In Part One, I discussed the scenario clamoring for Cosmic age and world becoming a globalised community with interconnected economic nodes. I shall now dwell upon this theme, both philosophically and empirically. I am NOT predicting, lest you misunderstand me, I am peeping into the likely trends which would shape mankind and the future track it might tread upon..
Thomas R Friedman has postulated three stages of GLOBALISATION in his book, “THE WORLD IS FLAT”. The first stage he says started around 1492 AD when COLUMBUS hit the coast of AMERICA. This was GLOBLISTION 1.0. It was spearheaded by countries trying to turn the LARGE world into MEDIUM. It lasted around 300 years till about 1800AD.This was the time when INDUSTRIAL revolution had galvanized EUROPE and the concept of NATION STATE was born. Industrial Revolution gave rise to MULTI NATIONAL COMPANIES or MNCs.
The GLOBALISATION 2.0 was sparked by the MNCs and it turned the world from MEDIUM to SMALL. It ended around 2000 AD.
The GLOBALISATION 3.0 was spearheaded by INDIVIDUAL who had been empowered by COMPUTERS, INTERNET and WEB to be his own player in a FLATENED WORLD—where everyone was having a level playing field to do what he wants to do. The world had been turned from SMALL into a TINY nodes in the universe.
Alvin Toffler ( I referred to him in Part One, too) in his trilogy of books, namely, “Future Shock”, “Third Wave” and “Power Shift” talks at length of the THREE WAVES of growth and development mankind has undergone since its inception. Each wave had a dominating philosophy.
FIRST WAVE was dominated by AGRICULTURE or physical force. SECOND WAVE, which coincided with GLOBALISATION 1.0 and GLOBALISATION 2.0 of FRIEDMAN, was dominated by MONEY or mass production. THIRD WAVE, almost synonymous with GLOBALISATION 3.0, is associated with INFORMATION or the KNOWLEDGE.
Accordingly, each wave described the society as such i.e. AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY, INDUSTRIAL SOCIETY and the INFORMATION SOCIETY. The First Wave lasted around 1500 years--- up to the start of Industrial Revolution in Europe. The Second Wave began around 15th Century and it carried on for almost four hundreds and fifty years and it lasted till mid Twentieth Century.
The Third Wave or the ‘Information Age’ began around the end of Second World War and it unleashed an era of ‘Total Transformation of the Society’. As the mankind entered 21st Century, the THIRD WAVE was also seemingly moving towards drawing curtains on itself. We would enter a new era in the near future i.e. the FOURTH WAVE ---‘THE COSMIC WAVE’.
The process of GLOBALISATION and KNOWLEDGE REVOLUTION has shrunk the world to a level where the world is heading into borderless landmass of free- flowing GLOBAL CITIZENS. At the same time, man has ventured into space. He is now looking beyond the earth. There are tell-tale signs of some form of intelligent life in the outer space. 'Mars orbitte'r has already raised hopes of water on the planet Mars. Many astronomers believe that "WE WERE NOT ALONE" in the universe.
We are sure heading into the COSMIC AGE where man could think of ‘GALAXY-HOPPING’ in the not-too-distant-future. We are now capable of imagining the mythical characters of VEDIC PEOPLE who could move into THREE WORLDS with the twinkling of an eye. Man would become a TIME TRAVELER.
We have been able to identify EARTH-II which lay at some 20.5 LIGHTS YEARS away from us. It could have some form of life. May be in next 50 years manned mission could be sent to this planet to find if there were any homosapiens there.Man would be interactive with ETs (Extra Terrestials)---or other forms of INTELLIGENT LIFE in the universe.
We are sitting at the edge of a revolutionary change in our ‘Ways of Life’—when ‘Religion and Nations’ would become irrelevant in our daily chores. We will THINK GLOBAL and ACT GLOBAL in everyway.
THIRD WAVE and GLOBALISATION 3.0 are shaping the future of the COSMIC MAN who is looking beyond the mundane frontiers of the EARTH and thinking of enmeshing into the SPACE. In such a scheme of things, RELIGION and NATION STATE would have NO PLACE. Some of us have already leapfrogged into the FOURTH WAVE of COSMIC AGE. The transient period is of GLOBALISED MAN and he has already hit the economical fabric of the GLOBE.
Nixon Bostorm, Director of FUTURE OF HUMANITY INSTITUTE at OXFORD University has postulated that the day was not far when a robotized man could actually become a reality. In other words, activities of a ‘BIO-TECH’ man could be simulated.
This is heralding characters of the movie MATRIX in reality for you, when you could be doing things in a ‘Virtual World’. Bostorm even goes to the extent of saying that 20 percent chance exists when ours could be a SIMULATED WORLD.
It means it could be switched off like our computer screen goes off when we log off. This view could be strengthening the “ID THEORY” of the creation of universe as against the “BIG BANG THEORY”. I leave it at this.
But the fact remains BIO-TECH BRAINS, as in the movie MATRIX, could be created who would be able to simulate a physical body and move around in a simulated world. Time and space to such VIRTUAL HUMAN BEINGS would be a matter of no significance. They would move from place ‘A’ to place ‘B’ with the twinkling of an eye.
Technologies are advancing so fast that TIME TRAVELLING won't be a mystery of VEDIC CULTURE. Digitalised Human beings could recreate them selves and relive their past ( read my piece on "Digitalised humans"--I shall dwell upon such technological advances in the next part)
We are heading into the age of COSMIC TRAVELLERS who would go ‘GALAXY HOPPING’ as the modern man goes ‘CONTINENT HOPPING’ today. ‘Cosmic travelers’ would provide us real time information on outer space. Where would, then, be the time for EARTHLY BOUNDARIES of MIND and Physical SPACE? Religion and Nation State would have no identity in the COSMIC WORLD of tomorrow.
The advent of FLATENED WORLD has already produced a class of ‘CONTINENT-HOPPING-CITIZENS’ who have hardly any strong affiliation or ties with one particular nation. They are a class of ROVING HUMAN BEINGS who are more inspired and fired by ECONOMIC zeal.
In a level-playing field, they look for opportunities to find cheapest ways of wealth creation. BPOs, KPOs and IT industry have revolutionized the concept of manufacture and production at the global level. Borders have begun to disappear and the walls separating people are collapsing everywhere.
The day is not far when the NATIONAL BOUNDARIES WOULD merge into one another and the concept of NATION STATE would be consigned to dustbin of human history. The world is likely to be broken into thousands of interdependent and interconnected economic nodes with no predominant political ideology as the governing philosophy.
Alvin Toffler has predicted the rise of some 5000 City States with their own economic agenda. Their emergence would really not spell a death knell for the religion but it would push it into insignificance. Religion might not play as significant a role in man’s spiritual life as it does today. It would become a private affair.
The recent upsurge of the RELIGION and the NATIONALISTIC EMOTIONS are the clear-cut signs of dying philosophies. The desperation is to protect the banishing identities in a GLOBALISED WORLD. A churning process is on in the form of religious violence and resulting revulsion to it. More the religious fundamentalists tryu to protect themselves by waves of violence, more they destroy themselves.
We see the OFFICIALDOM everywhere is trying to use FORCE to keep the ‘breaking unit’ under its wings. Nations after nations are falling prey to thi inner explosions. Call it insurgency, militancy, terrorism or what have you? The fact remains: NATIONS ARE UNDER ATTACK FROM WITHIN.
The GLOBE is currently transiting through a PROCESS of POLITICO-RELIGIOUS ‘Fission’ and ‘Fusion’ at the same time. While geo-politically, ‘LARGE’ is breaking into ‘SMALL’—it is leading to tension and violence in these nations. The process of FISSION is on.
Slowly and slowly all big or small nations will splinter into small economic nodes. This is the call of the GLOBALISED WORLD. While on one hand process of FISSION is on, on the other hand, the process of FUSION at the GLOBAL LEVEL is also working simultaneously, where these tiny economic nodes will be sewn into one big GLOBAL UNIT. These will be interconnected, interdependent and synchronized dots on the GLOBAL CHIP. Global dynamism will ensure that none could exist in a vacuum—they will exist with each other—supplementing and supporting.
It may sound funny but it is a truism that a dying insect grows wings and flutters more. Same is true of religious fundamentalism. Its sound and fury is basically to preserve its banishing identity in the wake of on-going globalization. It is true of all religions.
I reckon Twenty First Century will pull the curtains on religion once for all. The coming of the COSMIC AGE is sounding of the LAST POST for Religion and the Nation State. Witness their demise in the coming decades.
Thus, in conclusion what would a COSMIC MAN be? Let us sum up:-
1, A digitalised Human being---bereft of social emotions of present day. (Humans might become product of factories---Advent of Stem Cell and Genetic engineering has so advanced that Man-woman copulation might not be required---see next part)
2. A Galaxy-Hopping TIME TRAVELER.
3. COLONISER of the Outer Space.
4. Interactive and perhaps, in conflict with other ETs or other intelligent beings in the outer space.
I shall discuss these scenarios in Part Three.
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