World economies will increasingly be based on information, reorganizing the nature of work and increasing the gap between rich and poor; the globalization of world trade, economic activity, and communication will be met by a simultaneous rise in tribalism, and Mazarr predicts the conflict between the two will be "one of the major hallmarks of the coming decade." He also projects that a transformation of authority may result in a collapse of public confidence in all social authorities, and suggests that all of these trends will result in a worldwide feeling that things have never been so good, yet also leave people decidedly negative and pessimistic about the future. The first decade of the 21st century, Mazarr writes, will see "the most profound transition in human history," a period of both opportunity and risk. "Fate has provided us with the raw material of a new renaissance in human society, but it is up to us to make that renaissance a reality." http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0312218990/o/qid%3D971378884/sr%3D2-2...