Iran possessing or developing weapons of mass destruction, and the potential for another global conflagration seems very real.
Clearly, world leaders must adopt new ideas and paradigms suited to deal with the threats and the promises of this new age. Unfortunately, most world leaders still base their policies on outdated world-views, philosophies and paradigms that may have served national or corporate interests in the past, but are now incapable of dealing with the challenges ahead and even lead to destructive policies. The longer it takes for more enlightened ideas and policies to take hold, the more difficult it will be to avoid or recover from global-level catastrophes and the more humanity will suffer.
The Rest Of The Story
“History is a race between education and catastrophe.” -- H.G. Wells
The above quote by the visionary writer H.G. Wells, while written at the turn of the 20th century, seems to resonate even more in the 21st. Never before in human history has the balance been more precarious between the potential for a golden age of mankind and an era of wholesale destruction and misery.
On the one hand, we live in an unprecedented age of global unity, with former enemies becoming trading partners, instantaneous communication tying the world together in a “global village,” and technology offering the hope of a brighter future for all.
On the other, disintegrative and destructive forces throughout the world cast doubt upon the ability of mankind to realize the potential of this age. First, there is the threat of global warming and catastrophic climate change, which many scientists see as a greater threat than terrorism. Terrorism itself seems to accelerate daily as growing alienation between the Muslim and Western worlds spawns extremist groups bent on wreaking maximum damage on the West with the horror of nuclear terrorism looming in the background.
The collapse of the Soviet empire brought an end to the so-called “Cold War” but other potential adversaries emerge as China, India and the European Union vie with the United States for superpower status. The competition for limited oil resources is becoming increasingly intense as the booming economies of China and India gobble up more oil. Add to that the threat of unstable rogue nations like North Korea and Iran possessing or developing weapons of mass destruction, and the potential for another global conflagration seems very real.
Clearly, world leaders must adopt new ideas and paradigms suited to deal with the threats and the promises of this new age. Unfortunately, most world leaders still base their policies on outdated world-views, philosophies and paradigms that may have served national or corporate interests in the past, but are now incapable of dealing with the challenges ahead and even lead to destructive policies. The longer it takes for more enlightened ideas and policies to take hold, the more difficult it will be to avoid or recover from global-level catastrophes and the more humanity will suffer.
The Rest Of The Story
posted by Hal McKenzie at
10:35 PM
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