The Future of the Global Village in 2020
Group Members:
Introduction of "Global Village"
In the introduction to McLuhan's Understanding Media he writes: Today, after more than a century of electric technology, we have extended our central nervous system in a global embrace, abolishing both space and time as far as our planet is concerned.
The basic precepts of his view are that the rapidity of communication through electric media echoes the speed of the senses. Through media such as the telephone, television and more recently the personal computer and the 'Internet', we are increasingly linked together across the globe.
He concludes we are forced to become aware of responsibilty on a global level rather than concerning ourselves solely with our own smaller communities. He writes: As electrically contracted, the globe is no more than a village. Electric speed at bringing all social and political functions together in a sudden implosion has heightened human awareness of responsibilty to an intense degree.
Issues of the changing world
List of Uncertainties
- Will United Nation still exist in 2020?
- Will the number of country still the same as it is now in 2020?
- Do people still need visa to enter any country in 2020?
- Will there still be trade barriers to trade among countries?
- Are we going to have a single currency in 2020?
- Will all people all over the world be able to speak English in 2020?
- Are we going to have TV channels as many TV station in the world and all are in English?
- Will it possible to study at UCLA in the morning, have lunch in Italy, and go back home to Singapore in the afternoon as daily activities in 2020?
- Can we communicate easily and cheaply to all people in the world, anytime and anywhere in 2020?
- Will the international trade still grow?
- Will the international investment be more globalized?
- Will the production more massive?
- Will the regional economy more important?
- Will the international financial organizations play a more important role?
- Will the international financial market be more important?
- Will the nature resources matter?
- Are national governments willing to develop together?
- Will the internet be developed bigger and better?