The Futures Of The Human Race

The Futures Of The Human Race
A book by Michael Bell

BOOK ONE: GLOBALIZATION

Book One consists of a series of chapters describing the ongoing process of globalization in a number of dimensions. It shows that the process is both unstoppable, short of a major catastrophe, and desirable.

Globalization is conventionally viewed, especially by its opponents, as nationalism or capitalism writ large. On the contrary, the chapters in this part of the book will portray globalization, accompanied by the Internet, as undermining the faceless power of the State, while enabling human beings to take advantage of their affiliative natures to develop a vast range of truly democratic and participative international organizations.

One cautionary note is in order: inevitably, the book is written from the perspective of a citizen of a 'developed' country. Yet a high proportion of humanity lives in 'undeveloped', even outright poverty-stricken regions. The chapters devoted to globalization must obviously be taken as applying to the developed world. It would be ludicrous to suggest that a subsistence farmer on an African plain can share in the pleasures and pains of a globalized life.

However, this is a short-term problem (not for 2007's unfortunate subsistence farmer, of course). As later parts of the book will show, the next fifty years will see abundant economic growth and a series of 'boot-strapping' initiatives directed at less fortunate parts of the world which will level up the playing field to such an extent that by 2050 poverty will be largely a thing of the past, and a very high proportion of humanity will be able to participate in the globalized world described in this book.

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