A Brief History of the Future: A Brave and Controversial Look at the Twenty-First Century (29 page)

BOOK: A Brief History of the Future: A Brave and Controversial Look at the Twenty-First Century
3.04Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub

rise of, 84

Jaurès, Jean, 256

Jerusalem, 23, 27, 164, 269

Jesus Christ, 26–27

Jews, 23, 39, 53

Jin dynasty, 31, 43

job competition, 149

Judeo-Greek ideal, 20–31, 62, 222

Julius Caesar, 26

Juniper, 95

Kashmir, 247

Kazakhstan, 110, 244, 245, 249

Khrushchev, Nikita, 82

knowledge, 119–120, 146, 179–180, 270

transmission of, 2, 5, 10, 261

Korea, 97, 110, 114, 124, 128, 212, 234, 242

labor, division of, 39

laborers, 68–69

land, ownership of, 10

landless nobility, 64

Lao Tsu, 23–24

Latin, 50

Latin America, 73, 97, 116, 213–214, 224–225

League of Nations, 77

Lebanon, 246

liberalism, 94

Libya, 246

life expectancy, 128, 147, 190

Lisbon, 52

live entertainment, 270–271

Locke, John, 62

Locomotive Act, 70

London, 61–71, 83, 160

Long Shan culture, 14

Los Angeles, 84–93, 106, 107, 150, 164

Louisiana, 67

Louis XIV, 58

Low Countries, 55, 56–61, 69

Macedonia, 246

Madrid, 52

Malaysia, 110, 133

Man-God, 14

Marcus Aurelius, 28, 259–260

market democracies, xiv–xv, 17, 20, 93–94, 109, 151–154, 167–170, 240–241

market domination, 170, 172–173, 181, 186–187, 202

market economy, 81, 108–109, 241, 270–271

market forces, xiii–xv

Marx, Karl, 69, 255

material enrichment, 21

Mawdudi, Sayyid, 228

Medes, 23

media, 125–127

medical field, 178–179

Mediterranean, 24

Menes (king), 14–15

mercantile order, 2, 17, 19–20, 22.
See also
ninth form

Amsterdam as core of, 56–61

Antwerp as core of, 48–52

beginnings of, 38–41

Boston as core of, 71–77

Bruges as core of, 38–41

criticism of, 219–222

forms, 35–38

Genoa as core of, 52–56

language of, 35

London as core of, 61–71

Los Angeles as core of, 84–93, 106, 150

in Mediterranean, 31–32

New York as core of, 77–85

ninth form.
See
ninth form

polycentric, 165, 167–170, 180–181

rise of, in Europe, 33–35

strengthening of, 24–25

tenth form, 155–164

Venice as core of, 42–48

mercantile power, 1, 2

mercenaries, 215–219, 251

merchants, 34, 40

merchant ships, 45, 54–55

Mesopotamia, 10–13, 15, 23

metallurgy, 12, 15

Mexico, 29, 76, 110, 116, 133, 213–214, 238, 244, 246, 252

microfinance, 109, 192, 262, 263, 269, 270–271

microinsurance, 109, 123, 189

microprocessors, 86, 144, 171, 179

Microsoft, 88

middle classes, 60, 69, 73–74, 82, 93, 122, 152–153, 168–169, 182, 197–201

Middle East, 9–10, 252, 267

migrations, 130–135

military alliances, 214, 236–239

military power, 1, 2, 13–14

millet, 13

Ming dynasty, 43, 46–47

miniaturization, 145, 171–172, 177–178

mobility, 181–182, 183

Model T, 75

Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, 80

monarchy, 22

money, 22, 35

Mongols, 15, 41

Monroe Doctrine, 73

Montesquieu, Charles, 62

moon, 207

moral code, 22

More, Thomas, 255–256

Morocco, 110, 118, 213, 246–247

mortgage crisis, 148–149

mortgages, 99

Muhammad, 30

multinational corporations, 152, 185, 190, 192

music, 81, 99, 146, 271

Muslims, 31–33, 226–231

nanotechnologies, 171, 177–178,

209, 268

Napoleonic Wars, 67, 76

nationalism, 60

nation-deconstruction, 112

nations, 50

nation-states, xiii, 122–123, 202–203

deconstruction of, 180–186

NATO, 238–239

Natufians, 12

natural disasters, 140–141

natural diversity, 143–144

natural gas, 137

natural resources

scarcity of, xv, 135–144

technological innovations and, 170–171

Nazis, 80

Neanderthals, 5, 7

Near East, 11–12

Nebuchadnezzar, 23

Neolithic era, 11–12

Netherlands, 184

neurosciences, 179–180

news media, 125–126

New York, 77–85, 92, 100, 107, 158

Nigeria, 98, 110, 117, 167, 169, 213, 216, 245, 248, 249

ninth form end of, 106

fate of, 148–155

future of, 106–118

Los Angeles as core of, 84–93, 106, 107, 150, 164

nomadic businesses, 189–194

nomadic objects, 87–88, 91, 93, 106, 124–125, 171–172, 176–177, 179, 198, 276

nomadic ubiquity, 124–128, 174, 187–188, 265–266

nomadism, 3–4, 6, 13, 37, 81, 207

nomads

hypernomads, 195–197

infranomads, 201–202

virtual, 197–201

nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), 194, 263, 264

North Korea, 212, 234, 242

Norway, 110

nuclear energy, 137, 235

nuclear family, 79–80

nuclear weapons, 80–81, 234

Obama, Barack, 108

obesity, 198–199, 258

oil, 75–76, 77, 80, 82, 93, 103, 115, 137, 234, 244–245

Organization for Security and

Cooperation in Europe

(OSCE), 240

Orrorin
, 3

Other, 261–262

Ottoman Empire, 76

outsourcing, 149, 152

Pacioli, Luca, 53

paid labor, 34, 37

Pakistan, 110, 212, 214, 216, 231, 234, 242, 247, 248–249, 253

Palladio, 44

Papin, Denis, 65

Paraguay, 245

Paris, 32

Parliament (Great Britain), 62

Pearl Harbor, 80

peasantry, 68

Pericles, 25

periphery, 36

Persians, 23, 24

personal computers (PCs), 88–89, 144–145

petroleum, 71, 136–137, 244–245

Philippines, 110

Phoenicians, 20–21, 23

pirates/piracy, 193–194, 202, 204, 215–219, 242–243, 249–251, 269

Pitt, William, 63

planetary market, 166

plow, 12

political freedom, xiv

political orders, 2

pollution, 136, 142–143

polycentrism, xv, 165, 167–170, 180–181

polytheism, 8–9

population shifts, 130–135

Portugal, 52

pound, 70

poverty, 100–102, 201–202

predictions, ix

prehistory, 3–7

preventive war, 242–244

primates, 3–7

primitive societies, 8–13

printing press, 49–50, 184

privatization, 181–186

procreation, 5–6

productivity, 94

proletariat, 68–69

protectionism, 36, 239

Protestantism, 50, 57–58, 224

Prussia, 59, 71

public services, 122–123, 149,

153, 169–170, 172–174, 180,

182–183

Public Utility Holding Act, 79

Puritans, 72

Qing dynasty, 58, 59, 75

Qing Shi Huang, 25–26

Qutb, Sayyid, 229

radio, 76, 79, 81

railroads, 67, 70, 121–122

Ramses II, 16

raw materials, 135–144

record players, 81

refrigerators, 79

regional conflicts, 212–215, 247–248

relational businesses/economy,

193–194, 259, 260–264, 271

religion, 222–232, 277

religious power, 1, 2, 9

religious sacrifice, 8

reproduction, 208–209

retirement, 130, 135, 181, 187

Revolutionary War, 60–61, 63

rice cultivation, 13

ritualization, 8–13

ritual order, 2, 9

robots, 127, 172, 233

Rochas, Alphonse Beau de, 72

Roman Empire, 26–29, 31, 159, 185, 239

Roman gods, 1–2

Romanov, Grigory, x

Romulus Augustulus (emperor), 29

ruling prince, 14

Russia, 31, 33, 59, 95, 110, 115–116, 132–133, 163, 213, 214, 238, 245

Rwanda, 98

sacred, 8–9

salary-earners, 197–201, 207

Saudi Arabia, 213, 234, 244

savings rates, 99

Scandinavia, 161–162

scarcity, 65, 135–144

of natural resources, xv

of time, 146–148

wars of, 244–247

Scotland, 168

seaborne trade, 39

secular anger, 219–222

sedentarization, 8–13

sedentary population, 197–201

self-monitors, 177–179, 198, 276

self-repairers, 179, 187, 209

self-surveillance, 173–180, 182, 187, 189, 209

serfdom, 52

service industry, 82–83

services

financial, 86–87, 91–92

industrialization of, 86–87

Seville, 47, 52

sexuality, 5–6, 34, 81, 120–121, 196, 208

Shanghai, 96, 111, 131, 162–163

Siberia, 132, 246–247

silicon chips, 86

Silk Road, 26

silver, 51, 52

Singapore, 110

skyscrapers, 78

slavery, 6, 22, 37, 57, 59, 70

Smith, Adam, 63

soccer, 200, 205

social tensions, xv

solitude, 187–188

Solon, 23

Somalia, 202, 216

Song (dynasty), 31

South Africa, 110, 117, 213

South Korea, 97, 114, 124, 212

Soviet Union, x, 76, 80, 81, 82, 93–94, 159, 165, 211

Spain, 31, 47–48, 52, 59, 168, 247

Spanish Armada, 54

Sparta, 21, 24, 25

spear, 10

spinning machine, 64–65

Spinoza, Baruch, 58

sports, 199–200, 205–206

Sri Lanka, 216, 247, 251

steam engine, 65

steam locomotive, 67

steamships, 67, 69

steel industry, 83

steering oar, 13

stern rudder, 39

stockholding companies, 57

Stone Age culture, 12

subways, 74

Suez Canal, 70

suicide attacks, 250–251

super-empire, xiii, 166, 183, 184, 186, 206–210, 258, 276

governance of, 202–206

inhabitants of, 195–202

supranational good, 271–274

surveillance objects, 172–180, 189, 233

Sykes-Picot Agreement, 76

taboos, 8, 9

Taiwan, 59, 212, 249, 252

Tamerlane, 41

Tang dynasty, 29–30

taxes, 64, 68, 122–123, 149, 152, 174, 181–182

Taymiyya, Ibn, 228

teachers, 178–179

technical advances, in China, 43–44

technological innovation, 45, 49–50, 86–92, 106, 119, 127–128, 144–146, 156–157, 171

telegraphs, 69

telephone, 73

television, 125

tenth form, possibilities for, 155–164

Ten Thousand Kingdoms, 14

terrorism, 103, 216–217, 252, 258

Tesla, Nikola, 78

Texas, 158

textile industry, 56, 61–62, 64–65, 68, 70

Thailand, 133, 246

theocratic isolationism, 224

Thirty Years' War, 58

Tibet, 59

time

control of, 39

lived versus stored, 270–271

marketing of, 118–124, 186–189

measurement of, 1

scarcity, 146–148

Tokyo, 84, 162

Toumai, 3

trade

in primitive societies, 9

seaborne, 39

trains, 67, 70, 121–122

transhumans, 259, 260–264, 275, 277

transportation, 121–122, 146, 172

travel, 69, 121–122, 172, 197–198, 207

Treatise of Government
(Locke), 62

Turkey, 110, 118, 133, 213, 225, 234, 246, 249

Turks, 15, 41, 46

United Arab Emirates, 110

United Nations (UN), 240, 267–268

United States

aging population in, 129

anger toward, 219–222

Boston as core of mercantile order, 71–77

California as core of mercantile order, 84–93

Civil War, 70

decline of, 82–84, 94–95, 98–99

deconstruction of, 184–186

defeat of, xv

deficit, 98, 154

disparities in, 99–100

future of, 150

gross domestic product of, 82

immigration to, 66, 73, 133–134

imperialism, 73

military, 236–239, 249

New York as core of mercantile order, 77–85

at peak, 106–108

primacy of, 106–108

Revolutionary War, 60–61

as superpower, 93

tenth form and, 157–160

war on terror and, 103

universal intelligence, xvi, 271–274

universalism, xvi

UN Security Council, 267–268

Upanishads, 15

urban growth, 130–135, 136

urban living, 120–121, 132–135, 265–266

Uruguay, 245

Uzbekistan, 244

Vatican, 225–226

Venezuela, 110, 136, 213, 214, 244, 245

Venice, 42–48, 58–59, 160

vernacular languages, 50

Versailles Treaty, 76

video games, 91

Vietnam, 110, 114, 246

Vikings, 31

villages, 13

violence, 102–103, 215–219, 222, 258.
See also
wars

virtual enterprises, 151–152

virtual nomads, 197–201

virtual world, 184–185

wage-earners, 34, 37, 39, 57, 68, 79

wages

decline in, 100

of working class, 73

Wahhab, Abdel, 228

Warburg, Simon, 83

war economy, 80

Warring Kingdoms, 23

wars, 166

border, 247–248

civil, 247–248

deterrence, 241–242

hyperconflict, 252–254

of influence, 248–249

mercenaries and, 215–219

pirate, 249–251

planetary, 211–254

preventive, 242–244

regional, 212–215

religion and, 222–232

of scarcity, 244–247

victors in, 76

weaponry of, 232–237

washing machines, 79

Washington, D.C., 107, 157

Watchers, 127, 172–180

water scarcity, 142–143, 245–247

Watt, James, 65

wealth

concentration of, 37, 57, 79

control of, 2

as gift from heaven, 22

Other books

Drood by Dan Simmons
Love is Blind by Shayna B
The Vanishment by Jonathan Aycliffe
Dorothy Garlock by A Place Called Rainwater
The Case of the Sleeping Dog by Donald J. Sobol
Twisted Fate by Norah Olson