Bird's view of the changing world
Monday, August 25, 2014
What is the world becoming? Terror has unleashed itself in the four corners of the world. There are so many issues the world is facing this very moment, some of which are:
1. The very prominent Palestine-Israel conflict
2. The Russia-Ukraine conflict
3. The Malaysian airlines (disappearance of one plane and the shooting down of the other)
4. The spread of the incurable Ebola virus
5. Violence in Syria
6. England and Scotland-the struggle for sovereignty
7. The unsettled two- Afghanistan and Iraq
To be honest, we are now living in a world where cases of rape, sexual harassment, murder, poverty, war, terrorism, etc. have become so common that we aren’t rattled by the news anymore. However, these past few months have seen much conflict and unrest.
Where is the solution? Where is the turn of events that the world is aspiring for?
Many altruists have donated generously to the Red Cross to help the suffering in Gaza, Iran and Ukraine. Reporters have risked their lives and have actively engaged in adventure journalism, thus showing the world the truth about the above-mentioned incidents. Protests all over the world have erupted, condemning the current situation in the troubled countries.
The various organizations of the world, the NGO's and the UN are trying their best to put an end to this saga of destruction. But trying hard is not enough. Mere talks are not enough.
Take the case of the Israel-Palestine conflict. In spite of multiple cease-fires being declared, the firing didn’t cease in the recovery period. What's worse, a United Nations school was bombed!
Aren’t we human? And isn’t being human all about supporting each other, caring for one another, progressing as a society and adapting to while accepting each other's faults and conditions?
Yet it seems as though the devilish side has taken over humanity this year. Countries have increasingly become self-centered, as the image of a global community seems to be slipping away.
This takes me to another dimension. Sir John Glubb’s Fate of Empires and Search for Survival is a fascinating read for those who wonder what the future will hold. The human civilization has witnessed a cycle of rise and fall of great empires.
May it be the Assyrian Empire or the British Empire, each seemed to last roughly 10 generations, or about 250 years. Glubb said, "Each Empire goes through six predictable phases, outburst/conquest, commerce, affluence, intellect, and finally decadence and fall. " This pattern is independent of the style of government of the empire (today-the modern human civilization) and the technology used in the era.
It is not just Sir Glubb who has studied this pattern. A study funded by NASA's Goddard Space Flight center has proposed that global industrial civilization could collapse in coming decades due to unsustainable resource exploitation and increasingly unequal wealth distribution. According to the study, population, climate, water, agriculture and energy are the main factors that determine the risk of eventual collapse.
The only solutions are:
1. To reduce economic inequality
2. To dramatically reduce resource consumption
On the other hand, environmentalists all over the world have begun to take more serious actions on the pressing problems today such as pollution, waste management, global warming, dwindling energy resources and afforestation. Developed and developing countries are taking constructive steps to mitigate this problem. A few examples are:
1. Renewable energy in China
2. Organic culture in Uganda
3. Forest Management in Nepal
Humanity has evolved to become the smartest on the planet. One can only hope that it keeps its streak alive and doesn’t forget the big picture while chasing short-term goals.
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