my_writings/local_thinking_global_world.txt

# Global World vs Local Thinking

In the two recent centuries the world has rapidly transitioned to global
interconnection in aspects economical, logistical, communicational, cultural and
others -- we call this globalization. Actions and events taking place in America
almost directly and instantly impact people thousands of kilometers away, in
other continents, via the turning wheels of overevoled capitalism and advanced
communication technologies. These effect are a lot of times negative. An example
of this is the business (often conducted illegally) of waste processing in third
world countries, which kills many people in Africa and India, including
children. Culture, politics and opinions are also being exported in real time
through the Internet.

Is globalization an issue? Like all things, it's something that can be taken
advantage of in a positive manner, with the right attitude and will. However,
there is a deeply rooted aspect of human thinking, exploited by politicians,
that's making globalization a disaster -- it is the people's tendency to think
locally.

Local thinking, the tendency to only care about events in one's immediate
proximity, is something evolved in us for a good reason, and that is that the
world has simply always worked locally. Until now, that is. It had never made
sense to care about someone in another continent as we couldn't reach the people
and they couldn't reach us. We couldn't influence each other, endanger each
other, enrich each other. We only needed to care about our tribe, our village,
our city.

With globalization this principle has changed, dangers and rewards from around
the world are close. yet our local thinking stays in place. A decision an
idividual, a company or a political group takes will echo throughout the whole
world, in all its positive and negative ways. Is this good? It may or may not
be, that depends solely on us. If there is anything clearly wrong, it is that we
make decisions without realizing this global impact. Globalization is here to
stay and can't be taken away, it is our mentality that needs to accustom to
globalization in order for it to be a good thing. 

The moral of the story is, I guess, that the typical argument given by politics
that goes "our country first" or "it's their country, not our thing", loses its
logic. In our age, refusal to care about a country far away is equal to refusing
to care about someone in close proximity. Refusing help to people in need in
Africa is like refusing help to your starving neighbour -- it can no longer be
excused because distance stops being an obstacle to influence.