I discussed this with Brian, Pete, Robin et al a few weeks ago.
Every 200-300-400 years there is a phase change. We don’t tend to live that long, so we don’t get a chance to ‘see’ the change – but it’s there. If we see past 1,000 or 2,000 or more years of history, the hidden phases will appear from no-where in front of us. For example, Europe renaissance, United States of America, …, China/India etc. It goes, it comes, it goes, it comes.
Here is a bold prediction – I think over next 25 years or so, national boundaries will become immaterial – it will be people who believe in the phase change and people who don’t or don’t want to. The ‘right’ appears is to be at the right place at the right time and do the right thing – so being able to see a phase change and make sure you are riding the up-curve. Sheer opportunism? Well, maybe.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
I very much like the idea of national boundaries becoming irrelevant. :)
OT: A famous speculation about patterns in innovation is Terrence McKenna's Novelty Theory. It suggests we'll reach a state of infinite innovation on 21st of December 2012! McKenna proposed a number of unfounded but somewhat intuitively attractive theories (a bit like Saket's theories :) ). For example he speculated that human evolution (or lack thereof) is closely linked to the consumption (or lack thereof) of psilocybin mushrooms. :)
To seize on your comment in the first paragraph about change over 200-300-400 years.
I would assert that this lack of long term perception hampers efforts to live in a sustainable way within our environment. Life at the present time is (noticeable to humans so must be fast) getting faster. The instant society... instance coffee, 24/7 banking shopping, instant messaging.
A lot of our actions don't result in an immediate change, actions build up and work slowly. Because our lifespans are short we don't see the effect triggered by the cause. Our children will see the effect, but it seems that is not a sufficient trigger to learn from. We today see the consequences of the past, but fail to learn from them.
So my assertion is that as our stream of consciousness is limited in time, it makes it hard when dealling with any cause-effect link that takes longer that stream of consciousness. I would also assert that our current way of living makes it even harder.
Mattew, I fully concur with your assertions. Our thinking is limited in time (for example, mine is -10 years to +2 years), space (UK, India and US) and sensory perception (what I can see, hear, smell, touch etc.), thus having little or no view of other time, other geographies/cultures and other non-sensory perceptions.
Post a Comment