In this passage from My Big TOE (My Big Theory of Everything), Physicist and consciousness explorer Tom Campbell examines the societal impacts of globalisation and advancing communication technology. He describes how cultural diversity is diminishing as humanity forms large, overlapping cultural blocs—such as Western Christian industrialised societies and Middle Eastern Muslim regions—fueled by shared emotions and virtual connectivity.
This consolidation risks breeding arrogance, conflict, and instability. Yet, Campbell views this turbulence as a temporary phase in humanity’s evolution from the industrial age to the information age, predicting eventual cultural coalescence and new challenges ahead. He provocatively questions whether we are heading toward conformity as “politically correct herd animals,” radical individualism, or a paradoxical blend of both.
¨Cultural diversity, no longer tied to local geography, is shrinking as the world’s people
coalesce into a few major overlapping cultural blocks (for example: Western Christian
industrialized first world, Middle Eastern Muslim non-industrialized third world, the world of “haves,” and the world of “have nots”). As these generalized cultural blocks coalesce and gain virtual membership throughout a world community, they gain the power of large numbers expressing shared emotions. The power of numbers often breeds arrogance, self-proclaimed superiority, and belligerence. As leadership evolves to exploit this potential power, expect trouble as major cultural blocks living in wholly different local realities conflict with each other.
The good news is: The growing social and political instability between conflicting reality systems represents only a temporary turbulence induced by a major worldwide reality shift. As a complex system evolves, it often must transition between stable states. This transition period is usually turbulent. We successfully made the transition to the industrial age, but not without abuse, violence, and great dislocation heralding that cultural change. Now we are transitioning to the information age and it is going to be a bumpy ride for a while. Electronic communications technology has suddenly shrunk the world. The bad news is: If we are not clever, and sensitive to what is going on, this transition could get nasty and last a long time. As the world continually shrinks, the cultural blocks will eventually begin to coalesce with each other. Eventually the rancor of this transition period will dissipate as we face an entirely new set of challenges.
Perhaps one day in the future it will be difficult to find someone who does not share your worldview. The cultural pressure to conform within each of the major blocks is already severe.
Do you think our species may be evolving toward becoming politically correct herd animals in the information age or uniformly distributed individualists in plain brown wrappers? Or both simultaneously?
