The Future by Al Gore
(W H Allen, R275)
You may remember Al Gore (pictured) as the guy who scared us to death with his movie An Inconvenient Truth about the damage we are causing our atmosphere and ecosystems.
In his latest book, he looks into the future, to show us where we are likely to go and what is likely to happen to the human race.
We live in the age of communication. The world has shrunk and knowledge flows on the internet at the push of a button. Millions converse via e-mails and cellphones. News and events around the world are beamed to our TV sets even as they happen.
The globe appears to be shrinking as we become more interdependent, socially, politically and on trade and industry. The information revelation is changing our world. We have an information overload which is forming and reforming the way we think and regard our world.
Gore refers to the world tending to a Global Incorporation, where economies and trade are intertwined throughout the world. The outsourcing of jobs and the automation of industry have changed the planet at an ever accelerating rate. Technology and new ideas constantly outstrip and supersede each other at an unprecedented rate. This has brought about what Gore refers to as the “Global Mind”.
Humanity is pulsating on Twitter, Facebook and on other communication networks. Exchanges of information on politics, economics, religious views, free information and the loss of privacy are inevitable.
It would appear that the power of governments could shift towards people as the mass of opinions are voiced in unison. In the last 60 years, wars have declined and it would appear the human race is maturing, human values are spreading and military power is less relevant in the interconnected world.
Our choice: be swept along by the currents of technological change and economic determinism into a future that may threaten our deepest values, or build a capacity for collective decision-making on a global scale that allows us to shape that future in ways that protect human dignity and reflect the aspirations of nations and people.
According to experts, we are heading for a “tipping point” of no return, our ecosystems will be irreversibly damaged. We are already losing thousands of species to extinction every year. Who knows what the effect will be? The imbalances are becoming starker: the rich get fatter, the poor get thinner. Waste and pollution are a mounting problem.
Our population explosion is about to come back and bite us. Can the planet sustain us all? Why are the governments not tending to these important issues? Is big business able to override politics and the will of the people? Who has the guts to stand up to what has to be done and for what is right for our species’ survival?
Those in government – read carefully and decide if what you are doing is going to benefit the human race in the future.