An Age of Change

Admittedly, the excitement about the millenium is fuelled by the fact that things have been changing fast during this century, and this change is accelerating beyond the capability of many people to keep up with it. This creates uncertainty, instability and the fear of the unknown. Change has always been an integral factor of human development, particulary from one generation to the other, but in the age of the microchip the ability of a single generation to adapt again and again is becoming exhausted. We have witnessed the birth of the petrol engine, air and space travel, tele and satellite communications and the advances of computing into every field of life. We have achieved the large scale exploitation of natural resources, the exploration of land, sea and sky, and the beginnings of a deeper understanding of our genetic make-up coupled with an attempt at manipulating the determining factors of our own existence.

This has gone hand in hand with large scale social upheaval. This century has seen two major world wars of hitherto unknown destructive power, followed by equally devastating regional conflicts. It has already been termed the bloodiest century since the dawn of humanity.

From the ruins, cities of previously unknown magnitude have risen with skyscrapers, underground travel, shopping malls, traffic jams and urban wastelands. The structure of our traditional families has been eroded, national borders and identities have blurred, and a world economy managed by giant multi-national concerns has dwarfed the ability of governments and small-scale enterprise into the role of cogwheels in a huge clockwork. The 20th century has produced feasts of technology, but also the largest debt burden, poverty and deprivation with known human history.

Image: City of Perth Skyline at Night (A Modern 20th Century Cosmopolitan City)

[Next: The End of Limitless Growth]

[Introduction]

[Table of Contents]

[Links]

[Email]