16 Global Ideas on Their Way to Extinction

Is all this about to disappear soon? 16 high-level ideas on their way to extinction! “Today here, tomorrow the market” Under this title "On the way to extinction: 16 ideas on their way to extinction", the esteemed American monthly magazine Foreign Policy, founded in 1970, published a prominent and thought-provoking article in a special issue commemorating its 35th anniversary. It was written by 16 writers from America, Brazil, Japan, Britain, China, Singapore, and elsewhere.

The writings addressed a range of values, ideas, and institutions prevalent in today's world, spanning from ethics and emotion to religion, finance, geography, politics, and technology. Regardless of the boldness of the ideas, the thinkers’ stance on the issues they addressed and considered to be on their way to extinction is nothing like the poets’ laments over ruins. The readings presented by these individuals are characterized by an envy-inducing realism, as their tone, when discussing what is nearing extinction, shows no sense of disappointment or sadness.

The interpretations presented by these individuals are characterized by a realism that others envy. No emotion appears in their tone regarding what they speak of as nearing extinction, unless their outlook is tinged with disappointment or sadness when its demise seems regrettable, or even joy at the unprecedented things that will come to replace what has vanished and become extinct.

Indeed, their outlook, when the demise seems regrettable to us, is one of exuberance for the unprecedented things that will replace what has vanished and become extinct. What staunch futurists they are! For what change brings to humankind appears to be the most realistic of realities, regardless of its value compared to the phenomena and customs that fell victim to it.

So, let's talk about the unprecedented... about an imminent change that will soon dominate the world. The nominees for extinction are, in order: the sanctity of life, political parties, the Euro, Japanese negativity, monogamous marriage, religious hierarchy, the Chinese Communist Party, public ownership, doctors' clinics, the King of England, war, car exhaust, cannabis, reproduction without intervention, polio, sovereignty, privacy. Alain Peter Singer: Professor at Princeton and Melbourne Universities, his latest book: Revisiting Life and Death: The Collapse of Traditional Moral Principles.

The participants are, respectively: Fernando Henrique Cardoso: President of Brazil between 1995-2003. Christopher Hitchens: Journalist and visiting professor of literature at The New School, his latest book: Thomas Jefferson: Author of America. Shintaro Ishihara: Governor of Tokyo. Jacques Attali: Founder of the non-profit organization Planet Finance and a journalist. Harvey Cox: Professor at Harvard Divinity School, and author of the book: Fire from Heaven: The Rise of Pentecostalism and the Reshaping of Religion in the 21st Century. Lawrence Lessig: Professor of Law at Stanford University.

Craig Mundie: Chief Research and Strategy Officer at Microsoft. Felipe Fernández-Armesto: Professor of History at Tufts University and fellow at Queen Mary University of London, his latest book: Ideas That Changed the World 2003. Peter Schwartz: President of Global Business Network, a subsidiary of the Monitor Group. Lee Kuan Yew: Prime Minister of Singapore 1959-1990. Julie L. Gerberding: Director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Richard N. Haass: President of the Council on Foreign Relations, and author of the book: America's Chance to Change the Course of History.

Harvey Cox: Professor at the Faculty of Theology at Harvard University, and author of the book: Fire From Heaven: The Rise of the Pentecostal Movement and the Reshaping of Religion in the 21st Century. Lawrence Lessig: Professor of Law at Stanford University.

Esther Dyson: Editor of the periodical newsletter on technology.

The individuals who wrote these contributions, formulated their ideas, and built their perceptions regarding the potential demise of specific phenomena, behaviors, and concepts—some of which are very ancient, almost as old as humanity itself—are an elite whose sophisticated intellectual capabilities and sensitive positions in Western intellectual and academic institutions cannot be ignored.

Consequently, the propositions and ideas emanating from them can be regarded as analyses and aspirations in a highly transformative era, reflecting a distinct civilizational background that largely differs from its counterparts in the East, despite the high degree of globalization and what the internet (along with various modern communication means) has integrated from East to West and West to East. These are, therefore, ideas born of concerns, anxieties, and outcomes that express European and American intellectual experiences and realities of life on the ground that possess a transformative modernity.

This transformation, no sooner does it affect something new than it decays faster than it emerged, to be replaced by another novelty, and so on in an evolutionary surge that one might imagine to be blind, yet it is undoubtedly insightful. Furthermore, these ideas are the product of a Western aspiration primarily built on Europe's established rational superiority in the fields of science and industry, leading to various manifestations of modern technology. I previously mentioned the titles and topics, and the thinkers and writers who addressed the ideas and phenomena proposed for demise.

We will discuss, over the coming weeks, one of these "ephemeral" concepts at a time, to see with interested readers if the East also believes in the transformation that the West anticipates, a transformation that might do away with some of the most deeply rooted aspects of human life—ethics, customs, phenomena, and institutions—that were once believed to last forever, but which in reality might be too fragile to withstand a gust of wind. Next week, the first idea: Monogamous Marriage.