Nation States? (Entering the Shift Age, eBook 12) by David Houle

Author:David Houle
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Published: 2012-11-19T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

THE GLOBAL AGE OF MIGRATION

Unprecedented Migration

The Shift Age will be the greatest age of migration in history. A greater number of humans will migrate at some time of their lives than in any prior age.

Some of this will be due to the fact that the human population is larger than ever before. This means that the sheer number of us will be a factor. In addition, the percentage of the total population that will experience short- to long-term migration will increase as well. This reality will ramp up in the Transformation Decade and really take root in the 2020s. Let’s look ahead to see why.

The global stage of human evolution mentioned in the last chapter points to all of us developing a greater sense of self in the broader scheme of humanity. We will increasingly see ourselves as global citizens.

I do already. I may have places I live, but my extensive travel, constant global connectivity, and thinking as a futurist make me feel that I am indeed a global citizen. In my travels I meet many people who also think of themselves as global citizens. They all have a place or two they can call home, but they think of themselves as “of the world” more than of a specific place. This way of looking at oneself in relationship to the world will increase every day.

The global economy is a primary driver of this way of thinking.

I have met Americans who make monthly trips to China for business, and Chinese who do the same in reverse. I know Australians who attend dozens of meeting and conferences a year in the United States, Asia, and Europe. I have met Europeans who come to the United States every other week for business. Of course many of these people are in the upper strata of society or the business world. However, they are certainly not the only ones driving this migration to a global perspective.

People all around the world travel to other countries to work if their country is in deep recession or there are better wages elsewhere. The global reorganizational recession of 2007–2012 uprooted many people who realized that staying in their country was no longer economically viable and went elsewhere. The current economic situation in Europe is a case in point, as many Portuguese have been jobless for so long that they are leaving to go work in Brazil, which has a much more dynamic economy. Yet they are not necessarily moving there permanently. They could always migrate again.

Even when economic times are good, people will still migrate for jobs. We are in a global economy, which means that increasingly we will look globally for employment or contract work. Of course there will continue to be local economies.

People have to live, eat, and raise families and, for stability, that occurs in a place. Increasingly, however, people will choose the place they want to live or raise a family and then travel around the world doing work where the work is.

The Forces at Play

The Flow to the Individual is an increasingly important force here.

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