The media had fun, as it periodically does, when a fundamentalist preacher declares the end of the world. But there was a jittery feeling, too, because for the first time since the end of the Cold War, when the world might have ended in nuclear winter, global warming makes secular people feel doomed. There’s a slender hope that climate change may not be as catastrophic as some scientists believe. Yet on the whole nobody denies the buildup of greenhouse gases, while at the same time no one remotely has a viable solution.
How can doom be replaced with a more productive feeling? When I first began posting in 1995, I found myself addressing four global problems that seemed insoluble: over-population, pollution from fossil fuels, pandemic diseases, and refugeeism. Each of these four had their own trajectory, but they seemed equally unstoppable. I didn’t put terrorism on the same level, although many observers might, because there have been waves of terrorist activity that rise and fall. Eventually the iPod would win out over the mullahs. A younger generation of Arabs would want to join the modern world, and by being connected to modernity through cell phones, Facebook, and shared music files, they would prevail over reactionaries in their society. Perhaps the Arab spring indicates that this victory is closer than anyone ever supposed.
But the underlying reason that terrorism is outclassed by the other problems is that it cannot bring the world to an end, whereas these other global problems can. A planet that cannot sustain enough people, that suffocates on oil and coal fumes, that is decimated by disease or made unstable by refugees fleeing from oppression won’t literally end in the sense of Armageddon. But in some way human evolution would move backward. The world has always been caught between progressive and destructive forces — that duality is built into our nature — yet until now most people would agree that progress had the upper hand. Looking into the future, it takes a die-hard optimist to make such a statement today.
The reality is that a world is coming to an end but not the world. I’m thinking of a world where a tiny minority of people, mostly white and Christian, live off the fat of the planet while billions more are dispossessed. That world is ending with the sudden explosive rise of China and India. The same world consumed fossil fuels without restraint. We are just beginning to face the possibility that this appetite must be curbed. Other trends testify to the end of America’s unrivaled power on the world stage, the dominance of the dollar, the ability of the U.S. to use military means without check, and the acceptance of Anglo-Saxon moral values everywhere. In a recent visit to Britain, President Obama spoke of how much the world needed those values. But in reality the moral values that are rising quickly consist of narrow tribalism, crude nationalism (especially evident in Asia), and religious intolerance.
Wow this is the first time I actually disagree with Deepak, since I'm white and Christian and have never lived off the "fat of the land".
Awesome, Amazing thought
Thank you
Well said and I absolutely agree. I agree that the world isn't going to end. Not in a literal sense. But, ways of life will indeed by changing. I was raised white and christian. I am now white and Buddhist. I agree that change is coming and I don't necessarily see it as a bad thing. Instead of looking in pocket books, people are being forced to look inside themselves, I think that's a wonderful thing.
Deepak, you are your own inspiration and imagination.
What you believe is your truth. If you believe the above than your world will receive the result of this.
My Universe of of a different kind: the female which is Universal whether black or white!!
Great..good Imagination really.