Decision Makers 2010   Executive Summary Conclusions Papers Program Participants Book List

				Karen J. West Caution We've painted a rosy picture of the world, technology and the Internet. I'd like to add a word of caution. In international debates elsewhere, we see limits to growth, questions with respect to development issues, cultural conflicts being fueled, and inequity. We are missing a developing nation perspective in that regard. We are heading forward without having the sense to learn from our past. Perhaps, we need to sit back and examine the ethics and control the debate, just as we are trying to grapple with the very real issues of limits to growth with respect to environmental impacts. I do not want to divorce the discussion of the role of technology from the need for balance and the need to consider the cultural impacts of development. We need to question whether development in this regard is good, or if we can go about it in a more intelligent fashion that we have in the past. Need for more environmental thinking There are two other things that I would like to mention. I do not think that the environment as a force for change, growth, or the future has been considered enough. I was very happy to hear our colleague from Thailand mention the environment as a contributing factor that we should consider. Role of business As for the role of business, we talk about the collapse of the nation-state, and the decreasing influence and representation of states for countries such as South Africa or Yugoslavia, where the state government does not necessarily represent all of the views of its people. NGOs and other non-governmental actors, such as the business community, are gaining influence. Through the World Council's Business Council on Sustainable Development, I notice that the business community has an increased sense of its role and social responsibility. As part of the business community, I hope it does see the need for a stronger leadership role. Because some multinational corporations have budgets larger than many small countries, we cannot underestimate their influence in the future.
	Project Background | Events | Reports and Essays Zukunftszeugen | Contact Us | Home Page Last Modified: 2002-04-23 TOP