Global Culture

It is a common trait of corporations to focus on the now. Obsessing about earnings for the quarter, forecast for the year, franchises to open the next year; their ability to think long-term is almost non-existent. This is why it is so easy for environmentalists, anti-globalist, and other movements thinking about the future to find the arguments to fight. Whenever I think about globalization, the image of a rat race comes to mind. A race in which all corporations are running wild through the world marking territory.

Part of the problem may be that our ability to see really long-term implications of our actions today (I mean generations, not years) is nearly impossible with the pace at which we are moving. We would be lucky to get right a forecast of world affairs for the next year.

A refreshing take on this issue was presented by the Long Now Foundation as part of the Long-Term Thinking Seminars by John Baez with his presentation entitled Zooming Out in Time. Most of the presentation is a study of climate change, but not the type we see in the news comparing current temperatures against those last year. He is talking climate change over the last 65 million years. It truly helps visualize the magnitude of the problem. The climax of his presentation is the conclusion that although the earth is used to climate change (and a lot more than what humans could be causing), it is not used to such RAPID change.

It is our obsession with speed that may get us into trouble. So what do you think happens when you’re moving really fast and the driver is only watching the side window, enjoying the now?