Progress
on Earth is snowballing. One has only to look at a longer timeline of
humanity to see that the rate of change has increased exponentially. In
earlier cultures, significant social or cultural changes occurred at a
snail’s pace over hundreds, even thousands of years. But if you fast
forward a few hundred years at a time and take a look, along the
centuries you can start to see humanity evolving at faster and faster
intervals.
An
upshift in the intensification of human social development can be seen
to have originated around two thousand years ago during the time of the
prophets (Confucius, Buddha, Jesus, and Muhammad, peace be upon them
all). As the teachings of these and other enlightened persons began to
spread, the development of peace as a cultural objective began its
incremental move to the forefront of our societies. Not all of them
have developed at the same rate of course. Some cultures adapt quicker
than others. Some have large factions of people terrified about the
state of the world today and in their fear they commit horrible actions,
atrocities, genocides.
Terrorism,
in my view, is not a symptom of a planet in a downward spiral. I
believe (in my optimism) it is actually a sign that LIGHT now holds more
sway in our world than it once did. Not less. Because remember, it is
cornered dogs which bark the loudest and attack the most viciously.
Terrorism, radicalism, even obstructive politics are all ‘hail mary’
passes on the political stages of the world made by those who are losing
their grip on a form of wealth and power that only a short time ago was
easy to accumulate in secret. But secrets are much harder to keep in
the Information Age. It used to be that conspiracies could be
maintained among large numbers of people. Whole companies or
governmental departments could be counted upon for their collective
silence when things weren’t always handled ethically. Whistleblowers
were fewer, had less evidence and less support from their colleagues
when it was time to speak out.
But
today with technology this is entirely different. Whole revolutions
against old world orders are now being launched on cell phones and
tablets over secret documents leaked to the entire world over the
Internet. The dictators of today cannot hide, divide, and conqueror
like they could in the old days. They can’t keep their citizens from
talking to one another anymore. Even “impenetrable” firewalls and other
forms of government control over the Internet that exist in countries
like China and North Korea can be outwitted by a teenager sitting at a
personal computer in his bedroom.
What
becomes of a world when Big Brother isn’t the only one who is doing the
watching? Dystopian futurists like George Orwell never imagined that
the view would be two-way. We are watched, but we are also the watchers.
That never occurred to us in our contemplations about the future. No
wonder we were worried. And no wonder “Big Brother” is feeling a little
cornered.
So
we are now like passengers standing in the aisle of a moving train.
It’s traveling like the wind, but we can’t feel it much. Sure, we get
jostled around a bit. Perhaps a bit of motion sickness and travel
delays. But as a whole, humanity is learning more and more how to
collaborate with one another. We invent ways of reaching out to larger
and larger numbers of people and build connections constantly.
Now
imagine the future with these thoughts in mind. To where does the long
arc of history bend when all we seem to want to do is get to know one
another?
