TED talks - The Global Power Shift

I know, I know, people always post links to these TED talks and most are discussions about profound technological advances and how they will impact our lives.  This discussion is quite different, the speaker,  Mr. Ashton goes into great detail about how we are entering a new global era.  He proposes that we entering a global era where we need to bring "global governance" to this new "global space" we have created with the advent of the internet.  He also discusses how we are seeing a power shift away from the traditional western powers centered around the Atlantic and that power is moving East along the Pacific Rim.  This reminded me of countless times throughout our history discussions where power was not centered in one place or among one group but spread out among many nations across the world.  We have read about great ancient civilizations existing in China, Meso America, Egypt, and Mesopotamia.  Many of theses existed at similar times or overlapped in a way where absolute power centered in one region was rare.  Europe pre World War II is also a good example of power being somewhat balanced between Europe, Russia, and the United States.  This brings us to Mr. Ashton's most daring hypothesis that the United States is coming out of a completely rare moment in history where, "all compass needles point to Washington."  Meaning the American century is coming to an end, not a destructive end but an end regarding its supreme control over global power.  I would have to agree with Mr. Ashton, we cannot continue policing the world and need to resort to diplomacy and communication to maintain our global position.  The video also discusses some other topics along the lines of how power continues to shift Eastward but I'll let you watch for yourself. 

Uploaded on Jan 5, 2012

http://www.ted.com Paddy Ashdown claims that we are living in a moment in history where power is changing in ways it never has before. In a spellbinding talk at TEDxBrussels he outlines the three major global shifts that he sees coming.

Paddy Ashdown: The global power shift