Breakthrough and the Great Pattern

Today's crisis comes into better focus if we recognize that it is remarkably like four which occurred in the past. A solution then seems to emerge.

It all began some two million years ago when our ancestors in Africa were driven from the forest by global warming. These small creatures, only four feet tall, were vulnerable and it seems likely they developed 'shout communication' to warn one another and to alert others when new sources of food were found.

The next great advance was made when Cro-Magnons developed true speech. The previously dominant Neanderthals had vocal chords but there is no evidence they used them for speech.Writing then became the driving force leading to the evolution of towns, cities, and empires such as those of Egypt and Persia.

The next great advance occurred when Greeks and Jews developed alphabets creating a new way of thinking. The printing press then spread this way of thinking across Europe leading to the evolution of today's western nations and to democracy, mass education, and all the essentials of western society.

Now, in the Electronic Age, we make the greatest, fastest, and most dangerous advance of all. In particular, we see the essential features of 'printing press' society thrown into crisis. \

Nations and democracy are in transition. Meanwhile, new forms seem to be evolving in China and elsewhere in Asia, India, and perhaps Islam. A new age, and new thinking, are clearly evolving in the electronic age which is transforming the world but English-speaking peoples retain nations, politics, and thinking essentially unchanged in 300 years.

Will English-Speakers Survive? The danger faced by English-speaking nations comes into sharper focus when you realize that no leading nation made the transition from one communications system to the next. Can English-speaking nations be the first? Can Americans change the very essence of the governmental system they have been taught to believe is almost sacred?

Canadians are in a better position as we make changes to accommodate French-speaking Quebec and grant greater powers to provinces and native peoples.The economy has declined, however, and the education system in many respects is static. And of course, looming above it all is the grim realization that, if the US goes down, Canada's fate is dark.