New Revolutions for a Small Planet by Kingsley Dennis

Author:Kingsley Dennis
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: New Revolutions for a Small Planet
ISBN: 9781780284279
Publisher: Watkins Media
Published: 2012-07-03T16:00:00+00:00

The Great Acceleration

The second half of the 20th century saw a rapid acceleration in almost all spheres of life. Some of this ‘acceleration’ has occurred in our environmental systems, and to detrimental effect. We only have to look at biodiversity loss, deforestation, the chemicals we are throwing into the ground and the atmosphere, ocean acidification, global freshwater decline and topsoil depletion to see some of the effects of recent human enterprise. With the simultaneous growth in human populations and erratic geological conditions this could lead us to change from using the term ‘The Age of Anxiety’ (as the 20th century has been called) to ‘The Age of Disequilibrium’. However, an acceleration of chaotic energies also has no alternative but to force a species mind-change on a global and perhaps interior level. The changes I have only touched upon briefly suggest a greater shift towards individual autonomy; a deepened sense of self and psychological reflection; an increased perception of inner and outer realities; and a heightened recognition of the sensory nature of human experience. In other words, there has been an astounding growth in the psychological evolution of the human self.

The manner in which we communicate reflects our own internal processes. It may be that the rise in global communication technologies (Internet and mobile phones) reflects a new form of participatory consciousness amongst people. This new model is a distributed one; in other words, it connects people horizontally in a more egalitarian way rather than through hierarchical structures. It also catalyses people into being more active through their participation. No longer are we the passive audience, as in earlier electrical revolutions of radio, then television: the new model is YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, blogging and text messaging. The dialogue is now more active; people are onstage and orchestrating their own connections; managing their own forms of voice and self-expression. At the turn of the century, as the 1990s tipped into the third millennium, the social-civil body of the planet began to stretch its tentacles.

Social networks have matured tremendously over the past decade; the list of global Non-Profit Organizations (NPOs) grows longer with each passing year. These innovative networks are the forums for visionary thinkers; concepts spread virally through the electronic nervous system of the planet as once-fringe ideas go global. A new civil body is being constructed by the distributed contributions of individuals in every conceivable physical location. Talks are broadcast regularly – such as in the TEDTalks series of innovative lectures – and social collectives form, activate, influence and stimulate alternative thinking and ideas. A more mature form of collective social intelligence is beginning to manifest in various parts of the globe, as the key element of the Internet ‘isn’t the consumption of information or interactive services but participation in a social process of collective intelligence …’5

This new networked model of civil society represents a burgeoning collective intelligence. It is an intelligence that is arising out of our increasing interrelatedness, and one that is being exposed to a global world of contradictory realities and multicultural perspectives.

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