The Meaning of the 21st Century

[Paul McDonald]

I recently read an inspiring book called "The Meaning of the 21st Century" by Dr James Martin.

Transition Generation

Dr. Martin states that if he could choose any point in time in which to live, he would choose now. He points out that over the course of this century, a single generation will determine the long term future of humankind. This generation, which he calls The Transition Generation, will face challenges greater than anything humankind has ever faced before. Environmental, Social, Technological and Economic challenges that will define the very nature of our existence for centuries to come. Nothing new there then. Another doom and gloom environmental campaigner? No.

Joining the Dots

What Dr. Martin does a little differently from others is that he joins the dots between environmental, social and technical issues and as a consequence he recognises that there is a great deal of hope. While stressing the bleak outlook for humankind should we sit back and do nothing, he also recognises society's immense potential should we face these challenges and meet our goals. Our children and our grandchildren can look forward to lifestyles of affluence, abundance and fulfilment beyond anything humanity has seen before. A world where cancer does not exist; where children do not die because of a lack of 10 cent immunisations; where terrorists have neither the social fuel from which to recruit nor the technological capacity to commit terror; where old age can be lived with health and vitality; where young adults are regarded as future leaders of our world instead of violent misfits; where global cultures are celebrated for their depth of spirit and wealth of creativity.

Like it or not, recognise it or not, the pace of society's evolution is increasing. Technology, economics and social changes can destroy our environment, our lives and our economies quicker and with more devastating effect than ever before. We're already seeing signs of this now with the global credit crunch, increasing food prices and with increasing concerns over global warming. Next will come increasing concerns over possible worldwide shortages of water, worsening social unrest, more devastating terror attacks and more widespread poverty and hunger. Alternatively, the same technology, economics and social changes could help build for our children the world humanity has always dreamed of.

The Challenges

The sooner we begin to face these challenges and commit to achieving them the more manageable they will be. But what are they? Dr. Martin identifies 17 of them:

1. The Earth
   Healing the damage we have caused and learning to live within natural means
2. Poverty
   In the next forty years we will be adding three billion to the world's population and almost all of them will be born into poverty. The rich are getting richer and the poor are having more babies
3. Population
   Population increase is at the heart of everything. We must begin to control population growth in the "developing world" through women's literacy and liberalisation.
4. Lifestyles
   Dr. Martin promotes the concept of "eco-affluence", a concept where general wealth and abundance is not limited but is instead achieved in a way that is not harmful to the environment.
5. War
   War between nations with weapons of mass destruction is a truly horrific concept. It must be avoided at all cost.
6. Globalism
   The world is shrinking. We must make room for all cultures to thrive.
7. The Biosphere
   The oceans have been plunged of their natural wealth and more species than ever are becoming endangered or extinct. The Biosphere must be managed and protected.
8. Terrorism
   As the world becomes smaller and technology becomes more widely available the capabilities of terrorists to commit unimaginable atrocities becomes all the more potent. This must be tackled effectively.
9. Creativity
   Young people within the Transition Generation must be nurtured to develop creative skills and talents that can contribute to solving the world problems and lead abundant new lifestyles.
10. Disease
    Technology must be used to protect us against pandemics that threaten global population.
11. Human Potential
    Many people never achieve their potential. Everyone must be positively encouraged to achieve and to contribute.
12. The Singularity
    Technology can create technology. The pace of technological evolution is increasing and may eventually become unmanageable. Technology mustn't become our master.
13. Existential Risk
    The coming century brings with it very real threats to our existence. We must avoid any existential risks at all costs.
14. Transhumanism
    Technology, like it or not, has the potential to enhance what nature has given us. Evolution is moving from the natural to the technological domain. This is already a very controversial area.
15. Advanced Civilization
    Eventually, technology will do many of the things we don't want to do. What will our new role in the world be and how will we manage it? Is the 21st century to be our last century or the century where we achieve our greatest potential to build a truly magnificent civilization?
16. GAIA
    The Earths control mechanisms are delicate and powerful. Earth sciences must grow as an academic discipline to further our understanding of how the natural world works and how we can protect it.
17. The Skill / Wisdom Gap
    Technology will allow us to do many new things. Should we? Do we allow technology to protect us from terror while jeopardising civil liberties? Do we really want to live longer? We must learn to sensibly control and live with the enormous advances we will make in the coming century.

What can we do?

As a 30 year old my role is likely to be as part of a pre-Transition Generation: a generation who will raise, nurture and lead the Transition Generation into fulfiling humankind's enormous potential.

I believe there are two simple things we can do.

1. Ask ourselves Why?

   
   

   The technology and the social and economic expertise to meet every one of these challenges already exists today but we are procrastinating as a society. We don't have the collective will to meet our goals. If, like me, you are someone who cares about our world, our shared resources and the people we share them with, then we must play the role of society's conscience. We must motivate society to make a difference. The simplest way to help society discover its motivation is to ask two simple questions.

   
   

   1. Why should we meet these challenges, how will it improve our society?

      
      

      Consider how far society has come in the 20th century. We started the century with two world wars, killing hundreds of millions of people. Many, many millions more died from poverty and hunger. More of Europe was ruled by communist dictators than not. People were openly and unashamedly discriminated by the colour of their skin. Women were considered incapable of political contribution and denied the vote.

      
      

      Consider now what the world could be like if that social evolution continues? What if we harness our ever increasing technical capacity and our ever growing wealth of knowledge to actually increase the pace of social development? What if we move the worlds hungry from poverty into opportunity? What if we demonstrate to would-be terrorists the wonderful potential of humankind? What if we guided our misguided youth? What if we equipped disease ravaged communities with the inexpensive immunisations that would save their lives? What if we protect nature's greatest achievements? What if we removed our reliance on oil? What if we cured cancer?.....

   2. What are the consequences of failing?

      
      

      Again, consider how far society has come in recent centuries. Consider how much suffering there has been for us to reach the stage we are at now. Do we throw away everything that has been achieved? Everything that our ascendants fought and died for? Consider the suffering of those in extreme poverty. Consider the suffering of those who loose children to gang violence. Consider another 9/11 on a larger and more devastating scale; Consider the children who are dying of preventable causes every day. That is someone's child, what if it was your child?

   
   

2. Make a Decision

   
   

   Decide today that "something must change, that I must change it and that I can change it". We must commit ourselves to meeting our goals.

   Ghandi said, "Be the change you want to see in the world". Ask yourself, "Am I contributing to the problem?" If the answer is yes, stop. Choose to hold yourself to a higher standard than others. Choose to live your life as you believe we all should. Make yourself an example to others and recognise and believe that it will make a difference. It will.

For me, it starts here

I for one choose to hold myself to a higher standard. I will not sit by and allow intransigence, procrastination and ignorance to rob my children and their world of its potential. I want more for them.

I will educate myself on all of these interconnected issues and consider all possible solutions. I will be open minded, thorough and unforgiving in doing whatever I can to contribute something positive to humankinds greatest century.

Join me

Through the forums, blogs and other tools on this site let us become society's conscience. Let's educate and motivate ourselves. Let's hold ourselves to a higher standard than others and make ourselves examples for the Transition Generation to follow.

[Claire]

Hi Paul, I'm delighted to be the first "outsider" to join Altrual, hope I'll be the first of many.
The above post is an interesting expansion on the one you made at "the other place" and makes me more keen to read this book, but I think it will have to wait about two months until I finish my PhD - I'm deep into thesis writing at the moment and really can't give it the mental energy it obviously deserves right now.
I think from what you are saying that this book is an exploration of a concept that I have been sort of groping towards over the last couple of years - and then there was a lightbulb moment when I read your other post. I don't see how we can really tackle these big issues until we try to consider them together.
To take the debate on... Reading your summary above made me think of "Cradle to cradle" and "factor four" - which both focus more on environmental issues but there seem to be some similarities in approach to me, although I'm finding it hard to pin these down.
CtoC to me has some flaws but despite this I found them both interesting and inspiring - have you read these books and if so, how would you compare them with James Martin's?

[Paul McDonald]

Hi Claire,

Thanks for your post. I've not read those books but consider them added to my book hit-list. I'm absolutely convinced that the only way to tackle the major problems we face is to do so with a complete understanding of how they relate to eachother, which indeed they do.

For example, the current and very legitimate furore over the use of biofuels in petrol is a prime example of how environmental issues, when considered (poorly) in isolution of social issues can cause more harm than good. Consider the environmental and social issues of biofuel together, and at the same time also consider how technology can play its part and I'm convinced solutions exist that can make a difference in all of these areas.

Thanks and welcome on board.

Paul