Tipping Point

In 2001, the first year of a new millennium, all kids born in 1984 turned 17. Five years later, all of these kids are beyond the age of majority in every jurisdiction in the world.

The world has become a very complex, grossly imbalanced system. Is the contemporary world, in your estimation, headed for one dystopia or another? How is the world equipping children -- ages 0 to 21 -- to cope with, or to change, this situation?

Simply put, would YOU hand the keys to the world over to the next generation?

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As a result of the standards, practices, expectations, and guidance of contemporary generations in command -- the Greatest Generation (1910 - 1924), the Silent Generation (I'd say the Cold War generation, 1925 - 1945), the baby boomers (1946 - 1964), and, to an extent, Generation X (1965 - 1975) -- the world has arrived at this state. The generations to follow will, presumably to survive, be required to clean up the act a little... or a LOT.

I look at modern western civilization and, day by day, I see it creeping toward the culmination of the dystopian fantasies[.] I see more of a movement toward a police state in anti-terror laws and security practices. I see more medications to heal ailments that are created by the world humans have created for themselves; treatments for depression, anxiety, restless legs, etc. I see more of the world being paved over. I see blue skies turning brown. I see blue seas turning green or white or gray. I see more of the world coming under the control of consumerism and commerce, industry, and corporate "goods" rather than common goods. I see a widening gap between rich and poor. I see induced desires surmounting basic necessities. I see technological communication as driving a wedge between people rather than unifying people; ensuring that people go home, lock their doors, and "interact" online, rather that meeting, combining resources, and achieving recognizable changes. I see that the empowered will do anything to prevent the same types of Revolutions that granted people their freedom in the first place.

I look at modern non-Western civilizations; Eastern European, Middle-Eastern, and South Asian nations, as well as the nations of the Caribbean, South America, Africa, and Oceania; and see them in crisis. There is an exterior push for them to become industrialized, to keep pace with the rest of the world. There is an internal desire for cultural independence and distinctiveness to be asserted in the face of the exterior influence. There exists a crisis of faith. Religious militancy confronts religious moderation. Both confront secularism. Secularism confronts economy. Economy confronts globalization. Globalization, seemingly, promotes poverty; thus, it is confronted with anti-globalization and nationalism. All claim to be patriots. As long as all of these issues rage, each confronting all the others, no stability can be achieved; no coherence can be achieved. And, furthermore, non-Western civilizations are exploited and suppressed by Western power and authority.

I see all of this, yet, there is no coherent call for change within the seats of power -- for example, within G8 nations or the permanent member nations of the UN Security Council -- because stability and security of these powers is more important. The overwhelming power of few nations, Canada, China, the EU, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the UK, and the US must, under no circumstances, come undone. A juggernaut guided by interests of economy, treaties, and influence remains undeterred. Secrets abound.

If this is all true, then what is to become of the future? Is this, now the tipping point, where this world is as good as it's going to get? Is this the utopia, the grand vision of perfection that certainly foretells of a dystopian future?

I believe that the unchallenged authority is no authority at all.

A generation (GenNext) is being raised to believe that convenience and credit cards are core values. A generation whose parents are specialized to no end, culminating in a management society -- according to Thomas Homer-Dixon -- wherein no-one knows the entire story. This world has become complex beyond reckoning. Small changes here can have devastating consequences there.

Is GenNext equipped to cope and, if necessary, change? If equipped only to stay the course, will humanity decline or overcome?