The Deglobalization Fallacy.

Some people believe that our civilization is entering an age of "deglobalization." I don't believe this is true. Although some aspects of our civilization will likely deglobalize, I expect to see an acceleration of human cooperation across borders during the coming years.

I began writing these notes during a conversation with William Von Hippel – Professor of Psychology at Queensland University in Australia and author of the book entitled The Social Leap. The Evolutionary Science of Who We Are, Where We Come From, and What Makes Us Happy. He shared with me some evolutionary insights that made me think about our future. He said, “Our bodies changed a little over the last six or seven million years, but our psychology changed a lot. When our ancestors were expelled from the safety of the rainforest, they struggled to survive in the unknown and dangerous world of the savannah. This significant event in the past developed their cooperative abilities to protect themselves.” 

In today’s world, we also have several threats to our survival: climate change, a potential nuclear war, pandemic diseases, resource depletion, biodiversity loss, and many others. Some of these threats are more challenging than the unknown and dangerous savannah was to our ancestors.

Rob Dunn is a biologist, writer, and professor at the Department of Applied Ecology at North Carolina State University. I enjoyed his latest book entitled A Natural History of the Future: What the Laws of Biology Tell Us About the Destiny of Human Species, so I decided to contact him. During an insightful conversation, he referred to one of the challenges mentioned above: biodiversity loss. He told me: “The diversity of life on Earth is dramatically declining. The rate of extinction of other species due to human activity has increased substantially. All species depend on other species. We are probably more dependent on more species than any other species ever to exist. When we reduce biodiversity, we affect our capacity to survive.”

Will the challenges to our existence mentioned above be enough to unite our global civilization? To exchange ideas about this question, I contacted William Halal, who is Professor Emeritus of Management, Technology, and Innovation at George Washington University, Washington, D.C., and was ranked by Macmillan’s Encyclopedia of the Future as “The World’s 100 Most Influential Futurists.” He told me: “All stages of evolution are driven by revolutions in thought. A global consciousness is emerging to resolve global crises of climate, pandemics, inequality, etc. as the foundation for a functioning, unified world.”

The main argument in this article is that our globalization process will increasingly become more cooperative. The rationale is simple: we must stick together because we have the daunting task of creating the conditions for sustainable survival on our planet. I am optimistic about the future, and this positive process will be significantly boosted by the rise of the Cosmos Economy and the emergence of technologies to enhance our cooperative abilities.

The Cosmos Economy.

The rise of the Cosmos Economy will have at least a threefold effect on our global civilization. First, it will contribute to defeating the limits of our biosphere. Second, it will provide a more systemic understanding of how our planet works because of researching it from space. And finally, the enormous size of the opportunity will probably continue fostering collaboration among governments and businesses across borders.

A few months ago, I enjoyed a conversation with Jack Gregg, who has served as Executive Director of the California Space Authority and is the author of a new book entitled The Cosmos Economy. The Industrialization of Space. He told me: “The economic development of space will provide new opportunities to investors, entrepreneurs, and career professionals and will affect how we think about trans-global multi-planet trade and commerce for generations. Traditional social, political, and economic interactions will be redefined as more nations and private companies engage in the development of the new space economy."

The Emergence of Technologies to Enhance Our Cooperative Abilities.

In my earlier notes entitled “Hyper Collaboration in the Age of Digital Globalization”, I referred to how virtual reality was going to provide companies with an agile and efficient way to implement global collaboration with other firms. You can read my previous article here: https://rb.gy/yxlzzn

In these new notes, I would like to share some comments about new technologies that use real-time neuroscience data to improve human collaboration.

Paul Zak is a professor of economic sciences, psychology, and management at Claremont Graduate University’s Division of Politics & Economics. He is also the author of a new book entitled “Immersion. The Science of the Extraordinary and the Source of Happiness. He told me: “I have spent more than two decades studying the neurological mechanisms that enable cooperation among humans. I am convinced that we are entering a new era, where our better understanding of our neurological mechanisms will help us develop non-invasive devices that will be widely available and foster our cooperative abilities. In line with this trend, a few years ago, I co-founded a company named Immersion (https://www.getimmersion.com/), which uses our proprietary algorithms in conjunction with people’s smartwatches to measure what the brain values in real-time.” 

Mohammad Shehata who is an Associate Professor at the Toyohashi University of Technology in Japan is also highly motivated about the technologies that will support neuroscience-informed collaboration. He told me: “Working in cooperation with researchers at the California Institute of Technology and Tohoku University, we have found evidence that team players experience a unique pattern of brainwaves when their brains are working together. These brain waves could provide very valuable information to better manage our collaborative processes soon.” 

We can expect that our globalization process will increasingly become more cooperative. We will remain together because we have the daunting task of creating the conditions for sustainable survival on our planet. As explained earlier, this positive process will be significantly boosted by the rise of the Cosmos Economy and the emergence of technologies to enhance our cooperative abilities.