Diagonal Lengths: Rethinking Our World

Diagonal Lengths: Rethinking Our World

Have you ever wondered what the world might be if you had the power to make any change? You might have held back, thinking there to be too many obstacles. In the author's view those obstacles are an illusion and unhindered by any political or social affiliations, he's thought through what would be the ideal solution were we to start from a blank piece of paper. The result is a radical set of ideas that can act as disruptive social engineering, as powerful as the major technical innovations, with the ability to transform our world. As a society we've developed technical innovations from splitting the atom to space travel, however when it comes to our own social organization we've failed to show the same innovative streak and have lived with issues that have come to appear intractable. As a global community we face issues such as global warming, religious divide, terrorism, corruption and poverty, with our lives turning into a rat race. These arise from a structural mismatch - as a world we've outgrown the capacity of our foundations to bear the new social loads. However most of us accept these issues as the norm or unchangeable given's - in the same way as a child born within a prison knows no other reality and plays happily, oblivious of the prison walls. Politicians too have their heads down focussed on short-term priorities and electoral goals, with everyone passing the buck and no one focussing on truly ground-breaking solutions. This book is a wake up call. If written a few hundred years ago, the author would be in prison. It's testament to our democracy that you're able to buy this book. However even today, in many parts of the world the author would be behind bars and that forms one of the threads - how to ensure we all enjoy the same high standards of political and economic freedom and human rights. Be prepared to have your entire view of the world challenged.