The Third Millennium Way in Seven Steps (English Edition) [Kindle-editie] beoordelingen het boek quotes

Many people believe that science has proved that God does not exist. But I believe that science has provided the best evidence yet that the Universe and its laws were created by intelligent design. That the universal language of mathematics enables scientists to codify the laws of Nature is a miracle. Furthermore, recent research has indicated that believing in God is good for one’s health, longevity, peace of mind and community wellbeing. So it pays to believe in God. It is a fact that best practices promote individual and community wellbeing, whereas practices based on selfishness, greed and intolerance often cause wars, famine, disease and criminality. It was the selfishness, greed, hubris and unethical behaviour of so-called financial experts, coupled with ineffective regulation that led to the 2008 credit crunch! Low interest rates and mountains of debt fuelled rampant consumerism and sub-prime mortgages. Venture capitalists bought and saddled successful companies with huge debts that could not be serviced. Despite having almost brought the world economy to its knees, bankers and CEOs continue to award themselves obscene million pound plus bonuses. As the rich get richer, unemployment escalates and the gap between rich and poor widens, social unrest is likely to spread to all parts of the world. To avoid this nightmare scenario, governments will have to find ways and means of fairly distributing the wealth created by new technologies between those lucky to be in work and those unfortunate to be out of work. Job sharing, part-time work in the community and a reduction in working hours will need to be explored. There is also a moral obligation to support and care for the unemployed, the poor, and the disabled. Caring, sharing, tolerance and compassion are the foundation stones of a civilised society. In the last twenty years we have become a technology based society. In so doing we have lost most of the basic survival skills that we once possessed and now rely on communication satellites, smartphones, smart computers, and the internet to run and organise our lives. This I’m afraid is the world’s Achilles heel. In the next 50 years, the world faces four major threats: First, producing sufficient energy, food and drinking water to cope with a rapidly expanding population; second, creating sufficient jobs to prevent social unrest; third, dealing with religious fundamentalists, and fourth, dealing with 1, 2 and 3 without going to war. The Third Millennium Way addresses these and other issues and concludes with the Seven Steps to Personal and Community Wellbeing.