This column started life as an examination of the profound cultural, economic, demographic, and geopolitical upheaval the world is currently experiencing. Starting back at the dawn of history (more or less) it traces the different major factors that have brought us to where we are now, and then charts a number of possible futures that may be in store for us, considering how much influence we might have about what direction the world goes from here.
If you want to know why the world seems nuts, you could do worse than to read the series below:
Introduction: Surfing the Ground Beneath Our Feet
Chapter 1: The World as it Once Was
Chapter 2: Machines Bring Us Together
Chapter 3: How the Earth United Us
Chapter 5: The Institutional Forces of Centralization
Chapter 6: The Seeds of Destruction, Part 1
Chatper 7: The Seeds of Destruction, Part 2
Chapter 8: The Halted Revolution
Chapter 10: Where Have All the Children Gone
Chapter 11: Serpents in the Walled Garden
Chapter 12: The Desolation of Trust
Chapter 13: As Goes Trust, So Goes the World
Chapter 14: The Balloon Goes Up, The Boot Comes Down
Chapter 15: The System Flies Apart
Chapter 16: The Lindy Bifurcation
Chapter 18: The Soft Dissolution
Chapter 19: The Napoleon Option
Chapter 20: Saint John and the Beautiful Ones
Chapter 22: A Last, Longing Look