Is the Future Spinning Out of Control?

Ken Wilber

Ken Wilber is the most widely translated academic writer in America, with 25 books translated into some 30 foreign languages, and is the first philosopher-psychologist to have his Collected Works published while still alive. Wilber is an internationally acknowledged leader and the preeminent scholar of the Integral stage of human development, which continues to gather momentum around the world. His many books, all of which are still in print, can be found at Amazon.com. Some of his more popular books include Integral Spirituality; No Boundary; Grace and Grit; Sex, Ecology, Spirituality; and the "everything" books: A Brief History of Everything (one of his largest selling books) and A Theory of Everything (probably the shortest introduction to his work).  Ken Wilber is the founder of Integral Institute, Inc., the co-founder of Integral Life, Inc., and the Senior Fellow of Integral Life Spiritual Center.

 

“Is everything spinning out of control?” asked an Associated Press article this week. Between rising flood waters in the Midwest, drowning polar bears in the far North, skyrocketing gas prices, plummeting home values, and endless wars on multiple fronts, the future does not seem to be living up to its promise—a promise envisioned since the détente of the Cold War and the proclamation of George H.W. Bush’s “New World Order.” From an Integral altitude, what can we make of the future?

In this audio clip, Ken Wilber discusses one possible future scenario, the premise for his forthcoming trilogy (!), The Many Faces of Terrorism. As the green altitude becomes mainstream worldwide, a “World Federation” is created, replacing the obviously impotent United Nations. As one of its first actions, the World Federation, with its best green intentions, puts a worldwide, one person/one vote democracy in place.

Meanwhile, the kids at the Integral Center have pioneered a computer model that, for the first time, can take into account interiors, and is thus able to predict the future with some degree of accuracy. The computer model predicts that, in 30 years, due to the unintended and unforeseen consequences of the one person/one vote policy, the population of the world will be suddenly cut in half….

The Many Faces of Terrorism may be fictional, but the concerns it raises are all too real. People at each developmental altitude undoubtedly act from the best intentions they possibly can. But from an Integral altitude—at long last—there is an appreciation for the other altitudes, and for the skilful actions that will be required to respect everybody, marginalize nobody, and keep us from utterly destroying ourselves with any of the numerous, self-made weapons at our disposal. Remembering, a la Einstein, that the problems created at one level are ever solved from the next level, perhaps the last, best hope is indeed to gently foster people into the higher altitudes and broader perspectives that will save us from ourselves….