FutureWire - futurism and emerging technology

Wednesday, September 22, 2004

The World's Most Dangerous Ideas

Foreign Policy, a website run by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, has published an article outlining what some of their contributors feel are the world's most destructive ideas over the next few years. Some are obvious, while others are quite curious in the least. They are:
  • War on Evil (or rather, the concept of evil)
  • Business as Usual at the U.N.
  • Transhumanism (for more information, go here)
  • Free Money (i.e. deficits and debt)
  • Undermining Free Will
  • Spreading Democracy (through nondemocratic means such as war)
  • Religious Intolerance
  • Hating America (or, at least, hating American values such as freedom and individualism. Plus, people who really hate America tend to get bombs dropped on them...)
Exactly how dangerous these ideas really are will surely be fodder for debate for some time. Particularly interesting is the inclusion of transhumanism on the list... which shows that a concept of interest to many futurists is showing up on other people's radar screens.