Is the World Really Flat? Global
Fuel, Food and Finance Crises
London, UK - 5th May 2008, 00:29 GMT
Dear ATCA Colleagues
[Please note that the views presented by individual contributors
are not necessarily representative of the views of ATCA, which is neutral.
ATCA conducts collective Socratic dialogue on global opportunities and threats.]
It has been a long march since Thomas Friedman declared the
world to be flat. This thinking may have its boundary conditions, which
are now being tested as the global fuel, food and finance crises loom ever
larger. The idea that people are suddenly competing on an equal playing
field internationally and within nations is incongruous with the harsh realities
appearing in a number of countries and across a number of communities within
the same country. The world does not appear to be flat to those without
sufficient food in their stomach, much less fuel in their car than what
they used to fill-up about a year ago, or the possibility of losing their
home because they cannot keep up with their interest payments.
Look closely: far from being flat, the world economy is really characterised
by growing disparities and tensions across regions manifest both within
and without countries. Globalisation may well be a win-win in the Technicolor
presentation of the world is flat but in the here and now, it is profoundly
asymmetrical as many communities across many countries have hit insurmountable
barriers in the last year or so associated with the soaring price of fuel,
food and finance. In parallel, the phenomenon of devastating famine and
flash floods owing to climate chaos is rendering "the world is flat"
argument as more and more questionable by the day. If the world is flat,
how do we take account of:
1. Climate chaos and environmental problems that threaten the world's communities
across many countries?
2. The poor countries becoming poorer as they buy fuel and food for their
requirements at 200% to 400% more than what they were paying not long ago.
3. Emerging technologies as guiding forces for the future with an endless
array of ethical dilemmas?
[CONTINUES]
[ATCA Membership]
[ENDS]
To reflect further on this, please click here
and read views as well as respond directly within the online forum.
We welcome your thoughts, observations and views. Thank you.
Best wishes
ATCA: The Asymmetric Threats
Contingency Alliance is a philanthropic expert initiative founded
in 2001 to resolve complex global challenges through collective
Socratic dialogue and joint executive action to build a wisdom
based global economy. Adhering to the doctrine of non-violence,
ATCA addresses asymmetric threats and social opportunities arising
from climate chaos and the environment; radical poverty and microfinance;
geo-politics and energy; organised crime & extremism; advanced
technologies -- bio, info, nano, robo & AI; demographic skews
and resource shortages; pandemics; financial systems and systemic
risk; as well as transhumanism and ethics. Present membership
of ATCA is by invitation only and has over 5,000 distinguished
members from over 120 countries: including 1,000 Parliamentarians;
1,500 Chairmen and CEOs of corporations; 1,000 Heads of NGOs;
750 Directors at Academic Centres of Excellence; 500 Inventors
and Original thinkers; as well as 250 Editors-in-Chief of major
media.
The Philanthropia, founded in 2005, brings together over
1,000 leading individual and private philanthropists, family offices,
foundations, private banks, non-governmental organisations and
specialist advisors to address complex global challenges such
as countering climate chaos, reducing radical poverty and developing
global leadership for the younger generation through the appliance
of science and technology, leveraging acumen and finance, as well
as encouraging collaboration with a strong commitment to ethics.
Philanthropia emphasises multi-faith spiritual values: introspection,
healthy living and ecology. Philanthropia Targets: Countering
climate chaos and carbon neutrality; Eliminating radical poverty
-- through micro-credit schemes, empowerment of women and more
responsible capitalism; Leadership for the Younger Generation;
and Corporate and social responsibility.
Intelligence Unit | mi2g | tel +44 (0) 20 7712 1782 fax +44
(0) 20 7712 1501 | internet www.mi2g.net
mi2g: Winner of the Queen's Award for Enterprise in the category
of Innovation
|
