Unit 9 Introduction: Our Interconnected World (1900 to the Future)

It was called the World Wide Web, and in 1989 it connected millions of people to each other. Today it connects billions. Invented in 1989, the World Wide Web (www) turned the internet from a tool of specialized research and military organization into a way for us all to interact, shop, and learn. It happened when researchers combined all the stuff we use today—hypertext markup language (HTML), hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP), and web browsers—into one package for the first time.

Today’s internet connects billions of people in a vast and almost instantaneous network. Its connectivity gives us access to a wealth of information. It’s the ultimate tool for sharing ideas, yet our online experiences can be surprisingly specific to each person. Algorithms on social media and search engines offer content intended to fit our personal preferences. They deliver news, advertisements, and posts to us that align with our individual interests. So, two people—say you and your parent or caretaker—might have vastly different experiences and perspectives, without knowing it. In this way the internet, while designed to bring us together, can also create isolated bubbles of information and experiences. Add in a little fake news and some cyberbullying, and it’s no wonder that many of us scroll through our feeds feeling alone and frightened in a big unfriendly world.

But let’s get a little perspective. The internet can be both an immensely useful tool and an alienating experience. We can feel both alone and connected at the same time. It’s not that the technology is bad, it’s that it can be put to bad use… Or good use.

An age of intense globalization

This is an important lesson to understand in our increasingly interconnected world. We are living in an age of intense globalization. The world’s communities and systems of production and distribution are increasingly tied together in an immense network. Because we are so connected to each other, pretty much every new technology has the potential to improve the lives of millions or create enormous suffering. That means it’s not necessarily our responsibility to create or oppose new technologies, but it is our responsibility to try to shape them and use them in ways that will be beneficial to humans and our world.

Technological innovations now let people around the world communicate and share ideas in real time. Societies can become more culturally diverse, and we can all grow more aware of the experiences and lives of people far away. We have incredible access to information—faster and more access than ever before. And growing trade can mean that people everywhere have access to a dizzying array of goods, often at cheap prices. But there are darker sides to globalization as well. Smaller societies and languages can be lost as a homogenous global culture takes over. Expanding trade means more exploitation of resources and more pollution. People in some areas can lose their jobs as companies become more mobile. Finally, diseases—like COVID-19—can move as rapidly along global trade routes as the consumer goods we want and need.

Perhaps most important, globalization doesn’t always spread the wealth around the world evenly. Instead, it has a way of concentrating power and money in the hands of a very few. Today, the world is in a situation of great inequality, with huge disparities in living standards between the wealthy and the poor.

Of course, globalization didn’t cause inequality. But it doesn’t seem to be solving it, either. And this is a problem because there really appears to be enough money and resources for everyone in the world to live decent lives, especially as new technologies make our systems of production and distribution more efficient and productive. Yet lots of people are still living in poverty. Can globalization be transformed to make things better?

Social transformation

It’s pretty obvious that globalization is tied to our current challenges of inequality and poverty—both as part of the problem and also potentially a big part of the solution (if we can get it right). However, globalization isn’t just about economics. It’s also about our cultural and social lives and our political rights and freedoms.

Let’s start with the politics. Many histories of the world suggest that the twentieth century was an era of increasing human and civil rights. For most of the century, it seems more and more of the world agreed that slavery should be outlawed, workers should have safe conditions, citizens should get to select their own leaders, women should be allowed to vote, and everyone should have equal protection before the law. In the wake of the horrors of the Second World War, almost every country in the world signed on to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), which spelled out a lot of these freedoms and rights for everyone, regardless of the country they lived in. This document and others proposed a new kind of globalization—the protection of human rights by international treaties and agreements.

So why are people’s rights still trampled around the world? Why do genocides still happen? Why are there wars? Why do international organizations fail to protect the cultural, social, and political freedoms of minority groups in so many countries? Sometimes, it even seems like international institutions are problems themselves, such as when trade agreements cause people to lose job protections. Due to these failures, we now sometimes see people seeking protection not from international groups or outside forces, but in their own local communities. Just as they do on the world wide web, in the physical world people find themselves torn between their identities at many levels: global, national, religious, and many local identities.

What comes next

There is another pressing area where globalization has had both negative and positive impacts, one that will probably shape the future for all of us: the environment. Globalization has increased resource consumption and pollution. The rising global demand for goods has led to the overuse of natural resources and habitat destruction. Of even more concern, globalization has increased greenhouse gas emissions from transportation and industrial activities. This activity contributes to climate change, which already threatens the health of many people, drives up the prices of groceries, and increases weather unpredictability. Still, political globalization is part of the only solution to these problems. We need international agreements like the Paris Agreement, which aims to combat climate change. We also need people and companies to share green technologies such as renewable energy sources, and we need countries to pressure each other to adopt sustainable practices worldwide.

Climate change isn’t the only challenge we face, of course, although it may be the most immediate. It does help us to see the wider pattern of globalization, however. Globalization has both positive and negative effects on all of us. It’s also a central part of our lives. We can’t simply reverse it and go back to living just within our little communities—and most of us wouldn’t want to. But that doesn’t mean we have to surrender to pollution, internet-based bullying, inequality and the many other challenges and conflicts surrounding globalization. We have the power to shape how globalization happens. What kind of future would you build for the world, if you could decide?