People and animals, in Jaipur, India, a truck hit a motorcycle on which a family was traveling: a husband, wife and two children. The mother died on the spot. Trying to save an 8-month-old girl, the father and her older brother cried for help for almost an hour. Surveillance cameras captured cars passing by and people walking by. Nobody stopped. The girl died.
This indifference has already become a new reality, and by no means only in India. In Russia, journalists checked who and how quickly would come to the aid of a fallen pregnant woman. The shoot was staged. For 20 minutes, a hidden camera watched a crying, helpless man pass by.
This Wednesday, in the small town of Oktyabrsky, a "nine" drove through the streets with a man flattened on the hood. Inside, a reckless driver without a license, outside, a downed traffic police lieutenant Konstantin Kleschunov.
This unusual situation is followed with delight by a crowd of teenagers. And the next day, the hero of the Internet is not Lieutenant Kleshchunov, who drove 2 kilometers on the hood and detained the offender, but a certain Albert Abdulov, who shouts behind the scenes: "Handsome!"
“Perhaps people have some kind of megalomania, they think that by doing this they will show how cool they are,” says Alexander Nemenov, photographer for the Franz Press agency.
Photographer Alexander Nemenov began his career back in the 90s. But at the end of the 2000s, he had competitors. Amateur photographers get there before professionals. Almost any incident hits the net within minutes: be it a fire or a plane crash, when eyewitnesses take out their mobile phones at the same time, as if they were rehearsing. A dangling child on a Ferris wheel gets into the frame; as a rule, sincere regret is caused by a dead battery or insufficient screen resolution.
Some amateur shots sometimes strike with cynicism even professionals who seem to have strong nerves.
When the Tu-204 rolled out onto the highway near Vnukovo Airport, Yevgeny Zembitsky, indeed, acted heroically. He was not afraid that the engine would explode and was the first to start looking for the wounded. He was one step away from a real feat. But as soon as firefighters and other volunteers arrived, Zhenya suddenly took out his phone and turned on the camera.
“This adrenaline is so rushing: firemen are here, water is on you. And at that moment I take out the phone and just like that: “from the scene,” says Evgeny Zembitsky.
The mobile phone captures how other people pull the wounded out from under the rubble.
Eugene did not save anyone. But he still became a hero. The video was watched by hundreds of thousands, it was on television. And most importantly, Eugene today does not regret anything.
"Yes, maybe it's cynical. I know that everything you film is a misfortune. But, unfortunately, we have such a society now. To make it scarier ... Maybe it's somehow transmitted?" - says Evgeny Zembitsky.
The person who has become an eyewitness usually has a choice. Try to help or observe from the side. Become a real hero (albeit anonymous) or capture the moment on camera.
"This is a new culture. This new psychosis, photopsychosis. It leaves no time to think. Life is not even spent in photographing, waiting for likes, waiting to be noticed," says journalist Viktor Martinovich.
Journalist and blogger Viktor Martinovich writes an article with the title "Stop taking pictures!" He believes that it is not the cruelty of society. But only in the fact that people live on the Internet and for the Internet. Indifferent not only to trouble, but also to joyful moments. After all, they also go to the concert of their favorite artist with a camera.
Kylie Minogue once asked me to draw hearts with my hands.
But it didn't work out. Instead of hearts, people again raised their hands with cameras.
For many today, constantly filming everything around is not just a hobby, but it seems to be a necessity. Here is the morning, the first cup of coffee, click and immediately to Facebook. A view of the desktop, a lunch break with colleagues, a self-portrait in the mirror of the elevator or in the hairdresser, you can just in the hallway or on the table. New sneakers - a favorite genre, a cat - how could it be without it. And of course Friday is a social media hit.
Searching, filming and surprising the public is already such a habit that even at the sight of someone else's tragedy, the hand automatically reaches not for a person, but for a phone with a camera.
So it was this week in the American town of West Texas. When the fertilizer plant caught fire, onlookers with cameras gathered around. Some came to admire the fire with their children.
The camera falls out of hand and the father and daughter who arrived at the scene of the tragedy themselves become participants in the events. A powerful explosion destroyed half the city, hundreds of people were injured. Including the authors of the video. True, they no longer wanted to shoot a sequel. It is difficult to imagine yourself in the place of the victim. But there is nothing easier than being on the other side of the frame.
| Parameter name | Meaning |
| Article subject: | Modern world |
| Rubric (thematic category) | Politics |
The modern world is indeed contradictory. On the one hand, there are positive phenomena and trends. The nuclear missile confrontation between the great powers and the division of earthlings into two antagonistic camps are over. Many nations of Eurasia, Latin America and other regions, which had previously lived in conditions of lack of freedom, entered the path of democracy and market reforms.
A post-industrial society is being formed at an increasing pace, ĸᴏᴛᴏᴩᴏᴇ is fundamentally rebuilding the entire way of life of mankind: advanced technologies are constantly updated, a single global information space is emerging, a person with his high educational and professional level becomes the mainspring of progress. International economic ties are deepening and diversifying.
Integration associations in various parts of the world are gaining more and more weight, turning into a significant factor not only in the world economy, but also in military security, political stability, and peacekeeping. The number and functions of international institutions and mechanisms in the UN system are growing, pulling humanity into one whole, promoting the interdependence of states, nations, people. There is a globalization of the economic, and after that the political life of mankind.
But just as obvious are phenomena and trends of a completely different order, provoking disunity, contradictions and conflicts. The entire post-Soviet space is going through a painful process of adaptation to new geopolitical, ideological and economic realities. The situation in the Balkans exploded after decades of calm, painfully
recalling the events that led to the outbreak of the First World War. Conflicts flare up on other continents. There are attempts to split the international community into closed military-political blocs, competing economic groups, competing religious and nationalist movements. The phenomena of terrorism, separatism, drug trafficking, and organized crime have reached planetary proportions. The proliferation of weapons of mass destruction continues, and environmental threats are on the rise.
Globalization, along with new opportunities for socio-economic progress and the expansion of human contacts, also creates new dangers, especially for lagging states. The risk of dependence of their economy and information system on outside influences is growing. The likelihood of large-scale financial and economic crises is growing. Natural and man-made disasters are becoming global in nature, and the ecological imbalance is aggravated. Many problems are spinning out of control, outstripping the ability of the world community to respond to them in a timely and effective manner.
The fact that a new, stable system of international relations has not yet taken shape exacerbates friction and contradictions. In this regard, in the scientific and political environment, alarmist scenarios for the development of world politics are born and become widespread - they predict, in particular, clashes between civilizations (Western, Chinese, Islamic, East Slavic, etc.), regions, the rich North and the poor South, even the total collapse of states and the return of humanity to its primitive state are predicted.
There are, however, reasons to believe that in the XXI century. sovereign states will remain the main actors on the world stage, and life on earth will continue to be determined by the relationship between them. States will continue to cooperate or compete in accordance with their interests, which are complex, multifaceted, diverse and do not always coincide with civilizational, regional and other vectors. Ultimately, the capabilities and positions of states will continue to be based on their combined power.
To this day, only one superpower has survived: the United States, and it begins to seem to many that the era of unlimited American domination of "Paque America-on" is coming. The United States undoubtedly has reason to claim the role of the most powerful center of power in the long term. Οʜᴎ have accumulated an impressive economic, military, scientific, technical, information and cultural potential, which is projected onto all the main spheres of life in the modern world. At the same time, America has a growing desire to lead others. The American official doctrine proclaims the presence in the world of a zone of influence of the United States (the so-called core zone), which is supposed to eventually include the vast majority of states. The United States is favored in this policy by the fact that alternative social models (socialism, a non-capitalist path of development) are depreciated at this stage, have lost their attractiveness, and many countries voluntarily copy the United States and accept its leadership.
However, the world will not become unipolar. First of all, the United States does not have enough financial and technical resources for this. Moreover, the unprecedented protracted recovery of the American economy will not last forever, it will sooner or later be interrupted by a depression, and this will inevitably diminish Washington's ambitions on the world stage. Secondly, there is no unity in the United States in matters of foreign strategy, voices are clearly heard against overloading the United States with international obligations, interfering in anything and everything. Thirdly, there are states that not only resist American influence, but are capable of being leaders themselves. This is, first of all, China, which is rapidly gaining aggregate state power, in the longer term - India, possibly a united Europe, Japan. At some stage, ASEAN, Turkey, Iran, South Africa, Brazil, etc. can make an application for leadership on a regional scale.
As for Russia, despite the difficulties it is experiencing, it does not intend to enter the zone of foreign influence. Moreover, our state has the necessary potential to gradually turn into a prosperous and respected center of power in a multipolar world - this is a huge territory, and colossal natural, scientific, technical and human resources, and an advantageous geographical position, and military power, and traditions, and the will to lead, and, finally, the demand for Russia as an influential power in various regions of the globe (CIS, Middle East, Asia-Pacific, Latin America).
The movement towards multipolarity is a real and natural process, because it reflects the will of established or prospective centers of power. At the same time, the transitional period, being associated with a struggle for influence, with a change in the balance of power, is fraught with conflicts. There are no guarantees that the rivalry between major powers and associations of states will automatically disappear after the formation of a new system of international relations. It is known from history that the multipolar system created as a result of the First World War did not prevent the unleashing of a new, even more destructive conflict two decades later.
No one knows how the new centers of power will behave in the 21st century, feeling their own superiority. Their relations with medium and small countries may well continue to carry a charge of conflict due to the latter's unwillingness to submit to someone else's will. This can be seen in the current US relations with North Korea, Cuba, Iraq, Iran, and so on. It is also characteristic that even those countries that voluntarily enter the zones of influence of centers of power are much more energetic in defending their rights than in the era of the Cold War. Thus, the Europeans are still ready to cooperate with the United States, but at the same time they are strengthening regional institutions, thinking about purely continental defense efforts, refusing to "march to the American drums" in all matters. Quite a few differences and disagreements exist between Washington and its partners in Latin America, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia. There are problems in the relations of China, Russia, Japan, India with their smaller neighbors.
Another reality of the modern world, which will obviously remain in the 21st century, is the contradictions between the medium and small states themselves. After the end of the Cold War, their number even increased due to the elimination of the former bloc discipline, when the superpowers kept their wards "in check", the absence of regional leaders in a number of regions of the globe (primarily in Africa and the Middle East), the collapse of the USSR and Yugoslavia.
Mankind enters the new millennium with the burden of numerous territorial, religious-ethnic, ideological disputes. Conflicts, as before, can give rise to such motives as the struggle for resources, ecology, migration, refugees, terrorism, possession of nuclear weapons, etc.
A distinctive feature of the current era is the presence of a significant number of states that are experiencing serious internal difficulties. Moreover, as the recent financial crisis in Asia showed, dynamic economic systems are not immune to disruption either. The threat to stability in the state can come from the political system - both totalitarian, sooner or later doomed to collapse, and democratic. Rapid democratization gave free rein to various destructive processes: from separatism to racism, from terrorism to the breakthrough of mafia structures to the levers of state power. It is also obvious that knots of religious and ethnic contradictions persist even in the most developed countries. At the same time, internal problems are increasingly breaking out beyond state borders, invading the sphere of international relations. Despite, however, the high potential for conflict remaining in the modern world, there is still reason to look into the 21st century. with a certain optimism. Inspires him, first of all, the already mentioned growing interdependence of states. Gone are the days when large countries struggled to bleed each other. Russia does not want the US economy to collapse or unrest to spread throughout China. In both cases, our interests will suffer. Chaos in Russia or China will hit America equally.
The interdependence of the modern world will continue to grow under the influence of factors such as:
the accelerating revolution in the means of transport and communications, in microelectronics;
the ever more complete inclusion in world relations of the former communist countries, as well as the PRC, the states of the ʼʼthird worldʼʼ, which have abandoned the non-capitalist path of development;
unprecedented liberalization of world economic relations and, as a result, deepening of interaction between the national economies of most states;
internationalization of financial and production capital (now transnational corporations control 1/3 of the assets of all private companies);
the common tasks of humanity to counter the growing threats of a global nature: terrorism, drug trafficking, organized crime, nuclear proliferation, famine, environmental disasters.
The internal development of any state now depends on the external environment, support and assistance of other "players" on the world stage, in this regard, globalization, with all its flaws, "pitfalls", dangers, is preferable to the complete disunity of states.
The mitigation of contradictions in the international arena should be facilitated by democratization, which has covered a significant part of the planet. States that adhere to similar ideological attitudes have fewer grounds for mutual contradictions and more opportunities to overcome them peacefully.
The cessation of the arms race between the "superpowers" and their blocs, the awareness of the danger of a reckless buildup of nuclear missile potential contribute to the demilitarization of the world community. And this is a factor that also contributes to the harmonization of international relations.
Reasons for optimism are also provided by the fact that in the era of globalization the system of international law is being improved, its norms are increasingly recognized. Most modern states subscribe to such concepts as renunciation of aggression, peaceful resolution of conflicts, obedience to the decisions of the UN Security Council and other international institutions, combating racism, respect for the rights of peoples and human rights, elective governments, their accountability to the population, etc. .
Finally, another heritage of mankind on the threshold of the XXI century. - this is the already mentioned growth of the system of global and regional organizations that have a mandate to deepen interaction between states, prevent and resolve conflicts, carry out collective actions on political and economic issues, etc. The UN is a universal forum that is gradually able to evolve towards becoming a kind of world government.
If this trend continues, then there is hope that the power politics and unbridled rivalry of states will begin to recede into the background.
Modern world - concept and types. Classification and features of the category "Modern World" 2017, 2018.
What is the main competitive advantage in the modern world? What is the importance of the speed factor? Why did the US fight in Iraq, Afghanistan and Yugoslavia? How do the driving forces of evolution change? Where is mankind going along the path of personal freedom?
Perhaps the main feature of modernity is the colossal speed of the ongoing changes. Understanding this circumstance is at the center of attention of economists and sociologists around the world. Z. Bauman's book Fluid Modernity, which was published in Russian translation in 2008 and has long been well known to Russian specialists, is also devoted to this problem. This work belongs to the pen of a well-known sociologist and interpreter of modernity, and, apparently, it will not become outdated for a long time. As sometimes happens, this book has accumulated the key changes that have taken place in the world community over the past two decades. And in this sense, this work can be considered a landmark phenomenon. The abundance of ideas and observations in this book require us to dwell on them in more detail, collect them into a single concept and fill them with additional examples, facts and interpretations. This need is exacerbated by the fact that Z. Bauman himself, strictly speaking, did not complete this work.
1. Disadvantages of the new concept. The book in question is in many ways strange and unusual. First of all, it is necessary to determine what genre this work belongs to. The author himself is a well-known sociologist and sincerely believed that he was writing a sociological text, while, in our opinion, this is not entirely true. It would be more correct to evaluate this work as philosophical and journalistic; this is not an academic scientific treatise, but a kind of extensive philosophical essay. Perhaps Z. Bauman's book should be classified as social journalism, or perhaps it makes sense to talk about another representative of futurological literature.
This feature of the author's style has its pros and cons. On the positive side is the ease of reading, on the negative side is the lack of a complete concept. In fact, Z. Bauman has no theory of what is happening in the world, there are only some analogies and metaphors. However, his vivid examples and subtle observations so accurately reflect the specifics of the modern world that they cannot be neglected and should be brought to some kind of complete concept.
The foregoing does not negate the merits of Z. Bauman in creating a new view of the modern world. He managed to form a kind of web of theses and metaphors, which, with some degree of conventionality, can be called the concept of fluid reality. Below we will attempt to present it systematically. At the same time, we will adhere to Z. Bauman's not entirely academic idea of the essence of sociology. According to him, sociology should be aimed at revealing the possibility of living together in a different way, with less suffering. This intention sets the vector for further presentation of the material, which we will adhere to in the future.
2. The speed of movement and thinking as the main evolutionary features. The analysis of the modern world begins with the main change that has taken place over the past few decades - an incredible increase in speed. And here, paradoxically, the concept of fluid reality acts as a kind of social arrangement of the theory of relativity, linking space with time. Let's dwell on this point in more detail.
The fact is that there are two incomprehensible attributes in the world - space and time. And, at first glance, it seems that they are not connected in any way, but exist independently of each other. However, philosophers solved this problem by introducing motion as an additional attribute of the Universe. Physicists, on the other hand, concretized this position by introducing the concept speed(V), which is the time (T) required to master (overcome) the space (S): V=S/T. However, the theory of relativity made this connection even more rigid and fundamental, because the speed of light (c) turned out to be the speed limit. This value cannot be exceeded and it is itself a “world constant”. And if this is so, then light has become the element that “sticks together” space and time. Through the speed of light, these two attributes turned out to be rigidly interconnected, which became the basis for further studies of the patterns of space-time curvature.
As you know, the famous formula of A. Einstein E=mc 2 became the apotheosis of the theory of relativity. This analytical construction has many simple physical interpretations, but perhaps the most accurate and original is the interpretation of P. Yogananda: The Universe is a mass of light. This formula can be rewritten even more specifically: the world is the mass of the speed of light (or the mass of moving light). Thus, the entire Universe acts as a certain set of speed, or, if I may say so, a high-speed construction.
All these moments have been known for a long time, but only in recent decades have they gained social significance. This happened due to the fact that the world has gradually moved to a knowledge economy, and this very knowledge, through modern means of communication, began to be transmitted at the speed of light. Consequently, the most important economic resource and the main product of human activity began to move in space almost instantly. Other resources began to adjust to this speed, and although they cannot reach it, the dynamism of all processes has increased immeasurably.
In social systems, the speed characteristic has two dimensions - external and internal. The first is connected with the speed of a person's real actions in the external world and his social interactions, the second - with the thinking of the individual, with his inner world. Moreover, mental processes are a complex set of electrical signals in the brain, which again propagate at the speed of light. It is in this sense that one speaks of instantaneity of thought. As for the concrete actions of a person, they are largely predetermined by the speed of his thinking. Thus, the two dimensions of the speed of social processes are organically linked.
Based on the fact of increased speed, Z. Bauman comes to a completely natural conclusion: in the modern world, space is gradually losing its value, while the value of time is increasing. Space has ceased to be a deterrent to life, while time has become about more versatility than before. A person within a few hours can overcome half the world and find himself on the other side of the earth. The very possibility of such movements is determined by the economic capabilities of the individual.
It must be said that the very consideration of speed as the basis for understanding the modern world has a deep economic sound. Time along with money, energy and knowledge is one of the vital human resources. In this regard, the speed of movement in space, the speed of transformation of resources, and even the speed of thinking are just different ways to measure the efficiency of human time: the more work per unit of time, the higher the economic efficiency of time. Thus, in the concept of a fluid reality, the natural and human sciences, physics and economics are strikingly combined.
3. Speed as a way of social dominance. The speed factor, due to its exceptional importance, has become in the modern world the main factor of social stratification and social dominance. It is the speed of thinking and actions of a person that acts as the main indicator of his economic efficiency, and, consequently, his opportunities. It is speed that forms the dividing line between social elite and by the masses.
A distinctive feature of the modern elite is an extremely high mobility in space, while the poor strata are characterized by low dynamism. The members of the elite are almost not localized in space: today they are here, tomorrow they are there. Moreover, in the circle of the elite it is no longer customary to be overweight; business people not only cultivate sports and a healthy lifestyle, but also are distinguished by quick actions and quick thinking, allowing them to make effective decisions in real time.
At the same time, it is the elite that generates new ideas and solutions, creates new markets. It is the elite that changes the face of the world, while the masses only accept or do not accept this new world; they are assigned the role of passive consumers of innovations. Here we should immediately note the fact that in Russia there is no elite in the modern sense of the word, because successful businessmen and officials, as a rule, have not created anything new. This contrasts sharply with the contribution of, for example, B. Gates and S. Jobs, who created a new virtual reality and enriched the world with new technical capabilities. Nevertheless, even Russian rich people are striving to increase their mobility in every possible way by acquiring real estate and private jets in different parts of the world, obtaining multi-visa travel regimes and dual citizenship, opening accounts in different banks and using plastic cards, etc. All these signs indicate the presence of a wider range of possibilities.
It is curious that the division of society into the elite and the masses occurs both within the framework of one country and within the framework of the entire world economy. If at the country level one can observe two very different classes (the elite and the masses), then the world as a whole is differentiated into advanced countries, where most of the population is mobile, and secondary countries, where the vast majority of people are characterized by a high attachment to the territory of their own state. An example of the former is the United States, Canada and Great Britain, whose residents have the opportunity to travel without a visa to about a hundred countries of the world, an example of the latter is Russia, which is still highly dependent on the visa policy of other countries.
This division strongly correlates with the level of wealth of people and countries, testifying once again to the correctness of the concept of fluid reality. At the same time, the difference in the mobility of the inhabitants of the two blocs of countries is manifested quite clearly. For example, at one extreme of the culture are ultra-punctual countries such as Japan, where pedestrians walk quickly, deals are made without delay, and bank clocks are always accurate. And, on the contrary, in the countries of the third world there is a total lethargy of the inhabitants. Research conducted by R. Levin showed that the highest pace of life is observed in Switzerland, and Mexico closes the list of surveyed countries; among American cities, Boston and New York are the fastest.
At the same time, there are serious differences in the value system of their citizens in the two groups of countries. For example, in developed countries, people easily leave their place of residence if moving to another city or country promises them new opportunities. In third world countries, people, on the contrary, try to acquire not only a city apartment, but also a country cottage, which finally binds them to the territory of origin. It is curious that in developed countries even the concept of a summer residence has changed somewhat. For example, for many Germans the island of Mallorca has long acted as a kind of dacha. Accordingly, cosmopolitan views dominate in the countries of the world elite, and conservative peoples often live according to the principle of pre-revolutionary Russia: "where you were born - there you fit in."
Based on the notion that higher speed generates more opportunities, Z. Bauman makes a startling statement. According to his ideas, the very unification of people into any social groups and classes occurs due to their lack of opportunities. This is what makes them stray into massive formations that oppose their "human mass" to the huge individual capabilities of the elite. From this we can draw a more general conclusion: Opportunities separate people, while lack of opportunities unites them..
Surprising as it may seem, this thesis can be very nicely interpreted in terms of the theory of relativity. So, in accordance with A. Einstein's formula, the potential force (energy) of a social group (class) is equal to E=mc 2 . However, the actual energy (E*) of the group depends on its mass (m) and the average speed of its representatives (V): E*=mV 2 . Accordingly, the elite surpasses the masses in terms of speed, but the masses take revenge due to their large numbers. In this case, the influence of speed is much stronger than mass. For example, if the reactivity of the representatives of the elite is 3 times higher than that of the representatives of the masses, then in order to maintain the balance of power in the social system, the number of the latter should be approximately 9-10 times greater than the former. (These figures are easily obtained from the equation (balance of power): E E -E M =m E (V E) 2 -m M (V M) 2 , where the following designations are accepted: E E and E M - strength (power) of the elite and the masses, respectively; m E and m M - the mass (number) of the elite and the masses, V E and V M - the speed (reactivity) of the elite and the masses If we proceed from the balance of forces of two social groups (classes), that is, E E -E M =0, then the desired equation for estimating the ratio their masses will take the form: m M /m E =(V E /V M) 2)
The above example can be continued and thus explain the colossal differentiation of the population in terms of wealth and power that is taking place in the world. The fact is that the differences in speed and mobility between people in the modern world can be truly enormous. For example, wealth allows a person to fly to warm countries on vacation every week, make instant electronic payments, pay for the delivery of goods, eat at pre-ordered restaurants, and so on. At the same time, a person of even average income will go to a country cottage, spending half a day on a one-way road, spending considerable time in banks and shops, standing idle in traffic jams and in the kitchen, etc. As a result, the gap in the speed of life can reach several orders of magnitude, which in itself gives the elite a colossal advantage in terms of functionality, finally securing its privileged position. For example: the gap in speed between classes by 100 times suggests that for the balance of power between them, the “lower classes” must be 10 thousand times larger than the elite. It turns out that even such an insignificant number of the ruling class can be quite enough to keep power in their hands. At the same time, the middle class will be washed out, and its role and importance will be reduced, which we have been observing in recent decades.
4. Fluidity and permeability of the world: devaluation of space. A world in which speed is crucial must be special, namely: it must have the properties fluidity and permeability. These properties are largely self-evident. The high mobility of people makes the world fluid and rapidly changing, and the condition for the implementation of high mobility is the openness and permeability of the world.
Comprehending these properties, Z. Bauman uses elegant metaphors. For example, he talks about liquefaction world, paying attention to the fact that it is easy to give liquids any shape, but it is difficult to keep this shape. The modern world is the same - it is constantly changing, and therefore it is difficult to understand and difficult to manage.
The permeability of the modern world, according to Z. Bauman, reflects the increased freedom of man. Everything became open, permeable, dynamic. Consequently, the fluidity and permeability of the world embody the main value modernity - freedom. And if this is so, then everything that restrains freedom and restricts mobility needs to be destroyed and destroyed. This intention is superimposed on the main economic regularity of the concept of fluid reality: in the modern world there is a devaluation of space and a revaluation of time. Who better masters the time and who is not tied to the territory, he owns the modern world.
At the junction of these two lines of development, Z. Bauman notices the specifics of modern wars. It is actually about new doctrine of warfare. A classic example of a new military strategy is the US military operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and Yugoslavia. In all these cases, the American leadership did not set itself the task of conquering the territory of these states. According to Z. Bauman, nobody needs these territories by themselves. Moreover, space creates problems. For example, the American military contingent is stuck in Iraq: for political reasons, it is impossible to leave from there, and remaining there, the United States suffer human losses. In fact, the United States "bogged down" in space, which once again confirms the thesis about the need to revise the role of the territorial factor.
A logical question follows from the foregoing: if the United States did not want to “seize” foreign territories, then why did they conduct military operations at all? What did the American establishment need?
And Z. Bauman gives a rather elegant answer to this question: the United States, being a stronghold of freedom, fluidity and permeability, wants to spread this very freedom, fluidity and permeability to the rest of the world. Their task is to removing barriers interfering with the fluidity and permeability of individual countries. Otherwise, islands of “hardness”, “closedness” and “incomprehensibility” will appear in the world, on which the ruling elite will “stumble”, which does not tolerate any territorial restrictions. Such political enclaves go against the modern trend of overcoming state borders. It is not surprising that the leading country sweeps away these islands of "impenetrability".
In the context of what has been said, the attitude of the United States towards Russia in the past two decades becomes more understandable. The United States has never set itself the goal of physically conquering Russia, but has always fought to "open" it to the world's economic flows: goods, services, capital, information, institutions, labor. In other words, the focus of attention of American policy was not the territory of Russia, but its "border" and the barriers to entry and exit generated by it.
Speaking about the peaceful consequences of the recent devaluation of space, one should consider territorial inversion, which consists in changing the nature of competition on the world stage. So, if earlier there was a competition of people for the territory, today the situation has completely changed and there is a competition of territories for people. If earlier efforts to move in space were carried out by the people themselves, today entire countries are pursuing a certain policy to attract trustworthy individuals. This applies primarily to developed countries that attract qualified personnel from abroad, but recently developing countries have also been doing this. Thus, the Latin American state of Costa Rica and the African state of Namibia have seriously improved the "quality" of their population due to wealthy migrants from other countries. At the same time, in parallel with the new trend, old trends are also developing. For example, Russia, not falling into the category of leading countries today, still cultivates the old policy of high value of space and low value of people, the direct result of which is denuded, economically underdeveloped territories, the departure of the most skilled and cultured people abroad, immigration of labor force of low quality.
5. Fluidity and permeability of the world: the weakening of social ties. Ensuring the high dynamism of the modern world is ensured both by external circumstances (the permeability of the world) and internal ones (staff turnover). In this section, we focus on the second aspect of the problem.
The fact is that the mobility of the subjects themselves in the modern world requires maximum freedom from them. In this regard, the question immediately arises: freedom from what?
Two aspects of the problem can be singled out here: the weakening of dependence on “heavy” material of things and weakening dependence on “heavy” social obligations. It has already been said above about non-constructive binding to the territory. However, this thesis extends further - to all "rough" material artifacts.
The less an individual is attached to material goods, the easier it is for him to move in space, the faster, more efficient he is, and the greater his power over his own kind. There is a seeming paradox: the less “gross” property a person has, the more powerful he is.
This thesis is confirmed by numerous vivid examples from the life of the modern business elite, weakly attached to "heavy" goods. A typical example is Bill Gates, who, as Z. Bauman rightly asserts, throughout his life accumulated nothing but an expanding range of available opportunities. B. Gates does not feel any regret, parting with the property that he was proud of yesterday. Such freedom makes it absolutely unpredictable. In this vein lie the decisions of the richest people in the US, B. Gates and W. Buffett, to transfer their multibillion-dollar fortunes for charitable purposes. Thus, the highest and most powerful people of our day shun any longevity and any material attachment, while the social ranks do their best to prolong the existence of their meager possessions. It is precisely in relation to "crude matter" that the dividing line between the social tops and the bottom lies. And it is the freedom from “rough matter” that allows the top to realize the high-speed capabilities of the modern world.
Here it makes sense to recall the genesis of the 2008 global financial crisis. Thus, in the absence of fundamentally new benefits and innovations, US business circles in the modern fluid economy of knowledge offered their citizens cheap mortgages with its traditional boon - housing. However, only those who could not pay for it took it, and those who could, they rejected it en masse. Thus, it was precisely the lower strata of the masses who "coveted" a gross material asset, while the elite simply ignored it. In our opinion, the dichotomy of the advanced American society in relation to "burdening" values manifested itself here.
However, the independence of a person from things in the modern world is accompanied by his liberation from social obligations. This, using the term of M.Granovetter, leads to the formation of a society with "weak ties" between subjects. Moreover, this weakness spreads in two directions: in space (in depth) and in time (duration of connections). The spatial aspect assumes that relations between people become maximally superficial, shallow. For example, each family member lives by his own interests, which do not correlate with the interests of other family members. No one delves into the problems of their friends and relatives, does not show a desire to help them. People are not interested in the motivation of their employees and employers. Even between the closest people, relations are transferred into the mainstream of economic, exchange. Moral duty is perceived as a relic of the past. Instead of a full-fledged family, people prefer temporary cohabitation; human communication and the art of dialogue are leaving everyday practice. In other words, a total tendency towards social autism is being formed in society.
Temporary about th aspect assumes that the duration of relationships between people becomes maximum short, unstable. For example, when problems arise, spouses quickly divorce, and the marriage itself can be concluded many times by a person. Friends forget each other at the slightest change in their social position. Relatives communicate only in rare cases - at funerals and christenings. Helping a neighbor is limited to calling the appropriate service, etc. In fact, society is established tendency to rapid self-disintegration of all social ties.
The considered effects greatly deform the entire system of human values. Even the presence of a family and children is perceived as a burden that reduces the mobility and functionality of the subject. And, of course, altruism is losing its appeal. The increased speed simply does not allow to show such quality. The results of R. Levin's research confirm what has been said. So, he found that people in American cities with the highest speed of life are the least willing to help their neighbor. For example, Rochester, whose rate of life is comparatively low, turned out to be the most "helping" city in America. New York, ranked third in the list of the fastest cities, showed the lowest willingness to help others. And the cities of California, with a relatively low speed of life, turned out to be less "helping" than fast cities. This fact suggests that a low pace of life is already a necessary but not sufficient condition for altruism; Californians, for example, tend to help only themselves to live better, thereby demonstrating some kind of social autism.
So, the increase in speed in the current world implies greater freedom, and freedom implies superficial and short-term social ties.
6. Brownian motion in the world of weak links. The modern society of "weak ties" is characterized by numerous, light and short contacts between people, which is very reminiscent of Brownian motion with its chaotic collision and contact of molecules. This fact cannot but be alarming.
The fact is that a social system is a set of elements and connections between them. And the more stable and stronger these ties, the stronger the system itself. Currently, we are seeing the transformation of connections into contacts (interactions). Moreover, if connections are a systemic phenomenon and property, then simple contacts and interactions, as a rule, are of a random nature. And here we come to the fact that the weakening of ties at some point reborn into simple casual contacts. It is difficult to determine in the general case the moment of this transition, but in the mass manifestation it leads to the destruction of the system as such. Just as communication, for example, between spouses is qualitatively different from the accidental collision of passengers in public transport, so is a social system different from a community of almost autonomous individuals.
A typical consequence of the formation of a society of weak ties and the acquisition of colossal freedom by an individual is the corrosion and disintegration of the institution of citizenship. Indeed, the interests of the individual can no longer be associated with any particular society and with any particular territory. If an individual needs to leave this society and this country in order to improve his well-being, he can and even should do so. This choice is determined by the primacy of individuality over public interests and any national objectives. Thus hypertrophied individualism automatically leads to cosmopolitanism.
However, the weakening of ties is superimposed on additional properties of the modern world. Thus, Z. Bauman quite rightly speaks of two important effects. He calls the first, using yet another metaphor, the "fluidity" of the conditions of human life, the second can be called by analogy the "fluidity" of goals.
Indeed, goals are blurred, changing like in a kaleidoscope, and therefore they can no longer serve basis of rational behavior modern man. This leads to "ignorance of the ends instead of ignorance of the means" in the new "easy" capitalism. At the same time, the blurred conditions of life, in the figurative expression of Z. Bauman, lead to the formation of a certain symbolic "container of opportunities", both not yet discovered, and already missed. And there are so many of these possibilities today that they cannot be explored in any single life, no matter how long and eventful it may be. These opportunities, intertwined with the freedom of the modern individual, lead to a colossal inversion of life strategies. An absurd principle begins to operate: “We have found a solution. Let's find the problem now." Superimposed on the "molten" conditions of life, blurry goals create a chaotic lace of people's thoughts and actions, where there is no clear core.
Accepting such a description, it makes sense once again to use analogies from the world of physics. In systems in which bonds are weakened, entropy increases, and they themselves, in accordance with the second law of thermodynamics, move towards "thermal death", i.e. to a full leveling of energy and complexity. Accordingly, the modern social system is literally overflowing with entropy, moving away from a state of equilibrium. However, it is known from I.Prigozhin's research that only systems that are in a state far from equilibrium evolve. But too much deviation from equilibrium can completely destroy the system. Thus, the modern world, as it were, finds itself at a bifurcation point, when the question is being decided where society will go next - to degradation and destruction or to a qualitative transformation. Consequently, modern society has come to some important evolutionary milestone.
The main problem of the modern world is that it has not yet decided vector evolution of the individual and society. This fact gives rise to tremendous uncertainty about the future, if not fear of it.
7. Civilizational zigzag or inversion of history. Faced with an uncertain future, it is only logical to take a look at history, which, as many believe, can sometimes suggest the possible trajectory of the upcoming evolution of society.
Following this path and rethinking history, Z. Bauman makes one extremely interesting observation. First of all, we are talking about the “civilizational zigzag” that we can observe today. In this case, it means the following. Developing as a coexistence of nomadic and sedentary peoples, the current civilization was created mainly by sedentary ethnic groups. This is due to the fact that any material creativity assumed stability and stability. Moving with herds across the steppe and desert, it is difficult to create any significant artifacts. Crafts, arts, sciences and cities demanded settled life. And it is not surprising that it was the settled peoples that were traditionally assigned the role of "civilizers".
A typical example of the lack of significant influence on world culture can serve as nomadic Arab tribes, who in their campaigns improved mainly their language; architecture, science and art did not develop in the field. Later, when the Arab states arose with their inherent elements of settled life, a richer Arab culture began to emerge.
However, today the situation is completely reversed: the newly-minted nomadic peoples are becoming the vanguard of social and technological progress. Moreover, extraterritorial mobility becomes a symbol of progress, and excessive settled life - a sign of degradation. The role of "civilizers" is moving from sedentary peoples to highly mobile ethnic groups. In global competition, the fastest win. Progress itself is inconceivable without flowing flows of information, capital and goods. Who is built into these streams, he moves in step with the times. Thus, a kind of civilizational zigzag arose when the dominant ethnic groups changed from "sedentary" to "nomadic". This phenomenon can be viewed as a kind of paradox of history, because such castling of leaders is extremely rare.
The described civilizational zigzag receives an additional elegant interpretation from Z. Bauman himself: “history is a process of forgetting to the same extent as the process of learning” . It seems that today humanity should “forget” those values that have been of such great importance over the past few millennia: stability, the presence of excess time, slowness and slowness, attachment to a specific point in physical space, etc. They were replaced by their antipodes.
From a psychological point of view, the civilizational zigzag is a serious challenge to humanity. This is due to one important contradiction. Exactly delay always acted as the basis of progress. It was calmness and thoroughness that allowed people to improve themselves and improve their artifacts. Moreover, sometimes the mind itself is interpreted as a delayed action, a delayed reaction. Speed is not conducive to thinking, in any case, thinking about the future, long-term thinking. Thought requires pause and rest to "give yourself enough time" to take stock. The current culture is waging war with delay. This has never happened before in recorded history.
What is the threat?
Without attempting to answer this question, we note for the time being only the following. The presence of a civilizational zigzag reveals the possible existence of some deep and truly gigantic historical cycles that underlie the development of society and civilization. Thus, a shift towards strengthening the role of "fast" peoples fixes a certain civilizational wave and suggests that it will continue in the form of a reverse trend. Thus, we can talk about the presence of a role cycle, when the value of settled peoples first decreases for a long time, and then increases again. Now we see the first half of this cycle and it is possible that in the future we will see its second half. Already today, an alternative to physical movement is being seen in the form of a calm stay in one place and communication with counterparties from all over the world using modern means of communication. And although the idea of such a full-scale return wave and the presence of a “high-speed cycle” of history is just a hypothesis, the presence of a “half-cycle” can be considered an irrefutable fact.
It is curious that intuitive insights about the need for a cycle of "movement-settlement" are already visible in biblical times. So, E. Fromm claims that Jewish history begins with the command to Abraham to leave the country where he was born and go to unknown lands. The Jewish people completed the first round of this cycle when they left Palestine, went to Egypt, and again returned to the Palestinian lands. Subsequently, the situation repeated itself after the destruction of Jerusalem, when the Jews migrated all over the world and returned to their ancestral lands only in the 20th century, having recreated their state. Thus, the considered civilizational wave can be seen on the example of individual peoples, which gives reason to assume that it may have more large-scale incarnations.
8. The evolution of man and society under the pressure of speed. So, the concept of fluid reality states that the main competitive advantage in the modern world is speed or reactivity. From here, as a special case, the phenomenon of "Traut's error" follows, the essence of which is that in the current conditions of global competition, no one has the right to make a mistake. Any miscalculation in such circumstances turns into a complete and unconditional fiasco; it is almost impossible to win back the lost positions; for any oversight, the market punishes the most severe way.
According to J. Trout, companies that achieved success in the middle of the 20th century operated literally in greenhouse conditions. At that time, they had the right to make mistakes - and they corrected these mistakes relatively easily. Today, no one has such a right. Competition has become global, not only “their” competitors want to “destroy” you, but also aliens from other countries, who, as a rule, have all the attributes necessary for this. An important corollary follows from this fact: no one is guaranteed against failure. This failure itself becomes a consequence of interruptions in the speed of functioning. The slightest unfortunate drop in the reactivity of an economic agent leads to the loss of its position in the market.
Without taking into account "Traut's fallacy", the concept of fluid reality would not be complete. The fact is that the modern world is a world of colossal inequality. But "Traut's mistake" leads to the instability of the elite and thus violates the general trend towards the stratification of society. Even large brand companies today are quickly among the bankrupt. Others take their place. This circumstance not only softens the initial inequality, but also leads to a constant renewal the elite itself. Such a world more and more resembles the "Babylonian lottery" of H. L. Borges, where everyone has a chance to succeed. In a sense, "Traut's mistake" plays the role of a stabilizing feedback in the system, increasing the evolutionary potential of society.
Spreading the effect of the "Traut's mistake" on the world economy, one cannot help but try to rethink the current position of Russia in the world market. Then the picture of the fall of Russia appears as follows. After the collapse of the USSR, Russia lost many of its positions: the defense industry, space, science, education, etc. It is curious that the further course of events was clearly according to J. Trout. The place of Russia was quickly taken by other countries. A typical example: in Tunisia, higher education received in the Soviet Union was quoted very highly. Now, however, Tunisian citizens who have been educated in Russia are faced with the fact that their diplomas are not recognized in their homeland, but there are no such problems with diplomas from the British Commonwealth countries. The result is simple - the education market, which belonged to the USSR, passed to the universities of Western countries. Moreover, many signs show that in the foreseeable future, Russian education will no longer be able to regain its lost ground. The main thing is that the loss of the Soviet Union took place due to the loss of its reactivity. The labor productivity of the USSR was several times lower than in the United States in almost all sectors of the economy. This means that the Americans worked many times faster than the Russians. This fact predetermined the reshuffling of forces in the world political arena, followed by a full-scale reformatting of the composition of the leading and outsider countries.
From an evolutionary point of view, the combination of the concept of fluid reality with "Traut's mistake" generates a challenge for all economic agents in the form of the need to increase responsibility. Moreover, this need is absolutely pragmatic and even selfish in nature, because responsibility for one's actions is dictated by the desire for success and the fear of fatal failure.
Earlier we noted that in social systems the speed characteristic has two dimensions - internal (thinking speed V M) and external (action speed V D). The relationship between these two characteristics is usually ambiguous. Ideally, fast thinking leads to fast actions (∂V D /∂V M >0), but in practice this is far from always the case and the opposite relationship is often observed (∂V D /∂V M<0). Данный факт требует своего объяснения, которое, на наш взгляд, было дано Дж.Фаулзом, рассмотревшим связь между energy, information and complexity. In particular, he noticed another important analogy between the physical and social worlds, namely: in atoms, as in humans, complication leads to a loss of energy. Developing this idea, we can say the following. The complication of personality due to the processing of large volumes of complex information in itself requires enormous internal energy. Moreover, the complication that has taken place also requires a lot of energy to maintain this complexity; otherwise, this whole complex structure can easily crumble. Given the analogy between atoms and man, we can assume that this pattern is universal. Then its direct consequence is the fact that intellectuals do not seek to actively express themselves in the external environment. In other words, the growth of mental abilities leads to a decrease in external activity (∂V D /∂V M<0). Таким образом, в современном мире избытка информации возникает contradiction between internal and external speed.
This effect is enhanced by another circumstance - the pairing of a high level of intelligence and weak will. According to J. Fowles, a highly developed intellect leads to a plurality of interests and sharpens the ability to foresee the consequences of any action. Accordingly, the will seems to be lost in the labyrinth of hypotheses. Thus, the high complexity of the individual requires increased energy costs for understanding and choosing alternatives. It is this circumstance that explains the traditional passivity of the intelligentsia. It can be said that active and straightforward volitional actions are the lot of primitive people.
The foregoing reveals another danger posed by the growth of speed in the information community: the social elite includes people not with high internal speed (V M), but with high external speed (V D). And here Z. Bauman gives a classic example of a new "elite" - business people talking for hours with an air of importance on a mobile phone at an airport. This forms pseudo-elite, the destructive influence of which is quite obvious, but absolutely unpredictable.
The formation of a pseudo-elite is another serious challenge from the modern world. The solution to this problem lies in the plane of the evolution of the person himself and, in particular, in the restoration of a positive relationship between the internal and external speed (∂V D /∂V M >0). This development of events is possible only with the development of new mental abilities in people.
At the same time, a society of weakened ties is fraught with entirely new possibilities. Now all this is rather difficult to justify strictly, but some facts are already known that give food for thought. For example, R. Florida, speaking about the activities of special creative centers in the United States, where high-tech industries are concentrated, notes that among their special advantages were the level of diversity above the average, as well as the low level of social capital and political activity. According to R. Florida, it is precisely such weakened social ties that act as a key mechanism for mobilizing resources, ideas and information necessary for effective job search, decision making, launching new types of products and organizing enterprises. Thus, the weakening of social ties underlies the emergence of many high-tech companies that have determined the vector of development of modern society over the past 20-30 years.
9. Evolution as a constant flight. The question of evolution that has been started needs to be continued. And here it is necessary to clarify the following issues. First, how can one live in a state of constant race and flight? Is it possible to consider such a lifestyle as normal, and even more so as evolution? Secondly, can all dynamic people be considered members of the elite? And what qualities are generally characteristic of the social elite?
Let's try to find answers to these questions. First of all, about the race. In this case, we are talking about the fact that evolution is always accompanied by a complication of the personality and an increase in the effectiveness of its actions. Speed is a special case of efficiency, and therefore, without its inflating, evolutionary shifts, as a rule, do not occur. At least, we can safely say that the low dynamism of the subject denies the possibility of its evolution and entry into the social elite.
The stated thesis shows that modern man faces a challenge that must be accepted. However, it should be noted here that the problem of increasing dynamism does not arise before all of humanity, but only before those individuals who wish to enter the category of the elite; people seeking to live a quiet life may ignore the challenge of the modern world and remain in the ranks of the masses. Thus, the freedom of choice of a person is in no way violated by the fluid reality and does not cause any social drama. It can also be summed up in another way: evolution is a problem for the elite, not for the masses.
At this point, we come to the main issue of evolution - to the ratio of the masses and the elite. In fact, the actions of the elite are always a kind of flight from the masses. The lack of reasonable segregation and the mixing of the elite with the masses makes it difficult for them to identify each other and thereby reduces the evolutionary potential of the elite. It was this circumstance that caused the introduction of the caste system in ancient India.
However, the constant flight of the elite is determined by the dynamism of the modern world. This means that all changes in it occur so quickly that no problem can be solved once and for all - it must be periodically solved anew. For example, you cannot buy a good house in a good place, because in 10-15 years this place will change beyond recognition, and it will have to be changed. You can't find a good job, because in 1-2 years everything can change, and you will have to look for a new job, etc. In other words, in a fluid reality, the life cycle of all traditional values is shortened. Moreover, in all these cases, the dialectic of interaction between the elite and the masses is visible: the elite sets the vector (direction) of development (movement), and the masses pursue it. As soon as the distance between the elite and the masses is reduced to a certain minimum, the elite ceases to be an elite and, in order to maintain its privileged position, it must again raise its efficiency and break away from the masses. Thus, it again faces the need to find (or redefine) a new vector of development, to rush there and thereby increase the gap with the masses. Thus, the masses act as a kind of stimulator of the elite.
From what has been said, it is already clear what basic quality the elite should possess - the ability to determine new directions for the development of society. As a rule, in practice this happens by generating new technologies that change the world and society. R. Florida calls such people the "creative class". It is these individuals who provide technological and social progress. And here, clarity is immediately introduced into the understanding of who is not a representative of the elite. Merely running about mythical affairs does not in itself make a person superior to other members of society. Such actions should be taken simply as an unsuccessful attempt by a person to enter the ranks of the elite. If such people become rich without giving the world any new ideas and technologies, then this only indicates that we are dealing with a problem of negative selection, from which no evolutionary trajectories are guaranteed. In the ideal case, the "creative class" acquires wealth that is adequate to its contribution to the development of society.
It must be said that the understanding of the evolutionary relationship between freedom (reactivity) and inertia (conservatism) has developed a long time ago. For example, E. Fromm back in the 1950s argued that any return from freedom to artificial rootedness in a state or race is a sign of mental illness, since it does not correspond to the achieved level of evolution and leads to pathological phenomena. Thus, the growth of the fluidity of the social world is an inevitable consequence of its progressive evolution.
10. Obstacles to fluid reality. It would be wrong to underestimate the destructive potential that the modern dynamic fluid world carries. However, it would be just as unjustified to see only one negative in "rapid progress". The fact is that overcoming the “speed barrier” is a condition for human evolution, the formation of a completely new elite and the improvement of the whole society on this basis. In this case, we are faced with such a property of developing systems as the emergence at each new stage of the evolution of a society of new, specific mechanisms for selecting its best representatives.
What is needed for this? Is it possible? Are there any built-in mechanisms in a person, the inclusion of which will allow reaching a new level?
All these questions are already moving into the field of futurology, which is closely related to sociology. However, today several properties of a person have already been discovered, which give hope for the positive evolution of all mankind.
The first one is about nature. good deeds, which, according to J. Fowles, are by definition disinterested, i.e. they are not connected with the achievement of any internal interests of the individual. This means that good deeds are not the fruit of a rational decision. And if this is so, then in itself any good deed is a counteraction to the inertial course of development, which is possible only due to the release of excess, excessive from a biological point of view, energy. Consequently, the activity of true intellectuals is most often expressed in good deeds. Not surprisingly, such acts are less visible than the selfish acts of primitive individuals. The increased energy of intellectuals manifests itself simply in a different form than the energy of less developed egoists.
At the same time, according to J. Fowles, good deeds are carried out because they lead to the so-called functional enjoyment, like acts of eating and breathing. But this is possible only when the personality becomes so complicated that new natural needs to perform good deeds are formed in its architectonics. It is then that the mechanism is activated when the absence of good deeds leads to discomfort and destruction of the individual, and, in the end, to the death of society. Thus, the complication of personality leads to the fact that excess energy is released in the form of good deeds. Here, J. Fowles knits such categories as energy, information, individual complexity and public good.
Thus, in man there are mechanisms that oppose inertia in the form of a manifestation of simple rationality. Consequently, society itself may well move to a qualitatively different level of development. Today, there are already quite acceptable ideas about the mechanism of evolution of man and society. So, each person has three basic instincts - self-preservation, reproduction and freedom (development). At the same time, development proceeds due to the generation of innovations by an individual on the basis of his understanding of the society in which he is located; as a rule, there are not many such people, but it is they who form the social elite. Then the generated innovation is distributed in society, thereby transferring it to a qualitatively different level of development. Subsequently, this cycle is repeated by other representatives of the elite, who rethink a different, more complex and perfect society, and, consequently, they generate other, even more complex and perfect innovations. At the same time, the creative process is generated by the individual desire of a person for freedom and creativity, which in turn is driven by the collision of social forces of inertia and entropy.
It is curious that in the concept of fluid reality there are implicitly three personnel strata that perform the corresponding evolutionary missions. Thus, the intellectual elite, which has a high speed of thinking, generates innovations and forms the vector of development of society directed upwards (the third instinct, vertical movement); the business elite, which has a high speed of action, expands, disseminates and promotes innovations, forming a horizontal line of development (second instinct); masses accept and consume innovations, consolidate, conserve and preserve them (first instinct, movement in place). Thus, the concept of a fluid reality is in good agreement with the theory of evolution, which serves as an additional argument in favor of its validity.
In the context of what has been said, the concept of a fluid reality no longer seems so fatal and apocalyptic as it might seem at first. The age-old desire of people for freedom has led to the modern world, in which freedom and, as a result, human reactivity have become truly enormous. At one time, P.A. Sorokin analyzed in detail the pros and cons of human mobility. His verdict is simple: the growth of mobility has always led to mental liberation, the intensification of intellectual life, the generation of discoveries and innovations; on the other side of the scales are an increase in mental illness, a decrease in the sensitivity of the nervous system and the development of cynicism. This once again confirms the fact that freedom in all its forms is a challenge for humanity in general and for each individual in particular.
As already noted, among other things, freedom leads to the formation of a society of weak ties. At the same time, the desire for its self-disintegration is balanced by the totality and global nature of ties in the modern world economy. Such "soft" social systems carry a lot of dangers, which in turn initiate the development of new technologies and alternative social models of human interaction. Sooner or later, the current model of fluid reality will be replaced by some other model that will further increase the level of individual freedom of a person, but at the same time will not allow society to disintegrate.
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The effect of "Traut's error" is called the "fatal error effect".
N.A. Ekimova drew this connection, for which the author expresses her sincere gratitude.
Most of the world's population lives in countries where wealth inequality is growing. The rich get richer, the poor fall behind. The highest wages rise faster than the lowest. This applies not only to salaries. Lifetime wealth is even more unequally distributed than current income. The reason is that most of the savings are contained in property, stocks, pensions - assets that can make a profit, but are inaccessible to many. For example, in Germany, from 2000 to 2016, workers' salaries increased by 5%, and investment and business income by 30%.
But it is not all that bad. Researchers at the World Wealth and Income Database projects say that although inequality is growing in almost all countries, but to varying degrees, this proves that governments are able to deal with it somehow. According to the IMF and a number of other studies, inequality, while hurting economic growth, ends up impoverishing everyone.
gender gap
According to the World Economic Forum, women are paid less for equal work with men in all countries, despite the fact that gender discrimination is illegal in many countries, including in the US and in all EU countries.
In addition, women's labor as an economic resource is not fully utilized. Only half of all women are in the global labor force compared to 80% of men. According to the World Bank, in 90% of countries for women there is at least one of the barriers to the ability to work. They have many hidden costs, from the $18,000 that an American woman spends over a lifetime on specific hygiene products, to the so-called “pink tax,” which consists in the fact that products intended for women cost more than those for men. .
If progress in overcoming economic inequality between the sexes continues at the same pace, it will be overcome in 217 years, the forum stated. The Navy is demanding action. What is good for women will be good for the economy and for everyone involved in it. It is estimated that if women equal the number of jobs with men, then GDP will increase by 5% in the US, by 9% in Japan, and by 27% in India.
Changing of the climate
Maplecroft's "Climate Change Risk Index" takes into account possible natural disasters associated with climate, sea level rise, and their impact on population structure, resources, agriculture and conflict. The index also takes into account the preparedness of each country for climate change and the ability to withstand them.
The world's most vulnerable states are among the poorest. Hurricanes in the Caribbean and Latin America, floods in South Asia, and drought in eastern Africa hit the poorest regions in 2017. Even the G20 countries are not protected from the impacts. At the same time, the largest polluter after China, the United States, withdrew from the Paris climate agreement. The UN has warned that climate change is fueling regional conflicts by forcing people to leave their homes. According to the International Organization for Migration, the movement of people within and between countries is increasing for this reason.
Political polarization
And in the US, and in Europe, and in Asia, politics is becoming increasingly polarized. Polls by the Pew Research Center show that US Republicans have become more staunch conservatives and Democrats more staunch liberals. Consequently, they have less mutual understanding on key issues than before.
In a number of European countries - in Austria, Poland, Hungary, France, far-right and populist parties are gaining more and more support. In Germany, anti-immigrant and anti-Islamic parties came third in the 2017 elections, bringing a far-right group into the national parliament for the first time since 1961. Eurogroup experts warn that Islamist, anti-Chinese and anti-minority sentiment is on the rise in South Asia. Rising nationalism in India also threatens stability.
Inequality in education
According to UNICEF, more than 60 million children between the ages of 6 and 11 do not attend school. More than half of them live in Africa, about 27 million live in conflict zones. Education helps overcome poverty and boosts economic growth. But access to learning in the world is largely uneven. Globally, 65% of people aged 25 and older have at least a secondary education. In Europe and the USA, there are more than 90% of them. In sub-Saharan Africa, only 30%.
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It is customary to scold each new generation, because it must necessarily be worse than the previous one, drag the world to the bottom and have just a minimum number of bright heads - you know, this is already a centuries-old tradition of the older generation. But today's youth, who was first born with a smartphone in their hands and the Internet in their minds, is so strikingly different from all their predecessors that they can't even scold their tongue. It's just wildly incomprehensible!
We are in website decided to study what makes young people who are tied to the World Wide Web from birth stand out.
Hype rules their world
“They come on Wednesday and arrange it for themselves. My favorite is that soon they will face state institutions. Oh, I would not want to be in the place of these very institutions. They * end.
Nikita Shirobokov
They don't care about school
It's hard for them to hang noodles on their ears
People used to trust authorities. Trust your parents, trust your teachers. Today it is sometimes difficult for the average teacher, so to speak, to compete with the student. After all, he can check any information in a tenth of a second and prove the exact opposite. In general, checking the information received is the motto of young people. It will be possible to deceive them, if only you get a particularly tight representative of the generation.
They have clip thinking
That's what technology has affected the most, it's thinking. If the older generation taught, the modern googles. Yes, perhaps because of this, the knowledge of the bulk is superficial, and thinking is clip-like, but they always have the most relevant information. And with it, it is worth noting, they work very cool, which helps them to cope with the tasks set much more efficiently. And given the speed at which the modern world is moving, in the end, the winner will still be far from the “old generation” with its “But we remembered!” The very meaning of subcultures in the modern world has simply disappeared, and there are two main reasons for this :
What do we end up with? A crowd of open to everything new, forgetting about stereotypes, multitasking, pragmatic, rapidly developing hype young people with clip thinking. And you say that they are dragging the world to the bottom?
