As we investigate the universe, we discover that all of its systems are interdependent. Planets revolve around the sun, while their satellites orbit around these planets. The more we investigate this enormous system, the clearer we see that all of its components exist in interdependent motion and influence one another. The moon above the Earth influences everything that takes place on the Earth’s surface: our health, feelings, deep ocean currents, and so on.
The sun influences us as well: We perceive even the smallest solar flares that happen there. They even say that some phenomena on the sun may threaten the Earth’s very existence as they are capable of literally incinerating it. Naturally, it affects all of our electronic systems. The globe itself is a “boiling cauldron,” and we are living on the surface of a sphere, which inside is ablaze with fire. And all of this exists in a very shaky equilibrium.
Biologists, zoologists, and botanists tell us that the emergence of life on Earth was only possible due to absolutely special conditions that don’t exist anywhere else in the universe. To this day, they haven’t been discovered anywhere, and it is highly doubtful that they exist at all. And since the origin of life requires that many conditions related to such parameters as the gravitational force, amount of water, pressure, temperature, and so on are met simultaneously, it follows that all of these parameters comprise one gigantic formula. And only if we make a very precise calculation according to this formula, will we be able to learn what preconditions are conducive to the emergence of life.
In the news they usually tell us what the weather is going to be in the next few days. Meteorologists can prepare a weather forecast for the week ahead, but no more. Why is that?
The temperature, humidity, or wind speed forecasts are based on calculations performed using extremely complex formulas and powerful computers, taking into consideration climate conditions across the entire planet. In short, the connections between these parameters are so multifaceted, deep, and rich that even a single prediction for tomorrow’s air temperature, height of waves, and other factors we need for planning airplane flights, ship routes, and all kinds of other purposes speaks of the interconnection of all parts of nature, of how the still nature influences the vegetative, the vegetative influences the animate, and the animate influences man, while man, in response, influences all of them.
Our life depends on the still nature since we live on the earth and extract all the necessary resources from its depths. We depend on the vegetative nature too since this is what our agriculture is based on, and also on the animate nature since these are food products necessary for our existence. On top of that, we won’t be able to sustain a normal life except in a society where each occupies their corresponding nook within it by performing some particular function.
The further we progressed over the course of history, the more complex our society became, and the more dependent we became on one another. Today we make transactions and transfer money from bank to bank; we send ships with various cargoes from one continent to another. And if we consider the clothes that we wear, we can confidently say that it wasn’t just one single country that was involved in their manufacturing. Someone produced the raw materials, someone else processed them, others sewed it all together, and yet others engaged in marketing and sales. This only emphasizes how dependent we are on one another.
We are already accustomed to this interdependence and take it for granted. Except that this is entirely commercial and financial dependence, and it never required any emotional involvement from us. But lately we see that the connection between us has reached such proportions that it demands of us a deeper, tighter, and closer cooperation.
Moreover, it manifests itself to such degree that whatever happens in one country directly affects the events in another. It’s no accident that today we see how one country can intervene in the business of another, even changing the regime and encroaching on its independence. A vivid example is the protests in Syria, where the representatives of different countries are voicing their grievances about the fact that many peaceful civilians are being killed. And the Syrian ambassador has nothing to respond to that. He is acting as if it’s not his country and he has nothing to do with it. Thus, this dependence obliges all of us.
We see that we are so interconnected with one another that we now require various international governance mechanisms, without which we cannot exist normally. After all, if we want to have trade, develop science and culture, if we want a prosperous life, we need to develop very similar systems of upbringing, culture, and approach to life.
During the past few decades tourism flourished in the world. While visiting different countries, we can see how during this time countries drew closer to each other in terms of people’s life quality level and their ability to perceive their surroundings. After all, we watch television, listen to the news, and connect with each other virtually through the Internet. And this connection between us will soon help us eliminate all language barriers: New machines will automatically make translations for us, and someone who doesn’t know say, English, which today is the international language, will have an ability to be connected with everyone.
According to modern research, it appears that an average person is connected to the entire world through four of his acquaintances. We are becoming closer to each other to such an extent that we, so to speak, are holding each other’s hands. Today, no country can drill deep boreholes, even in its own territory because through this it can disrupt the balance inside the earth’s crust, and whatever happens in one country will have consequences not only for its neighbors, but the rest of the world too.
We signed international agreements regarding different spheres of human activities that can cause harm to others, for example, agreements that set quotas on fishing. Each country has its own limit on emissions of harmful elements into the atmosphere or on extraction of natural resources from the earth’s depths. We are starting to feel more and more that we live on one planet and that it is our shared home. And indeed, here we are all dependent on one another and we cannot just do as we please.
Unfortunately, we are still developing egoistically and this doesn’t allow us to take each other into consideration. We’ve even littered outer space by sending rockets out there so that at this point, a great quantity of satellites as well as millions of their fragments, small and large, circle the earth. And if some kind of an accident occurs on the space station, all of its fragments can fall anywhere and on anyone.
We’ve also been witnesses to such unpleasant phenomena as the eruption of a volcano in Iceland, which affected all of Europe, all the way to Siberia, paralyzing the operations of many airports. And the tsunami in Japan that was provoked by an earthquake and caused damage to a nuclear power plant forced many countries to think that perhaps it’s worthwhile to suspend the development of nuclear power.
We see that not a single nation can build their domestic and foreign policy without considering tens and even hundreds of external factors. In every movement it makes, it needs to take the whole world into consideration. And this pertains even to the strong and leading countries that seemingly don’t have to justify themselves to anyone. And yet, they must consider others because we are all dependent on each other, and who knows how even the tiniest change occurring in one of the countries will impact the others.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” Episode 5, 1/2/12
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