Epilogue
317
Without any doubt, we must develop a better understanding of the new world we
are currently creating—a world characterized by more data, more processing speed
and more connectivity. We are at a crossroads, where we might mistakenly take the
wrong turn, which would lead to more instability and, potentially,global disaster.
Remember that, even with the best technology ever, huge amounts of information,
and the very best intentions, our world might become impossible to control. A good
analogy of the hyper-connected world we are living in is perhaps an atomic bomb,
which may explode as a result of chain reactions that are triggered when a certain
“critical mass” (a critcal density) is reached. It turns out that similar kinds of “explosions” happen in socio-economic systems, too. They are much slower, but similarly
destructive—think, for example, of a political revolution, a war, or the collapse of
a civilization. Has our global system unintentionally become a “complexity time
bomb”? If so, was it already ticking?
I certainly don’t want to worry you, but history tells what the results of such
“explosive” socio-economic processes can be. This includes political instabilities
and regimes that might be unjust and cruel. It is important to avoid these scenarios
by developing a better understanding of the causes of societal problems such as
economic crises, crime, and war. In this book, I tried to provide a new and integrated
perspective of how society works, and how we can use this knowledge to master our
future. In fact, I believe we shouldn’t be too pessimistic. We should rather take the
future into our own hands, because we can make our society more resilient to crises
and change the world for the better.
317
Without any doubt, we must develop a better understanding of the new world we
are currently creating—a world characterized by more data, more processing speed
and more connectivity. We are at a crossroads, where we might mistakenly take the
wrong turn, which would lead to more instability and, potentially,global disaster.
Remember that, even with the best technology ever, huge amounts of information,
and the very best intentions, our world might become impossible to control. A good
analogy of the hyper-connected world we are living in is perhaps an atomic bomb,
which may explode as a result of chain reactions that are triggered when a certain
“critical mass” (a critcal density) is reached. It turns out that similar kinds of “explosions” happen in socio-economic systems, too. They are much slower, but similarly
destructive—think, for example, of a political revolution, a war, or the collapse of
a civilization. Has our global system unintentionally become a “complexity time
bomb”? If so, was it already ticking?
I certainly don’t want to worry you, but history tells what the results of such
“explosive” socio-economic processes can be. This includes political instabilities
and regimes that might be unjust and cruel. It is important to avoid these scenarios
by developing a better understanding of the causes of societal problems such as
economic crises, crime, and war. In this book, I tried to provide a new and integrated
perspective of how society works, and how we can use this knowledge to master our
future. In fact, I believe we shouldn’t be too pessimistic. We should rather take the
future into our own hands, because we can make our society more resilient to crises
and change the world for the better.