Historians frequently divide the past into
different periods or "ages." Thus in Western history
we speak of the Middle Ages or the Renaissance or the Industrial
Age. Each era is defined by certain characteristics. The time
between one phase and the next can be both disruptive as well
as full of the promise of new possibilities. Today, we are
living in just such an "in-between" period, between
two ages. The following outline suggests the characteristics
of the age we are leaving, as well as the distinctiveness
of the age that is emerging.
| From |
|
To |
| Dominance of print
communication |
|
Emergence of electronic
communication |
| American
immigration coming primarily from Europe |
|
Immigration coming
primarily from Asia
and Latin America
|
| The nation state as
outer limits of political identification |
|
Emergence of a global
awareness |
| A
relatively slow pace of change
|
|
Change
at an exponential rate |
| An age whose myths,
religion and culture were formed within a limited
awareness of time and space |
|
An epoch whose
myths, religion and culture
will be shaped by the apparent
infinity of time and space
|
|
Concepts such
as civil society, legal safeguards governing business, due
process, and equality of women are
primarily Western beliefs
|
|
Western
concepts are adopted by the
rest of the world |
|
Majority of world’s
population lives in rural
areas (natural environment)
|
|
Majority of world’s
population lives in urban areas (artificial environment) |
|
Ultimate destructive
power held only
by states
|
|
Ultimate destructive
power held by individuals |
| Epoch of being Earth-bound |
|
Exploration of other
bodies in Space |
|
Atlantic-based
economic, political, military
world dominance
|
|
Global age of shared
power |
|
Economic development
a national endeavor
|
|
Economic development part of a global system |
|
Land,
labor and capital as major basis
of economic growth
|
|
Information and knowledge as engines
of economic growth |
|
Parents control
information environment
in which children are raised
|
|
From earliest age, children have access to all information and cultural expressions |
|
Continual numerical
expansion of the
Caucasian race
|
|
Barring a reversal
of trends, the shrinkage of the Caucasian
race |
|
Traditional world
cultures as stabilizing
social force
|
|
Homogenized world tastes
and attitudes
lacking historic meaning, depth and cultural
function |
|
Birth as a result
of natural means of conception
|
|
Human manipulation
as artificial means of conception |
| Nature as isolated
phenomena |
|
Nature as an integrated
system |
|
Absorbing information
in small amounts,
thus allowing it to be integrated
into a larger schema of
understanding
|
|
Information overload
that prevents formation
of cohesive worldview |
| Sustainable population
growth |
|
Population pressures
threatening capacity for civil society and viability
of our natural habitat
|
|
The natural environment
as the context
of life
|
|
Technical environment
as the context of life |
| The masculine/patriarchal
epoch |
|
Feminine instincts
play major role in shaping
events
|
|
Manipulation and
dominance of external
nature
|
|
Manipulation and dominance
of human
nature |
|
Human beings as
Earth’s supreme intelligence
|
|
Artificial-computational-intelligence
greater than that of humans |
|
Psychological
projections seen as independent
realities
|
|
Psychological projections
seen as workings of the psyche |
|
Traditional religions
express shared sense of
life’s meaning
|
|
“Meaninglessness” becomes primary cultural/philosophical
theme, triggering search for new expression of individual
and collective meaning |
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
