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Figures of Mankind: Where Are We Running?
How comfortable do we feel with globalization?
Is mankind running at full speed into a wall?
Should we prepare to get more and more devastated by hurricanes, earthquakes and terrorist attacks as the media regularly suggests?
And where is this digital economy leading us? Will artificial intelligence and robots take power over democratic governments?
Who should we the prophets of doom and gloom or the cheerful optimistic preachers? They portray our world from two uncompromising and incompatible angles. Which is relevant?
And how do we fit into the big picture?
Until recently, the world was described to us by ocean sailors who narrated tales of their global travels by the fireplace back home. But such warm voices and charming legends have been replaced by breaking flashes of bad news. The catastrophes that occur anywhere on the planet come daily into our homes. Where does this leave us?
In this bewildering twenty-first century, is there still a dream to share, a frontier to explore, and a safe place for each of us?
Unless we apply to become astronauts on Mars, an interesting yet statistically rare career opportunity, we are bound to accept globalization. But the more we understand it, the easier it will be to handle.
So let’s put a few figures in play and measure our world. Let’s try to assess our present situation and imagine the future that we could create together.
This book is an invitation for us to take ownership of our destiny.
Shall we?
Is mankind running at full speed into a wall?
Should we prepare to get more and more devastated by hurricanes, earthquakes and terrorist attacks as the media regularly suggests?
And where is this digital economy leading us? Will artificial intelligence and robots take power over democratic governments?
Who should we the prophets of doom and gloom or the cheerful optimistic preachers? They portray our world from two uncompromising and incompatible angles. Which is relevant?
And how do we fit into the big picture?
Until recently, the world was described to us by ocean sailors who narrated tales of their global travels by the fireplace back home. But such warm voices and charming legends have been replaced by breaking flashes of bad news. The catastrophes that occur anywhere on the planet come daily into our homes. Where does this leave us?
In this bewildering twenty-first century, is there still a dream to share, a frontier to explore, and a safe place for each of us?
Unless we apply to become astronauts on Mars, an interesting yet statistically rare career opportunity, we are bound to accept globalization. But the more we understand it, the easier it will be to handle.
So let’s put a few figures in play and measure our world. Let’s try to assess our present situation and imagine the future that we could create together.
This book is an invitation for us to take ownership of our destiny.
Shall we?
208 pages, Paperback
Published July 18, 2018
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November 9, 2018
Amazingly, although Rollin only mentions his countryman and predecessor Teilhard by name in the last chapter, as I read through the ideas expressed in this delightful little monograph, I kept thinking: “Noosphere!” and “Critical Point”. I read several of Teilhard’s powerful and prophetic works as a graduate student in chemistry during the 1960’s after their posthumous publication. At the time of the 2008 US presidential election, I was overwhelmed with an intense awareness I expressed in a personal (unpublished) essay that the “Thought Envelope” these books had described and predicted had indeed arrived. I am absolutely delighted that this author does in fact fully integrate the perspective of an ongoing development of Complexity-Consciousness into the modern aspects of the Internet.
From the perspective of a soon-to-be octogenarian laywoman, this marvelously hopeful, extremely easy-to-read book by a man familiar with the trajectory of the current “information explosion” and sensitive to the political trends of the first two decades of the 21st century is a genuine Godsend! If I had had the knowledge and access Rollin has, I would have written a very similar essay myself. For those who are willing to be open-minded and play a bit with ideas, yet willing to deal with serious and world-altering events, this book will be an immense blessing.
From the perspective of a soon-to-be octogenarian laywoman, this marvelously hopeful, extremely easy-to-read book by a man familiar with the trajectory of the current “information explosion” and sensitive to the political trends of the first two decades of the 21st century is a genuine Godsend! If I had had the knowledge and access Rollin has, I would have written a very similar essay myself. For those who are willing to be open-minded and play a bit with ideas, yet willing to deal with serious and world-altering events, this book will be an immense blessing.
Displaying 1 of 1 review