Overview

A fierce attack on globalism – and a manifesto for change – by one of the world’s leading scientific writers. Recent scientific discoveries indicate that all life – from the most primitive cells, up to human societies, corporations and nation-states, even the global economy – is organised along the same basic patterns and principles: those of the network. However, the new global economy differs in important aspects from the networks of life: whereas everything in a living network has a function, globalism ignores all that cannot give it an immediate profit, creating great armies of the excluded. The global financial network also relies on advanced information technologies – it is shaped by machines, and the resulting economic, social and cultural environment is not life-enhancing but life-degrading, in both a social and an ecological sense. Capra demonstrates conclusively how tightly humans are connected with the fabric of life and makes it clear that it is imperative to organise the world according to a different set of values and beliefs, not only for the well-being of human organisations, but for the survival and sustainability of humanity as a whole.

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9780006551584

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Reviews

Probably one of the most original thinkers of recent years, Fritjof Capra shot to popular fame with The Tao of Physics in 1975, an attempt to combine the worlds of hard science - he has a PhD in theoretical physics - with philosophy and spirituality. His latest book is more ambitious yet, taking in new discoveries in genetic science and biotechnology and incorporating them into his individualistic world view of how mankind subsists on this planet - or, more accurately, how we could and should subsist. Capra's main appeal is that he can popularise science in the same way as Stephen Hawking or John Gribbin, presenting complicated concepts in digestible chunks of plain English. Yet he goes a step further still, weaving a web between all the natural sciences, from physics to psychology, until the reader is almost dizzy with the possibilities he presents. His aim is no less than a systemic understanding of life and its meaning, bridging the gap between the physical and the non-physical by applying the same understanding of form, matter, process and meaning to everything we encounter, whether it is the creation of a single-cell organism or the structure of global capitalism. It is a concept of breathtaking audacity, the idea that the meaning of life itself can be summarised in a paperback of less than 300 pages, yet somehow Capra seems to make it all make sense. Whether he is discussing the nature of conscious experience, the aims of campaigners against GM food, or the transition to the hydrogen economy, he is never less than simple and instructive. He makes no bones about stating, in his epilogue: 'The great challenge of the twenty-first century will be to change the value system underlying the global economy, so as to make it compatible with the demands of human dignity and ecological sustainability'; and, although such a grand aim will no doubt attract scepticism, it is certainly worth reading this genre-defying book to find out more about the possibilities Capra sees for humanity. (Kirkus UK)

Author Information

Fritjof Capra received his PhD from the University of Vienna and has conducted research in high-energy physics at several European and American universities. In addition to publishing many technical research papers, Dr Capra has written and lectured extensively about the philosophical implications of modern science. Dr Capra is the author of five international bestsellers, The Tao of Physics (1975), The Turning Point (1982), Uncommon Wisdom (1988), The Web of Life (1996), and The Hidden Connections (2002). He co-authored Green Politics (1984), Belonging to the Universe (1991), and EcoManagement (1993), and co-edited Steering Business Toward Sustainability (1995). His most recent book, The Science of Leonardo, will be published in October, 2007.

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