In the modern world, we live not at peace but in
an armed state of readiness for war - and though no war is
declared, at any one time many parts of the world are experiencing
devastating conflict. This situation is perpetuated by the pursuit
of sovereignty, and by our signal failure to develop the means of
collective security and accept the rule of law.
The acceptance of war in our midst distorts our
social values, so that from birth we grow into unbalanced human
beings, our gentler side suppressed in favour of competition,
violence and greed. This "dominance mode" of modern society
dominance of nature, and of each other - brings human injustice and
ecological damage, which provoke further conflict in a spiral of
mounting suffering and despair.
Co-operation, morality and spirituality are the
foundations of civilization. Without the desire to co-operate,
human beings would not congregate in large social groups. Without a
shared morality, we would not be able to exist peacefully with one
another. And without spirituality to provide a sense of common
purpose, societies disintegrate in secular conflict. Society can be
regarded as the outward expression of these innate human drives. By
developing systems of management, belief and responsibility that
have a general consensus in the society, we have learned to live
relatively peaceably in ever-larger social groups, often containing
great internal diversity. The larger the group, the greater the
sense of common responsibility for the peace-fulness of the society
has to be. The ability of a social group to achieve this consensus
effectively limits its size.
The fact that we have learned to cooperate in
societies with many conflicting interests is a reflection of just
how strong these drives are. At a global level, though, there are
tremendous difficulties in bringing together diverse cultural
groups with systems of belief that are, in some cases, opposed to
each other. Now, however, we no longer have the luxury of being
able to wait for the mechanisms of co-operation and consensus to
evolve. Humanity is presently faced with a question: can we achieve
the consensus necessary to co- operate as a single global community
of more than 8 billion people by the year 2050?
The evolution of co-operation
The earliest unit of human social organization -
the band - was prevalent until at least l0,000BC. Bands consisted
of about 30 or 40 individuals at most, comprising related family
units. By 7000BC, the farming village of Jericho had a population
of approximately 2000 people. The largest Greek city states had
populations of around 10,000. In Mexico in the 3rd century AD, the
Teotihuacan civilization encompassed a quarter of a million people,
100,000 of whom lived in its capital city. Rome was the only
metropolis of over 1 million from 400AD to 1800AD. Today, China is
the largest single, cohesive co- operative group in the world. Its
population of 1 billion is greater than that of the entire world of
only 150 years ago.