I’ve been pondering lately what exactly is globalization and the affects it has on societies. I question things like if we were meant to move this freely from one place to another or if cultures are meant to intermingle and transport across the globe. I am absolutely hypocritical for questioning this because I am the product of globalization. My own absorption and dilution of my own culture and difficulties of understanding other cultures and social aspects is the root of my questioning. I know of and in fact there are those who absolutely disagree, in fact I disagree with myself. I am simply asking the question.



Globalization has been occurring on varying levels all throughout existence but it served a purpose. I look to Nature for the purpose, survival (of the fittest), (natural) selection, and advancement. It was meant to happen, I’m sure of it. Geographical boundaries, exactly that, boundaries… were they meant to be boundaries, borders, natural means of protection and containment. Of course they were, otherwise Nature in its wisdom would not have scaled us and the environment as it is. But the fact of the matter is that it has never happened in the scale that it is occurring today. And why is it happening today; I see it happening for all the reasons that it has always been happening but mostly I see it happening for economic reasons; Capitalism.

Now, don’t get me wrong; the benefits are there and they outweigh anything I can imagine. Any extreme ideology is detrimental whether political, economical or social. I’m not an advocate of any of it and in fact it is because of Globalization that we have been able to further refine any system that is currently established around the world. The thing I see is that the discrepancies across nations and people are not what Globalization would have maximized in terms of information, freedom, liberties, economies, prosperity of people, and values. In fact I believe that the gap between the haves and have not has increased not only between people but also across nations.

What I cannot understand is how can we have more poverty, hunger, despair, pillaging, and brutality in a world where information is so much more readily available than at any given point in history. Readily available does not translate of course into “educated” people. In fact, we are not more educated. My own perception is that we are more aware, but we chose to turn away. We are more aware but we have so much information to absorb consciously and unconsciously that we are overwhelmed. And of course when we do have information that is so totally against what we believe could be possible, we reject it, no way can we believe it. There is too much information and we have difficulty validating shocking information. Our perception of the world is a reflection of our own reality. And for the majority of us, it is difficult enough to survive in this reality let alone extend a helping hand.

With the Globalization of knowledge, shouldn’t we as a collective people be able to solve the problems we have with energy, poverty, war, and freedoms. We can, we have the technology, we have the money, and we have the organizations and institutions in place. So why have we made no significant progress in these areas. I can think of tons of reasons such as greed, capitalism, national security, self-interest, etc. etc. What are these, human traits and can we overcome them? What has history, a hundred centuries of human and social development taught us? How do we revert rooted and established ideas and history? Would it benefit to throw it all out, start fresh; eliminate all known established principles? I doubt it, but my brain cannot think why we repeat history.

So what is Globalization? There is a ton of literature out there about this. My interpretation is simple; it is the spread and acceptance of ideas. It has affects on politics, society and economics. The majority is due to economics and the other two affects are tied to it. It is the driver of change. So, it is like the “Market” and it will equalize. I doubt it; it’s all highly regulated and requires more regulation.

I guess I would start with the population of the current world and the growth in the past decade; and how this compares with the centuries before to scale. If indeed globalization has had an impact and I believe it has, is the impact no different than any other point in time relatively.

I wonder if this ecosystem we live in can sustain all these benefits of Globalization. IF maybe Nature is taking care of itself and that is the simple reason for my question in the first place. Have you ever put too many fish in a fish bowl? What happened?

The other question is of course is the result of all this integration on the development of humanity and society. Maybe the financial crisis is the “Market” equalizing itself and we are counterbalancing this equalization. These trillions of dollars we are fabricating out of thin air could be used to distribute “equality”. But then again, what I’ve to terms with here at the end of my own thought patterns is that, Nature is about inequality. It is the natural progression, the “food chain”, without it there is no governance of the “system”. And so, I’ve come to realize that we must fend for ourselves in our time.