This posting explores four ways that the uniqueness of the 21st Century raises both possibilities and problems, simultaneously. These include: Globally Interconnected Societies, an Amplified Human Presence, living Beyond Spiritual Anchors and Ineffective Sociological Responses.
For
the first time in human history, people of all cultures, backgrounds and social
status can communicate – instantaneously – with one another. In the 21st Century, human beings
live in Globally Interconnected Societies. The development of the internet and the
widespread availability of cell phones and wireless communication have produced
a level of direct communication and rapid dissemination of information that has
blanketed the Planet. This
interconnectivity affects the way businesses manage their operations and has
provided heightened awareness and enhanced potential to individuals from urban
centers to remote villages.
A
second uniqueness of the 21st Century involves the massive impact
that the human species has, and can have, on all the systems and structures of
the Planet itself. This Amplified Human Presence has put the
human species in the position of consciously, or unconsciously, affecting the future
of the Planet itself. Signs of this
structural impact occur when construction crews cut off a mountainside to make
way for a superhighway or when acid rains from distant coal-fired generating
plants kill the trees in the mountain forests.
No other species, ever, has possessed this massive transformational
power.
Stories
of mysticism and redemption have helped people know the difference between
right and wrong for centuries. For
example, the story of Jesus multiplying the loaves and fishes provided a
compelling lesson about faith and giving what you have, that with faith it will
be enough. However, it’s difficult to
take the story literally – the events described are scientifically impossible. This highlights another unique feature of the
21st Century – Moving Beyond
Spiritual Anchors. Over time,
stories change; it’s not hard to imagine how a story about Jesus’ followers
supporting one another in community can turn into a story about a miraculous
transfiguration of food. Many have faith
in the miracle and believe the story; for others, however, it rings
hollow. Being rational about what
probably happened between Jesus and his followers doesn’t mean we can’t benefit
from the lesson… But what stories can we tell that don’t fall on deaf ears of
people who immediately turn off because of the impossible nature of the
story? For people to whom the phrase “it
was a miracle” returns a scoff, we still need something to anchor their
decision-making.
Our
methods of addressing problems in society are also based on outdated
understandings. In the first decade of
the 21st Century alone, phenomenal advances in technology and
international relations changed the way people interact and, as noted above,
the way humans impact the world. This
new landscape of the 21st Century highlights the fourth point: Ineffective Sociological Responses. For example, building suburbs in the United
States to accommodate population growth worked well as a sociological framework
for development in the 20th Century.
In the 21st Century, however, we understand more about the
impact on the planet of automobile-centric suburbs and long commutes to
work. However, we haven’t adopted a new
framework for population growth. Our
laws and social norms will change as our understandings and actions are altered
toward thriving in the 21st Century.
On the 10th of each month, Emerging Ecology will release a
new blog post to foster a
conversation about ways these four unique characteristics of the 21st Century
encourage individual and societal transformation toward reinventing the human at the species level.
Please join us in this
conversation.
Nelson Stover and Tim Leisman
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