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trump revolution in the reshaping of the global architecture. The
appearance of pressing transnational problems should drive a convergence
of interests toward cooperation in finding common solutions. And the
presence of large, well-educated middle classes in countries around the
globe will help keep governments on the right track.
There is every reason to be confident that the condition of the world will
continue to improve as pragmatism and the use of reason become universal.
Western universities have been a crucial driver of this trend. It is not just
that their curricula have been copied around the world; the entire ecosystem
of a modern research university is being replicated, and it is the graduates of
these Western-style universities who have in turn introduced modern
methods into education, public health, economic management, and public
policy more generally. Global management consulting firms have also
contributed to progress, spreading best practices and good ideas from the
West to "the rest," and increasingly from the rest back to the West. As a
result, even formerly desperate and dysfunctional countries, such as
Bangladesh and Ethiopia, are now confidently entering the modern
universe.
In short, despite the daily headlines that scream doom and gloom, the world
is actually coming together, not falling apart. So far, the fusion of
civilizations has been driven primarily by the injection of Western DNA into
other civilizations. Over time, the flow of culture and ideas is likely to go in
both directions. This has already happened in cuisine, where global
influences have thoroughly penetrated Western kitchens, and something
similar should happen across cultural sectors.
There will be challenges. There could even be major setbacks. The fusion of
civilizations and the social and economic changes associated with it can
seem threatening to some, creating opportunities for demagogues to exploit
popular fears, even in the heart of the advanced industrial world. But
increasingly open and enlightened societies are likely to avoid this danger.
In the twenty-first century, the world will be governed more by the authority
of ideas than by the idea of authority. In short, the progressive direction of
human history, which has lifted the human condition to heights never seen
before, is set to continue.
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