As world population grows, resources are strained and the activities of each human are more likely to impinge upon the happiness and sense of well-being of others. For example, one who consumes in excess of reasonable needs leaves a smaller store of resources for use by others; one who drives an SUV consumes more gasoline than necessary, raises the costs to others, pollutes with greenhouse gases, and increases the danger of injury to others without similar vehicles. To relieve the conflict arising from such abusive personal conduct, the moral and ethical values of humans must be reconsidered and revised, primarily to the following effect: Each person should refrain from all conduct objectionable to others.

So argues this author, who provides a handy list of revised moral values that he regards as mandatory if the future (as he sees it) is to be bright.

Though well-meaning, the book might as aptly have been entitled The Death of Personal Freedom and Individualism. Majoritarianism is often not very pretty in enforcing compliance with perceived "norms" by individuals. Friendly persuasion to change moral values from those commonly described as the Judeo-Christian ethic is suitable until a working plurality is attained so as to enact laws imposing the same values on all others. Then government enforcement will be entirely acceptable as a means to achieve full compliance.

For a contrasting worldview, one that examines the importance of individuality in achieving success in the long term quest of humanity for survival as a dominant species, consider "A General Theory of Acquisitivity - On Human Nature, Productivity and Survival" by Wayne Jett. That book considers the human desire to acquire "more" as a natural mechanism designed to allocate resources to the person most willing and able to use them efficiently. That natural mechanism has proven to be astoundingly powerful in producing economic growth and improved human condition when governments allow sufficient leeway for the mechanism to function. The central debate in public policy ought to be whether government is doing great harm to the long term prospects of humanity by impeding acquisitivity, the engine that feeds productivity and innovation.

"You can change the world. This book tells you how." These words on the back cover caught my interest. That's a pretty tall promise, I thought. If anything, recent events have left me feeling like the whole world is out of control and will not be set right in my lifetime.

Author Ervin Laszlo takes a look at major historic changes (like the Industrial Revolution) and comes to the conclusion that we are in middle of the next, brought on as industrial nation-states run smack into the challenges of globalization.

In an eerie foreshadowing of current events he warns that the world is more diverse than we think, and that much of it feels left behind as the western nations consume the earth's goods at breakneck speed. "Militant fundamentalism is an extreme expression of the resentment generated by these conditions," Laszlo says. And we have seen the results all to clearly.

With change inevitable, he predicts that keepers of tradition will become more resistant, bringing on the kind of Doomsday Scenarios favored by Science Fiction writers and survivalist cults: instability, uncertainty, discontent, conflict and violence. Meanwhile, the environment will continue to be ravaged by the haves and have-nots alike.

But Laszlo doesn't think the end of the world as we know it is inevitable. He really believes, and makes a good case for, the power of the individual. He uses reliable surveys to show that approximately 25% of the population in the United States and Western Europe espouse a holistic approach to life that really can turn the world around. The problem, he says, is they don't knew their own strength.

Laszlo speaks (and the book often presents itself as if it were a classroom lecture) in the moralistic tone of turn-of-the twentieth century reformers. It's refreshing to hear someone from the western world speak up against the excesses of a market-driven economy and recommend that we help our neighbors, take up a physical activity or hobby, or read a book. His motto is "think globally and act morally." Along the way he takes to task meat eaters, smokers, big business, fundamentalists, and organized labor while questioning patriotism, efficiency at any cost, and conspicuous consumption.

When this book was published, there was an unbelieveable paucity of creative thinking about the global arms race and arms control. A preoccupation on the weapons themseleves resulted in what we finally got: treaties between states that ignored the underlying human and societal and pscyhological problems. This was the first book to make a stab at addressing those issues...and it did a good job. The principles outlined are still applicable, despite the end of the Cold War, the demise of the USSR, and numerous other events that flowed from these two.