Can We Build a New World Before the Old One Shatters?

Or Why Fixing the World Depends on Giving People the Power to Realize Themselves

The more that I reflect on it, the more I think that this age, its troubles and its perils, are driven by a sense of powerlessness. Profound and deep powerlessness, that simmers, explodes, implodes, into fatalism, nihilism, rage, and despair. Hence, if we are to return somehow to prosperity, peace, and stability, then in some way, power is what’s at stake. But first let me explain.

What is special, in a dark way, about this age, is that it is all coming undone. The world is coming undone at a macro level — the global order is falling apart, as countries retreat bitterly into isolationism and nationalism. The world is coming undone at a micro level, too — societies are being riven, divided, polarized, each tribe standing jealously against the next, as social contract are torn up.

Why is the world suddenly coming undone? The answer, of course, is that none of this “works” anymore. The global order is not producing what it should have. Social contracts are not offering what they need to. Therefore, people around the globe are beginning to withdraw consent. But which “people”, and what is it precisely that is not “working”?