Hope's Fool (ePub)

Where are the voices of vision and reason as we gaze timidly, even somewhat fearfully, into this new millennium? Where, the impossible dreamers we knew? The likes of Bertrand Russell, Alfred North Whitehead, Albert Schweitzer, Aldous Huxley, Isaac Asimov? All gone now. Carl Sagan left us, ever so quietly. One such a voice, even if lacking their clout and complexity, is that of William H. White. In his book, "e;Hopes Fool"e;, humanist counselor White shares our loss of such giants, and prods us to keep dreaming where they left off. While many of today's thinkers steer us toward a Third Way between Capitalism and Socialism; here the author briefly seizes the helm of our imagination to describe a Fourth Way looming on the horizon. A world of SERMATION (Service-Information-Automation) made possible by our almost daily technological breakthroughs. Although humanist White seldom champions either Left or Right, this idealistic, little book springs from Progressive/Populist roots. It swims boldly against many of our stronger consumerist and conservative tides. Affirming what many of us have long suspected. That we've clearly reached a momentous and evolutionary watershed in the human story. Many old, cultural standbys are being drained of social significance as we move into this new age. A time we must ALL enter, ready or not! Since closing out the Cold War, the U.S. (and much of the world) have often rejected many collective considerations and participatory solutions out of hand. Is this really wise? As we embrace the marketplace, deluged with data, how many of us delude ourselves that some great peak of democratic achievement is being scaled? Likely not too many! Not when bureaucratic bumbling or corporate callousness confront us whichever way we turn. White suggests our machines may yet free individuals in ways we'd never dreamed possible. The results may astonish us. At its core this is a work of great hope and optimism - yet could we fail again, as we have so frequently in the twentieth century? With progress, so much pain. A world divided. Even as we're dragged closer together! In chronicling our times for grandchildren who won't read this book for years to come, White poses the ultimate question. Did we rise or fall? He will never know - but they will. If they're here to read it! Meanwhile, the rest of us are....