The History of the World:
an
exploratory essay
Francis Fukuyama, in The End of History and the
Last Man, demonstrates, with a convincing overview of global trends
and historical philosophy, that human society is funneling into a single
strategy, the mode of liberal democracy. This outcome is explained by
the convergence of two historical forces, the drive for satisfying desires
and the drive for recognition. The first finds success in capitalist
economics, the second in the guarantee of freedoms. By Fukuyama's own
analysis the result is not necessarily utopian; nor is stability guaranteed.
The drive for recognition (or thymos) is the volatile element;
the problem being whether the comfortable conventions of liberal democracy
allow sufficient challenge for the prideful human spirit.
"It seems that what differentiates good from bad reporting is
how frank and honest the reporter is about their own personal opinions,
prejudices, and outlooks. The more open and direct the reporter, the
better the reader can discount inevitable distortions and get a picture
of what might really have been there. The more the reporter attempts
to be "objective" by hiding their viewpoints, the less valuable
their information."
--Steve Solomon, ex-history teacher and author of Organic Gardener's
Composting (Portland, Oregon: Van Patten, 1993), pp. 57-58.
Thus:
A personal note, by way of introduction…
Of the generation of the Bomb, I've been forced from an early age to
come to terms with a questionable human future. I've huddled dutifully
under my desk in elementary school air-raid drills, and awakened fearful
to the cracking thunder of low-flying jets; survived with dim understanding
the Cuban missile crisis, and with grim foreboding the invasion of Cambodia.
By the eighties, first-strike strategic plans and weapons systems had
brought disarmament to center stage in my personal life's priorities--along
with the project of building a sustainable life in a sheltered corner
of the world. Housebuilding and peace education competed for space in
my life while I started a new family.
Now having established a comfortable home base in rural British Columbia,
I've had to act locally--through blockades and other nonviolent
group efforts--to protect my watershed from
pesticides and logging. I've learned there is much untapped power in
a concerned citizenry. Seeing how desires can manifest in the world,
I've felt a renewed need to ground my politics in a more deeply considered
vision of the future. What am I aiming for? Does what I want for my
life make sense on a global scale?"
In some ways my whole pattern of life choices reflects these questions
and the provisional answers I've found for them. Perhaps it's a symptom
of middle-age to ask them again more consciously. In this recent exploration
I've relied primarily on reading a small number of seminal books, punctuated
by personal experiences and connections with other concerned individuals
and groups. I'm no longer a scholar in a formal sense (though I have
a Master's degree in literature). Yet I believe there must be room for
the intelligent layperson to grasp some of the problems facing humanity
as a whole, to evaluate some of the more well-researched and well-considered
options, and to share this analysis with others in a useful form. I
am that person and this is my attempt at sharing what I have found.
In the nature of evolution, any conclusion reached here is tentative.
More research and analysis, a surprise turn in historic events, an exciting
new book, will appear tomorrow to change
the shape of a desirable outcome. Yet at each point I can only strive
to make the best of the knowledge available--providing a foundation
for further growth. A related drawback to my conclusions might be that
they are "idealistic"--an epithet familiar to me when I was
twenty and had accomplished nothing. Twenty-five years later, I can
claim experience in hunting and growing my food; in building my shelter;
in participating in a healthy relationship and community; in educating
myself, my child, students and political activists on a wide range of
topics through a wide variety of means. I have experienced something
of what it takes to manifest desire in the world. So am I qualified
to speak of such matters as human survival? Any one alive is.
I see my present situation as emblematic of human history. I get my
meat from wild bear and deer and fish, and from
domestic fowl and pigs I've helped to raise. My partner grows our produce
in the garden, and we harvest fruit from our orchard. That takes care
of the historic human food strategies--throwing in the rifle and rototiller
as industrial aids.
I also rely, of course, on the money system for other needs. I've worked
primarily as a teacher and treeplanter--in both cases a cog in the world
industrial network. As I write, the computer bespeaks of the post-industrial,
or cybernetic mode of human activity. It's all here! But where's it
going?
--Nowick Gray
Full text version of "The History of the World"
available to download:
History.zip
(29 KB), compressed Word.6.0 file.
This longer document, an exploratory essay, is (and perhaps by nature
must be) unfinished. It began as a review of Francis Fukuyama's The
End of History and the Last Man (New York: The Free Press, 1992),
expanded to include evaluation of a number of related works (notably
Marshall Savage's The Millennial Project), and evolved into a longer odyssey.
I invite feedback as to where it might--where we might--go from here.
© Nowick Gray
