Cap­i­tal­ism is at the root of many of the most press­ing issues of the day. Our cli­mate cri­sis and wide­spread injus­tice com­pel us to make sig­nif­i­cant change.

We find our­selves enter­ing a fourth indus­tri­al rev­o­lu­tion. We also find our­selves in the midst of per­pet­u­al soci­etal con­flict. We are moved to explore the rela­tion­ship between these inter­con­nect­ed phenomena.

The last two decades have served as a sweep­ing refu­ta­tion of polit­i­cal the­o­rist Fran­cis Fukuyama’s procla­ma­tion of the “end of his­to­ry”, the con­cept that all of glob­al soci­ety will come to orga­nize in one ulti­mate mod­el of free-mar­ket cap­i­tal­ist democ­ra­cy. Year after year, this claim looks ever more pre­pos­ter­ous. Mean­while, the cho­rus of voic­es call­ing for dra­mat­ic change grows ever louder.

As we move into the 2020s, the form of high­ly-dereg­u­lat­ed cap­i­tal­ism we’ve known for around half a cen­tu­ry appears to be on its last legs. It still grips the world, but its legit­i­ma­cy is begin­ning to crum­ble. As inequal­i­ty reach­es shock­ing lev­els and the 0.1% cap­ture an increas­ing­ly greater por­tion of the world’s wealth, the num­ber of peo­ple left behind is becom­ing too great to pacify.

Our polit­i­cal and eco­nom­ic sys­tem is dri­ven by ego, tech­nol­o­gy, and exploita­tion of peo­ple and plan­et. In the con­text of inten­si­fy­ing cli­mate change and glob­al­ized mono­cul­tures, this sys­tem ensures an unfair fight for sur­vival. To cre­ate a respon­si­ble, sus­tain­able, and equi­table sys­tem, it is cru­cial to dis­tance our­selves from the unchecked ele­va­tion of ego. Sim­i­lar­ly, our tech­nolo­gies have become too tight­ly fixed to our rou­tines, rit­u­als, and bod­ies. Ubiq­ui­tous con­nec­tiv­i­ty has invad­ed our spir­its and com­mod­i­fied our gaze. Human­i­ty has become addict­ed to unhealthy habits.

We should spend more time in the present moment. We should relax, take deep breaths, and return to nature. If we learn to dis­tance our­selves from the tech­nolo­gies we’ve come to cling to, we can also learn to rein­vent our eco­nom­ic log­ics to close the con­tin­u­al­ly grow­ing dis­par­i­ties between people.

We can do so much bet­ter by one anoth­er. Through­out the ages, peo­ple have been advo­cat­ing for a fair and just soci­ety. We say yes to that endeav­or. Our eyes, hearts, and minds are open. We’re ready to lis­ten. We want to see. We feel a sense of con­nec­tion between cre­ative dis­ci­plines, a col­lec­tive sense of respon­si­bil­i­ty to address the chal­lenges we all face, and a great sense of curios­i­ty around the pos­si­bil­i­ty of a civ­i­liza­tion build around last­ing peace and prosperity.