Bertil, Though I find the Fukuyama quote very interesting I hesitate to rate Fukuyama's acuity as remarkable. Ten years ago he became notorious for his prophecy of the end of history: after the collapse of the Evil Empire of the Soviets history in its conventional sense was coming to an end. No wars and revolutions any more. I tried to be fair to him and read that long interview [http://www.booknotes.org/authors/10146.htm] in which he protested to have been misunderstood. But what I found was not convincing. To be sure, he had the bad luck to be interviewed by a particularly dumb radio journalist. Still, he had ample time and opportunity to expound his ideas. At a first glance, his prophecy is a surprisingly optimistic one: the end of history is due to the invincible global spread of liberal democracy. However, he has some vague misgivings about the brightness of the future of mankind: << The end of history would mean the end of wars and bloody revolutions. Agreeing on ends, men would have no large causes for which to fight. They would satisfy their needs through economic activity, but they would no longer have to risk their lives in battle. They would in other words become animals again as they were before the bloody battle that began history. A dog is content to sleep in the sun all day provided he is fed, because he is not dissatisfied with what he is. He does not worry that other dogs are doing better than him, or that his career as a dog is stagnated or that dogs are being oppressed in a distant part of the world. If man reaches a society in which he has succeeded in abolishing injustice, his life will resemble that of a dog."…"Human life then involves a curious paradox. It seems to require an injustice, for the struggle against injustice is what calls forth what is highest in man." >> <<That is an essential paradox of human life, because in a certain sense, if we can achieve what we all want, a perfectly just society where all men are recognized and treated equally in which there's great material prosperity, in a certain way, that robs us of a very important side of life which is the side that wants to struggle that wants great causes, that wants to act and to live and to die for ideals for higher causes or that somehow wants to transcend just the satisfaction of the body and of its needs and that sort of thing. So I think that's the essential paradox of the end of history, or the the good life, the good society at the end of history, that by its very success it robs man of something that's very important to him. >> This does not impress me. Alvin Toffler and EJ seem to offer more nourishing food for thought. Toffler [THE FUTURE SHOCK] seems to me more trustworthy because his work about the future of industrialized society is more analysis than prophecy and based on a lot of empirical material. EJ's claim to be able "to look into the seeds of time, And say which grain will grow, and which will not", as well as his profoundly philosophical predictions for the next millennia, again and again both stimulate my imagination and provoke my scepticism ---so much that I could go on from here for several pages. No worry, I call it quits for today. Günter Bertil Häggman schrieb: > > Dear Juengerites, > > Rereading passages from _Siebzig Verweht V_ I came > upon a quote from 1 January, 1993: > > "Der Energiehunger wird wachsen; die Kern- und Gentechnik > wird die Gesellschaft in einer Weise formen, die selbst Huxley > nich vorausgesehen hat". > > Comparing this quote with today's interview with Francis > Fukuyama in Die Welt (27 May, 2000; www.welt.de) one is > astounded that EJ could so early detect the road we seemingly > are taking. > > First Fukuyama in Die Welt: > > "Denn die nach vom hin offene Revolution in der Biowissenschaften > gibt durchaus zu der Vermutung Anlass, dass wir mit den uns nunmehr > verfuegbaren Werkzeugen erreichen koennten, was die gesellschaft- > lichen Umgestalter der Vergangenheit nicht zu bewerkstelligen > vermochten: die Umgestaltung der Natur und des menschlichen Wesens. > Wir wuerden in eine neue, eine andere Art von Geschichte eintreten." > > New kind of history. Yes, indeed. > > Comparing this statement with an interview with Alvin Toffler in December > last year published in The Huntsville Times of North Alabama,Toffler > is speaking of a coming crisis: > > "This crisis will come about because we are moving into a period when, > with the combined application of genetics and robotics, we can > dramatically alter our physiological and mental being....Right now we > are merging information technology and the biological technologies. > When we add to that a further merger with autonomous self-replicating, > self-assembling robotics and combine with that an advance toward nano- > technology (microscopic machines) - we will no longer recognize ourselves." > > It is interesting to note that in today's Die Welt interview reference is made > to the article of Bill Joy in Wired, in which he asks if the future really > need > humans. > > With Juengerian greetings > > Bertil Haggman > > > _______________________________________________ > Juenger-list mailing list > Juenger-list@juenger.org > http://www.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/juenger-list
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