The 2021 Bundestag elections are taking place today. At first glance, this seems to be an ordinary event, since elections of this kind are part of a democratic system. Unlike many decisions before it, this one is much more than an ordinary ballot, if there can be such a thing at all. Rather, it is an election of fate, because many indicators suggest that the world has already crossed the threshold of a changing era and that any decision could have long-term, perhaps irreversible consequences.
Therefore, on Sept. 26, 2021, it is not about which parties will get how many seats, who will be prevented or who will achieve unprecedented greatness. It is about the fate of all, even if such things have often not yet penetrated the consciousness. There is always calm before the storm. It is deceptive and always only those who have no idea of what is coming think they are safe.
However, the world is clearly on the verge of entering a new age. That of collective individualism. Hard to deny, and people also have a sense of it. Often it is a feeling that is interpreted from many individual signs. It cannot be articulated. Perhaps it cannot be grasped rationally at first, and yet it has its reasons and cause in precisely that instinct that is peculiar to people and that flashes out again and again where the large and small shortcomings and inconsistencies of everyday life accumulate. Change is in the air, and this refers not only to disintegrating social structures and the unmistakable milieu struggles, which are often mistakenly misinterpreted as mere divisions and thus must, of course, remain unresolved.
And yet the reader is asked to leave the level of his own life reality as well as its specific view and to dare a global view, because, even if some future-oriented question may already, be discussed, others will not yet:
- Dealing with technological progress
Upcoming technologies will confront citizens with completely new challenges, and the questions about how to deal with them must be asked not when one variant has become firmly established, but while they are still malleable. These include the rise of behavioral capitalism as the dominant type of capitalism, the transformation of Homo sapiens into Homo stimulus, or unresolved questions about new technologies such as biotechnology, surveillance, possibly in the sense of a social credit system, or artificial intelligence.
- The rise of new competitors in world markets
Both China and, what may come as a surprise to some, India could not only overtake the European Union economically in the coming decades, as has already happened in the case of the Middle Kingdom, but, together with other rising states, usher in an Asian century in which the dominance of the West will finally come to an end. Economic indicators may be abstract, but in concrete terms this will probably manifest itself in massive losses of prosperity, which must be counteracted at all costs.
- The weakness of the Western world
The Western world looks more unstable, as manifested, for example, in dwindling confidence in existing orders. At the same time, a loss of competitiveness and a waning of international influence are unmistakable. Crises such as the world financial crisis, sovereign debt and Corona also seem to affect the West far more than Asian countries. Is the Western star sinking? It cannot be ruled out. Will the old way of cooperation end? To be assumed. One way to counteract this would be to introduce value capitalism.
- The change in environmental conditions
Climate change was and is already on everyone’s lips, and yet it is only one item on a long list that has to be supplemented by scarcity of raw materials, exploitation of resources, environmental destruction or the occurrence of pandemics, catastrophes and much more. Nature remains a major factor influencing the rise and fall of nations and regions.
- Lack of perspectives among a part of humanity
Even if topics such as overpopulation or the lack of basic and security needs play only a minor role in media attention at the moment, the urgency of the problems themselves has not changed. The world population is growing. Migration and flight continue to be issues. Urbanization is a trend and social disintegration a global phenomenon.
A world of change needs design, not management
We are facing a change of times, and this change has long since triggered a new era: that of collective individualism. Some of the major challenges are now obvious, others will come to the fore in the coming years. The future requires a multitude of measures in order to be able to guarantee long-term sustainability. Demand them!
The Erich von Werner Society, as an independent institution for contemporary issues, therefore expressly recommends that you take these points into account and place your trust only in those whom you trust to have a corresponding will to shape the future.
Analysen-Magazin 