Is there future for humanity?

The Middle East and African states are beset with a series of continuous wars. Each nation declares itself morally right to impose a form of governing, and labels the opposition as mere reactionaries and blood-thirsty mercenaries.

The Western world is engaged in one way or another in supporting factions, and countries in its policies, thinking that preserving the “national” interests is a moral value in itself, even if it means death and destruction to the “other.” Thus, the world is plunged into a spiraling regression with no end insight, expecting more ravaging of the powerless populations.

What makes a nation great? Is it its economic growth and its high GDP and per capita income? Is it its military might, its technological innovation? Is it its institutions, freedom, democratic values, rule of law, good manners and ethics? Is it its arts and architecture, its health system and education services?

The industrial revolution from the 16th century onward transformed the world from a feudal system into the pre-modern era. With the 17th century enlightenment and the age of reason, communities limited the power of the church and monarchies.

These great steps allowed in themselves Europe to embrace its humanity, and to free itself from the feudal restrictions on the mind and on the economy. New trade routes were established, commerce flourished and great philosophers developed a framework for greater reasoning.

However, to conquer new markets, armies were sent abroad looking for riches, with the advent of a new era of colonialism and destruction. The Spanish, Dutch, Portuguese, French all competed for greater control of the world, bringing wealth from colonies and empowering themselves at the expenses of the indigenous populations, and creating one of the most despised forms of barbarian “slavery.”

History reveals that economic and military might have brought the world to slavery and destruction. Technological breakthrough helped fuel wars and devastated the environment.

Democratic institutions and the rule of law allowed some nations to develop a sense of order and safety nets to end “war of all against all” inside their limited national borders. However, these same nations continue to allow existing double standards that weigh the “others” on a different scale, and are often labeled “nations that do share the same values.”

What makes a nation great is how much it contributes to the communities at large, and how to benefit and assist the world regardless of their religion and ethnicity, and benefiting not only the human race, but existence in all its forms.

It is only by becoming aware of the interconnection between human beings, and their connection to the natural world, and that life in all its forms is sacred that we can really state we are moving to making our nation great.

It might sound idealistic, but without it, a nation can declare itself great using some form of limited index that, such as the Donald Trump slogan “Make America great again,” inciting nationalism, creating a divide between us and them, and dehumanizing the rest of the world.

The world today appears to be safer, but in reality it is resting on a volcano. Relations between the superpowers are very tense, and the powerful are dictating world policies that benefit the few, expanding the dividing line and antagonizing poor nations and powerless ethnic and religious communities.

The world population is around 7.7 billion, with objective estimates pointing to the inability of the planet to support more than 10 billion in terms of food supply.

We are faced with two scenarios that are present for the future of humanity. First, the less likely, societies and countries will come together to build nations of human beings; thus cooperation and mutual support will allow humanity to reach its greatness.

Second, the more likely, is that nationalism will become a tool to divide nations and accelerate the possibility of wars and destruction as resources become scarce, and thus we can expect the “survival of the meanest with the most destructive force.” Some intellectuals might consider cooperation as a form of socialism, and thus innovation and growth will wither away, forcing humanity to come up with new discoveries.

The Wall Street slogan “Greed is good” is a pure ideology that hides racism and turns“selfishness” into a socially acceptable commodity. So far, we have experienced wars, and the costs are high. Millions of people died and trillions of dollars were wasted on arms and destruction. Maybe, it is time to try a new philosophy.