Jihad Versus McWorld

This is an issue that should exercise the minds of all intelligent people. Are we becoming more globalised or more fragmented? Here’s the way (more or less) I started the last editorial I wrote for the Hare Krishna World: Moviegoers around the world thrilled to high-flying sci-fi suspense in Stanley Kubrick’s film “2001 – A Space Odyssey.” In the middle of a daring mission, the ship’s onboard computer tries to murder the crew. That was in 1968. Well, 2001 is all but over, and although computers aren’t consciously trying to kill us, many think that they are hurtling us headlong into the outer darkness of dystopia. Those who own them make up only six per cent of earth’s population, and less than four out of a hundred have Internet access. So much for the globalisation. Jayapataka Swami spoke of a “united nations of the spiritual world.” More on this later.