|
We live in the midst of one of the greatest technological revolutions in
history, an era of deep-seated transformation-a macroshift in civilization, says preeminent scholar and futurist Ervin Laszlo. Its signs and manifestations are all around us, from the deadly HIV/AIDS epidemic sweeping Africa and the dangerous fire-trap sweatshops routinely killing workers in Bangladesh, to the environmental havoc created by genetic engineering, power plant pollution and mechanized agriculture. The application of new technologies has turned into a double-edged sword.
The world is growing together in some respects, but is coming apart in
others. Worldwide economic globalization, another sign of the macroshift, all too often benefits the few rather than the many. Hundreds of millions live at a higher material standard of living, but thousands of millions are pressed into abject poverty. The richest 20% earn ninety times the income of the poorest 20%, consume eleven times as much energy, and eat eleven times as much meat.
Today's macroshift, explains Laszlo, harbors great promise, as well as grave
danger. He outlines two possible scenarios: "The Breakdown," where we choose to drift without a change in our current direction toward chaos, anarchy,
and destruction, or "The Breakthrough," where we collectively transform our thinking and behavior to produce creative, sustainable solutions to dangerous global problems. And he shows what each of us can do - politically, professionally, and privately-to bring about the breakthrough and shape a humane and sustainable global future.
While technology is what drives the unprecedented speed of this macroshift,
it is our vision, values, and actions now that will ultimately determine the
outcome. The choice is up to us-the power is in our hands.
The Author
Ervin Laszlo is the author or editor of sixty-nine books translated into as
many as seventeen languages, and has over four hundred articles and research
papers and six volumes of piano recordings to his credit. He serves as
editor of the monthly World Future: The Journal of General Evolution and of its
associate General Evolution Studies book series.
Laszlo is generally recognized as the founder of systems philosophy and
general evolution theory, serving as founder-director of the General
Evolution Research Group and as past president of the International Society
for the Systems Sciences. He is the recipient of the highest degree in
philosophy and human sciences of the Sorbonne, the University of Paris, as
well as of the Artist Diploma of the Frantz Liszt Academy of Budapest. His
numerous prizes and awards include four honorary doctorates.
Ervin Laszlo's unusual career spans music, philosophy, science, futures
studies, and world affairs. Born in Budapest, Hungary in 1932, his talent
for music was discovered at the age of five. At seven he was admitted to the Franz Liszt Academy. His debut with the Budapest Philharmonic at the age of nine established him as one of the great child prodigies of the time.
Following a hiatus of barely a year due to the siege of Budapest at the end
of World War II, Laszlo embarked on an international music career,
highlighted by the Grand Prize of the International Music Competition of
Geneva in 1947, and a New York recital debut a few months later. Just
fifteen, he was hailed by New York critics as an artist who has few peers
among pianists of any age. With major write-ups in LIFE, Time, Newsweek, and
other national and international media, he settled in New York and traveled
from there to tour the five continents.
Since the middle of the 1990s Laszlo has been dividing his time and energies
between fundamental research in the new sciences-resulting in a series of
books-and building up the worldwide organization and activities of the Club
of Budapest. In addition to designing and overseeing the global projects of
the Club of Budapest, including the annual awarding of the Planetary
Consciousness Prizes and the celebration of the World Day of Planetary Consciousness (on March 20th) and the World Day of Planetary Ethics (on September 22), Laszlo is currently completing two major science books,
Wholeness in Cosmos and Consciousness and the more popularly oriented Holos:
The Fabulous World of the New Science. He lives in Pisa Italy.
About the Club of Budapest
The Club of Budapest, founded in 1993 by Ervin Laszlo, is an informal
association of ethical globally as well as locally active opinion leaders in
various fields of art, science, religion, and culture, dedicated to our
common future. Its members include the Dalai Lama, Vaclav Havel, Mikhail
Gorbachev, Desmond Tutu, Elie Wiesel, Peter Ustinov, Peter Gabriel, Oscar
Arias, Jane Goodall and young and creative people in many parts of the
world. They place their names and energy into the service of what they consider the crucial mission of our time: catalyzing the emergence of adapted vision and values in society by evolving our individual and collective consciousness.
Honorary Members
H.E. Dsingis Aitmatov, writer
H.E. Oscar Arias, Statesman, Nobel Peace Laureate
Dr. A.T. Ariyaratne, Buddhist spiritual leader
Maurice Béjart, dancer/choreographer
Prof. Thomas Berry, theologian, scientist
Sir Arthur C. Clarke, writer
H.H. The XIVth Dalai Lama, statesman/spiritual leader
Dr. Riane Eisler, feminist historian/activist
Milos Forman, film director
Peter Gabriel, musician
Dr. Jane Goodall, scientist
Rivka Golani, musician
H.E. Mikhail Gorbachev, political leader
H.E. Arpád Goncz, writer/statesman
Professor Otto Herbert Hajek, Sulptor
E. Václav Havel, writer/statesman
Pir Vilayat Inayat-Khan, Sufi spiritual leader
Miklós Jancso, film director
Ken-Ichiro Kobayashi, orchestra director
Gidon Kremer, musician
Prof. Shu-Hsien Liu, philosopher
Eva Marton, opera singer
Zubin Mehta, orchestra director
Lord Yehudi Menuhin, musician (deceased)
Dr. Edgar Mitchell, scientist/astronaut
Prof. Edgar Morin, philosopher/sociologist
Dr. Robert Muler, educator/activist
Prof. Nicholas Negroponte, scientist, digital media leader
Ute-Henriete Ohoven, UNESCO ambsassador
Prof. Gillo Pontecorvo, film director
H.E. Ruiyyih Rabbani, Baha'I spiritual leader (deceased)
Jean-Pierre Rampal, musician (deceased)
Mary Robinson, political and humanrights leader
|
First time to eBooks.com?
