A New Era, And New Life
A New Era, And New Life
At the turn of the century, unbeknown to us, we entered the 3rd Era in the history of humanity. The scope and scale of this Era are far beyond the hunter-gatherers and Agricultural Era. The ideas, knowledge, skills, and tools evolved from science and technology set off the industrial revolution in the 17th century that laid the foundation for this Era. As industrialization fulfilled its promise, the advent of calculators, computers, and cellphones in the late 20th century have yielded a digital world. Finally, the introduction of the Internet at the turn of the century heralded a new socioeconomic life, the 3rd Era. The Internet, digitalization, instantaneous worldwide communications via media, press, and social media are in the hands of world citizens. What we see, experience, endure, and enjoy today is that new world. This 3rd socioeconomic Era has just begun, with hundreds of years to go, so buckle up and get ready for the ride
The industrial revolution changed \social relationships in society; the countryside farm labor in England was trained and enlisted to work in the factories in urban centers. The offshoots of unbridled capitalism rose to become imperialism, monopolism, and brutal exploitation of the working class and fell in the ensuing decades. The German Philosopher Karl Marx released a communist manifesto in 1848, asking the world's working class to usurp the political power under the proletariat dictatorship. This document fired up the works and peasants and intellectuals to launch successful socialist revolutions in Russia, China, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Cuba. Many non-aligned countries in the world have taken a middle path for a mixed economy—a blend of capitalist and socialist economic systems.