**Assumption:
**The overall increase in interconnectedness through human history has meant that we are capable of growth and destruction on a much larger scale and a much shorter timeline than ever before. As pace of change in world civilization continues to increase, major ideological shifts aren’t ever as far apart as they used to be.
**Question based on assumption:
**Given any large-scale trends you might want to make an arguement for… what are some of the good candidates for the next major ideological direction humanity will go? What will people believe in next? World Government? Survival? Technological Wonderland/Nightmare?
I’m looking for logical trajectories here.
Past, Present, Future.
This all assumes, of course, you believe that civilization needs a fundamental motivating factor and will continue to have one. Feel free to weigh in on that concept as well.
This is my belief as well, but it’s going to take a long time. In developed countries, we sit around talking about how far humanity has come, how we have gone from seeing people of other tribes as beasts and worthless animals to following ideas of universal equality and good will towards all men, but at the same time many people still see people of other tribes or other social groupings as beasts and worthless animals. We talk about how in the old days the lord looked out for himself while the people who worked themselves to early graves for him lived in mud and squalor, but there are still such places in the world.
We’re heading in the right direction, but it’s a long, long, long way there. That said, I think the trend points towards something resembling Communism.
[list=A]
[li]Until very recently, there have been many Civilizations: our telecommunications age is the first to offer the chance of a global Human civilization.[/li][li]Human civilizations are never planned, therefore they lack intent; lacking intent, they cannot have direction.[/li][li]In any given situation, there are too many forces trying to shape & control the world for any of them to pick a direction & steer towards it. It’s like a tiny Mini car, crammed with dozens of people, all fighting to grasp the wheel, & control the accellerator & the brakes. When everybody tries to control, nobody controls.[/li][/list]
[QUOTE=Bosda Di’Chi of Tricor]
[list=A]
[li]Until very recently, there have been many Civilizations: our telecommunications age is the first to offer the chance of a global Human civilization.[/li][/quote]
Yes. How does that stop us from trying to predict where that global civilization will go?
[quote]
[li]Human civilizations are never planned, therefore they lack intent; lacking intent, they cannot have direction.[/li][/quote]
I disagree. Direction doesn’t presuppose intent. Evolution has no intent, but it has direction, simply because things happen to happen in that direction. We can (to an extent) predict where evolution is going based on where it has been and what the environmental factors have been, are and will be, and in the same way we can attempt to predict where humanity is going.
I don’t think we are moving forward, especially not to communism. (Actually works can be a highly subjective criterion).
I think we are moving sideways like a stalling plane that’s lost one engine. Except that we are about 2 minutes before that engine loss. Where we end up heading is way to random to be predicted I think.
If that two minutes is some time away I think corporations will continue to get more powerful and more independent and especially more dominant and sovereign in third world countries where they have workers.
I think we could end up in an extreme corporatist system in the long run considering many have greater gdp’s than a small country. The real shock in the US will be if/when they start becoming more autonomous from us.
But its possible that an extreme shake up involving oil would do in the corporations. On the other hand with this oil shakeup, if corporations employ workers who can’t afford to drive to work, they may start providing corporate towns or corporate housing.
Corporations are likely to lead the way with mass production of post-oil vehicles/industry etc simply because they are the only ones with the power to do so, and any government that heavily taxes them will find them moving.
But with an oil crisis globalism would go down the drain or at least be hampered, so its hard to say.
You can alter it if you increase your drag by spreading your arms and legs in flight. It also helps spread the force so you don’t go through the net at the other end of the circus tent. I was talked out of quitting because they were afraid they’d never find another man of my caliber.
rimshot
Other than that sidetrack, I agree with Bosda. Any “direction” seen is an illusion based on wishful thinking and projecting where we are going by where we have been. As a species we will muddle through and if we, for the moment, find ourselves somplace good we’ll say, “We meant to do that,” and find justification in our past for arriving there.