History Repeats Itself: More Thoughts on My Final Paper

"Those who don't know their history are doomed to repeat it."

This, as well as other quotes are constantly being repeated in my head. Some stick with me and some get pushed to the back-burner until I encounter something that triggers a chain of thoughts, and suddenly those quotes take on a new meaning. I believe this holds true in this case as well.

I feel that the Internet and other digital media will take human kind to parameters that exceed even those of the printing press. The printing press did wonders for literacy but we already, for the most part, have literacy. If Deibert's argument is correct regarding creating a middle class, a new sense of the individual, nation-states, or a new world order then today's innovations will take us even further.

I propose that we are heading towards a homogenization of the masses. Borders between countries will become blurred on a regional level and then on a world level. This is different than Deibert’s notion that the printing press contributed in creating national boundaries. Communities will be viewed in a totally different and progressive way. The Internet has created a cyber community where my little brothers can play videogames with kids in every corner of the world as long as they have access to a computer and an Internet connection. This wasn’t possible fifteen years ago. I’m reminded of a Coca Cola advertising mission statement or maybe it was even a slogan. It went something like a Coca Cola at arm’s length away from every human. Who or what institution would attempt to monopolize or at least have controlling interests of the Internet and make it at arm’s length away from every human. This is powerful and it’s the corporate mentality I’m interested in here. Would anyone be able to have that control in today’s world? The human race of today is not the same as that of the 16th century. We are more knowledgeable and hopefully smarter to allow that to happen. Or are we? Have we learned from our history? Will we continue to be consumed with becoming consumers? This takes me to economics. Local economic markets will compete with a global market leading to the development of a world currency. We see evidence of this in Europe with the Euro. What does this communicate about the selling of services as opposed to tangible products? What does it communicate about marketing?

Our studies lead us to the understanding that language preserves culture. However, there is a movement towards a common language in the world as we see more and more languages become extinct (examine the development of language from 35,000 BC until today). Will future generations become fluent in a few dominant languages or will they adopt one common language? What does this mean about preserving our history? How will future generations recall the history of the world? We are definitely better at preserving history or at least the evidence of history than ever before. Will we be able to avoid war and thus destroying that evidence? If there is war, what would it be fought over and how would it be fought? Biologically perhaps, or maybe even technologically since we are becoming more and more dependent on technology. What better way to cripple an infrastructure than attack the way it is built from the ground up. Should we even become so dependent on this technology we created?

I don’t know if I even want to take on the future of religion or that of religious thought. But today, I attended the talk Scripture and Pious Rhetoric in Abbasid Politics, which was given by Vanessa DeGifis and a question was asked at the end of the talk that got a few chuckles from the audience. The person stated that the three major religions came in succession, first Judaism, then Christianity, then Islam. He went on to ask if eventually there would be a common religion among the masses that encompassed the thought of all three? I don’t even recall how she answered the question or if there is an answer for such a question, but it made me think about what I have been contemplating regarding my research topic. Are we, as a human race heading towards a common religion that encompasses the ideals of all three? What is to become of Buddhism and Hinduism since nearly 40% of the world’s population is either Chinese or Indian? There exists a sentiment that many worship the almighty dollar. Are the two related? It’s no accident that the Roman Catholic Church was and still may be the wealthiest institution in the world. Maybe future generations will become without religion or perhaps they will worship a giant computer.

I have officially gone crazy, or maybe not. I’m sorry to burden you with all this and I realize I ask more questions than I answer. The truth of the matter is that I don’t have the answers, only my own way of thinking about the answers. I am flying off on too many tangents here but I can’t help but think that they are somewhat connected. Exploring many possibilities helps me in narrowing down what I want to write about. I’m simply thinking out loud or putting thoughts on paper. I do know this, the world is changing and it is changing at a pace faster than ever before. One only needs to examine the 20th century and the advancements that occured there compared to the rest of the history of the world to have proof of this. The answers to our future lies somewhere in the past.