A world gone mad

We have the technology and the resources to meet all our needs, and to lead a life of ease and comfort.

We produce enough food to provide everyone with a healthy and nutritious diet. We have medical knowhow that can help avoid or cure many diseases, and reduce pain and suffering when it cannot. We also have satellites orbiting the earth that makes communication instantaneous and virtually free. We have the means to provide education, culture and entertainment to young and old. And we have transportation that can take us across the globe in less than day or to the next city or country in a matter of hours. And, on the horizon, we have AI, which, if properly handled, could make life even easier by liberating us of many dull and boring tasks.

Good sense would require us to fall to our knees and thank fate, fortune and the collective hard work of millions of fellow humans who helped develop the knowledge, and the technology, to get us where we are today.

Instead, we seem to be hell-bent on destroying each other. Conflicts rage around the globe and there is terrifying talk of a third world war and the use of nuclear weapons. Social and public media carry images of rockets, drone and missiles, and of flames and smoke from explosions. Images of buildings reduced to rubble, homeless people carrying meagre belonging and desperately seeking a safe shelter. Images of hospitals destroyed or left without electricity and medicines. And, images of dead bodies – lots of dead bodies – showing parents grieving over tiny shrouds containing the corpses of their children.

And, the madness is not just restricted to the increasing incidence of war and conflict.

Through the patient and hard work of scientists, we realised the importance of living responsibly and sustainably on our planet, making drastic cuts in the use of fossil fuels, and moving as fast as feasible to using energy from the sun, wind and water. We also made global compacts and agreements to deal with climate change and on mitigating its impact on poor and vulnerable countries. However, over the last few years, these agreements are gradually being torn up, along with agreements related to the use of common property such as the outer space, the oceans and the seabed.

So what has gone wrong? What happened to all the rules that were supposed to regulate relations between nations and facilitate peaceful resolution of conflicts? What happened to the commitments to avoid targeting civilians during wars? What happened to the rights of the child to grow up in a safe and stimulation environment? What happened to the international rules-based system we designed to manage international trade in goods and services? And, what happened to the collective commitment to preserve our environment and our planet?

Is everything the fault of our current leaders? Leaders who constantly spew out a divisive rhetoric that foments anger and hatred – anger and hatred towards other countries but also for people within their own borders because they have a different skin colour or worship a different god. Leaders who send thousands of soldiers off to be killed and to destroy infrastructure, factories and homes. Leaders who then thump their chest and talk about winning and losing a war as if it were a computer game.

Blaming leaders may be acceptable in countries that are monarchies or have strong autocratic regimes that allow a handful of people to make decisions that cater to their overblown egos. However, let us not forget that much of the new world order is being shaped by the developed countries and that these countries are democracies. Those in charge have been put in place by popular choice.

Will anything change in the coming months and years? Will we pull back from the edge of the precipice? Or will we come to our senses only after we have killed over 50 million people and dropped two atomic bombs as happened during the Second World War?

Until some years back, the feeling among those of my generation – I am over 70 – was one of satisfaction and maybe even some pride. After all, we did achieve unprecedented levels of wellbeing, a massive reduction in poverty and a sharp decline in inequality between rich and poor. However, the current situation, with these achievements under threat, is creating a feeling of confusion, disorientation, powerlessness and resignation.

Talking to younger people the word that I hear most often is "anger". Anger at the death and destruction that we see; anger at how prospects for a better world are being destroyed; and anger at how all this will affect their future. The other word that I hear from young people is "frustration". Young people around the world have taken to the streets and will continue to do so. Unfortunately, they have often been beaten back or ignored.

Their reaction is a decreasing focus on the real world in favour of virtual reality. Recently a young person used the term "damaged dopamine" to characterise a situation where personal wellbeing does not come from real interactions and relationships, but from spending hours watching trivia on TikTok or Instagram, or posting glossy images of themselves and then counting the numbers of "likes" they get. This disengagement from the bigger issues carries the same risk as for older people – resignation and inaction.

This reaction of both younger and older people is wrong. We need much more engagement and a willingness to drive change. This change must be led by young people who have the energy to change things. However, it will also require the wisdom and experience of older people.

Let us hope that people across the world, or people of different age groups and social classes, will come together to develop an agenda for a better world.