A User's Guide to the Century
I don't usually read Jeffrey Sachs as I find him to be a little too attached to the utopian belief that we can perfect mankind and make everything work perfectly in this world. However, this article in the new issue of the National Interest makes for good and elucidating reading.
The piece in a nutshell can be summed up by this section:
"Our world is characterized by three dominant patterns: rapid technological diffusion, which creates strong tendencies toward technological and economic convergence among major regions of the world; extensive environmental threats resulting from the unprecedented scale of global economic activity and population; and vast current inequalities of income and power, both between and within countries, resulting from highly diverse patterns of demography, regional endowments of natural resources, and vulnerabilities to natural and societal disruptions. These characteristics hold the possibilities of rapid and equalizing economic growth, but also of regional and global instability and conflict."
His suggestion at the end of the article that the US should establish a Department of "Sustainable Development" is an example of leftish thought, but he raises legitimate issues that are adding the already existing challenges nation-states have been facing throughout history. Indeed, the proliferation of technology has been an amazing benefit for the entire planet, but with all of its promise, it also contains seeds of conflict.
We should continue charity and appropriately targeted foreign aid, this is both ethical and, when done right, strategically useful. However, despite the real problems Sachs points out, we also need to retain the hard edge. Convergence has happened in the past only to be blown apart by the unforseen. Maybe one of Sachs' bogeys will be the cause of such an event, maybe it will be something else, and maybe, we just might get lucky and really have moved to a new level of human progress. I for one am not holding my breath.
The piece in a nutshell can be summed up by this section:
"Our world is characterized by three dominant patterns: rapid technological diffusion, which creates strong tendencies toward technological and economic convergence among major regions of the world; extensive environmental threats resulting from the unprecedented scale of global economic activity and population; and vast current inequalities of income and power, both between and within countries, resulting from highly diverse patterns of demography, regional endowments of natural resources, and vulnerabilities to natural and societal disruptions. These characteristics hold the possibilities of rapid and equalizing economic growth, but also of regional and global instability and conflict."
His suggestion at the end of the article that the US should establish a Department of "Sustainable Development" is an example of leftish thought, but he raises legitimate issues that are adding the already existing challenges nation-states have been facing throughout history. Indeed, the proliferation of technology has been an amazing benefit for the entire planet, but with all of its promise, it also contains seeds of conflict.
We should continue charity and appropriately targeted foreign aid, this is both ethical and, when done right, strategically useful. However, despite the real problems Sachs points out, we also need to retain the hard edge. Convergence has happened in the past only to be blown apart by the unforseen. Maybe one of Sachs' bogeys will be the cause of such an event, maybe it will be something else, and maybe, we just might get lucky and really have moved to a new level of human progress. I for one am not holding my breath.
Comments