[A. Pole]

Go with your instincts.

Putting aside our private concrete lives, the general question is how much instability the whole society or culture can take before things fall apart or order is imposed by force.

[massadvj]

The forces propelling us toward a faster-paced, faster-evolving civilization are irretrievable and unstoppable, even by martial law. The Chinese even see that. The iron curtain fell in large part because information cannot be contained between national borders. The global market diminishes the power and sovereignty of national governments and is therefore a good thing, IMHO.

But what I think does not matter so much as the reality that this train is moving and will not be stopped. It is far bigger than government, any government, including the US government. The US GDP is but 20 percent of the world economy.

The macro environment is what it is. In business we assume it is beyond our control. So we attempt to predict it, and manipulate those variables we do control so that we benefit from the anticipated changes. My suggestion to any young person today is to stop making value judgments about the macro environment. All change presents opportunity. Welcome the change, anticipate the changes coming next, and figure out how to benefit from them.

The best thing you can do for your society is to prosper.