Global problems of the world economy. How the modern world is changing our thinking In the modern world, large and even

Global problems modernity is considered from two different sides: human security and planetary security. That is why difficulties are increasingly arising in the harmonious existence of people on Earth without harm to the outside world. In order to realistically assess the criticality and need for urgent changes in life, we suggest reading an article that describes the problems of our time and possible solutions to them.

The main global problems of our time

Increasingly, news releases shock people with terrible statistics about violence, accidents, atmospheric emissions, depletion of the earth's resources and the approach of a global catastrophe. When in developed countries are engaged in robots with artificial intelligence, some nationalities are disappearing from the face of the Earth due to lack of medical care and clean water.

Humans have ruined the environment to such an extent that to restore balance we need to take a series of complex solutions, which will be widespread. One person cannot change the whole world, but imagine if 7 billion people simultaneously want to help each other.

For such cases, there are many organizations that look at humanity's global problems and how you can contribute to solving them.

Let's look at the main problems:

• Food security.

The number of hungry people in the world has increased significantly over the past few years. One in nine people in the world usually go hungry and, as a result, suffer from deficiency nutrients. At first glance it may seem that the problem is a lack of processed food, but this opinion is wrong. People simply don't have enough money to buy healthy food.

• Health care problem.

In addition to malnutrition, there are many other problems affecting human health on a global scale. In the past, the focus of scientists and health organizations has been on infectious diseases: hepatitis, cholera, malaria, tuberculosis and HIV. Expanding access to clean water and improved sanitation education have reduced the spread of communicable diseases worldwide. However, this does not mean that efforts to improve sanitation should stop.

Currently, the global medical community is studying non-communicable diseases such as cancer, diabetes, chronic respiratory and cardiovascular diseases.

Currently, 70% of people die from infectious diseases, and countries with low level income is most seriously affected. This problem is clearly expressed in Thailand, South Africa, Mexico and India.

• The need for gender equality.

The next problem arose from historical conditions that placed social barriers to economic and personal freedom for women. Although a lot of efforts have been made to alleviate this problem, it has not been completely eradicated.

In many patriarchal countries, women are deprived of their rights early age. They are not allowed to go to school, they are not allocated funds for higher education, and they believe that women should stay at home. As a result, women continue to earn less than men. Such inequality wastes potential and impedes cultural and technological progress. Vulnerable women are increasingly becoming victims of violence and aggression.

• Africa's needs.

A number of alarming UN statistics highlight the urgent need for humanitarian support in Africa. The region has the world's highest child mortality rate and the number of people living with HIV. Here are the most high performance stunted growth among children, greatest number deaths from road traffic accidents and the lowest literacy rates. Fertility rates in Africa are increasing, but more people suffer from these problems every day.

• Global environmental problems.

There are three main environmental issues listed by the UN. These include threats to organisms on land and under water, climate change and resource depletion. According to UN statistics, forests are being depleted at a rate of 13 million hectares every year.

Most of the planet is covered in water. Oceans absorb carbon dioxide and produce about 30% of oxygen. Despite its importance, the ocean is under threat. Overfishing is putting many species at risk of extinction.

• Global problems of the world requiring political solutions.

These include the safe use of nuclear technologies, compliance international law and peace, promoting the decolonization of countries and ensuring the effective functioning of democracies. The main threat to human life is the person himself. The world is constantly shaking from the results of terrorist attacks, wars, testing of new weapons and migrations. In pursuit of new lands, politicians and aggressors are killing thousands human lives and deplete natural resources.

Global problems require global action. When it comes to tackling the basics social problems using innovations, new business models or global agreements, many experts agree that the success of the solution is purely political and not technical.

Ways to solve global problems of the world

The UN produced a report called the Millennium Development Goals, which is an important reminder that change is possible when we act. Here are 10 highlights from the report:

• From 1990 to 2015, more than 1 billion people were lifted out of extreme poverty. The poverty rate in developing countries has fallen from 47% to a projected 14%.
• Number of younger children school age out-of-school population has almost halved since 2000, from 100 million in 2000 to 57 million.
• Since 1990, child mortality has more than halved. In 1990, 12.7 million children under the age of 5 died. In 2018 this number dropped to 6 million.
• Maternal deaths have fallen by 45% since 1990.
• From 2000 to 2013, the number of new HIV infections fell by 40%.
• From 2000 to 2015, more than 6.2 million malaria deaths were averted, mostly among children under 5 years of age.
• Since 1990, 2.6 billion people have gained access to an improved source drinking water.
• The number of hungry people in developing regions has almost halved from 23.3% in 1990–1992 to 12.9% in 2016.
• Let's give possible solutions current problems of humanity.

The problem of peace and war can be solved in the following ways:

• control over the manufacture of weapons;
• a ban on the use of nuclear weapons and their alternatives;
• careful control over the arms trade and smuggling;
• tough sanctions for aggressor countries.

By adhering to these basic conditions, it is possible to significantly reduce the number of casualties and the consequences of military operations.

To avoid environmental disaster required:

• enhanced protection of endangered organisms;
• optimal use of resources from local to global level;
• protective measures environment from the effects of the work of factories, factories and other enterprises;
• prohibition of experiments on animals;
• creation of new reserves.

A number of actions aimed at gender equality, protection of women from violence and free access to general education anywhere in the world.

The shortage of fuel and raw materials can be avoided by introducing alternative sources of energy and heat. One of the main obstacles to this is the high cost of energy processing equipment.

We should try to solve the problem of hunger in this way:

• expansion of land for cultivation and farming, rather than for concrete buildings;
• creation of new lakes and pastures;
• automation of small farming businesses and financing of enterprises involved in growing natural products nutrition.

The waters of the World Ocean also need urgent rescue. To do this you need:

• determination of clear zones for fishing and oil production;
• replacement of port equipment that releases emissions into the ocean;
• strict control over the level of water purity and intensive actions to purify it;
• ban on the release of nuclear waste and chemical weapons.

Also, do not forget about the rules for maintaining cleanliness outside the boundaries of the planet when exploring outer space.

One of the main problems is the difference in development of many countries. Technology, automation, the level of education and medicine are so different that they further reduce the possibility of peaceful existence of peoples. The only solution to this problem is to help lagging countries and support them at the international level.

The problems of humanity are increasing in number every day. This happens for a number of reasons, with humans at the center. Wars, waste disposal, industrial enterprises, the creation of new types of chemical and nuclear weapons, deforestation and water pollution - the scale of destruction that humans bring to the planet is becoming terrifying. To avoid disaster and save resources for the lives of descendants, every inhabitant of the Earth must be involved.

To collate the findings for Homo Sapiens communities, Dunbar returned to anthropology. The researcher found that the number of people in rural traditional settlements fluctuates within the limits he assumed - up to two hundred people. In his work, the scientist suggested that the number of neurocortical neurons is electrically excitable brain cells that process, store and transmit information using electrical and chemical signals- limits the body's ability to process information, which in turn limits the number of relationships a person can simultaneously maintain. When the group size exceeds this number, it becomes difficult for the individual to maintain the number of contacts.

Modern communication looks like this

And indeed, if you ask representatives of the older generation how they met and learned any news, they will answer that they met on holidays with friends, went for walks together, said goodbye to each other, meaning the next meeting, and when the hostess I wanted to cook unusual dish, then I asked my friends for the recipe. And the number of these acquaintances on average did not exceed 150 people. All of the above examples suggest that in the past people interacted with each other much more often. They had to personally communicate both with a familiar circle of people and meet new people, which, undoubtedly, perfectly developed their social skills. It is possible that it was this experience of our parents and grandmothers that affected the mutual understanding of generations - today young people increasingly communicate online, and this applies to both friendships and love relationships.

Today, the ability to obtain all the necessary information at any time by simply googling it has significantly reduced the need for live communication between people. Why call your friends or meet with a friend who has the information you need when there is the Internet? Gradually, this led to people communicating less in person and more online. Thus, it is more difficult for modern teenagers to get acquainted with strangers and generally become more socialized than representatives of previous generations.

Dopamine networks and true friends

Social networks and the profiles that we create on them play a huge role in the modern world. Some psychologists call pages in in social networks creating an improved version of oneself, since every person strives to make a good impression on others and often provides false information about himself. It turns out that communication itself has changed today, it has become more superficial. A certain disunity of interests also appeared - if in the past the whole country watched “The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed” and common topics for conversation could be found with almost everyone, today the picture is completely different. The advent of the Internet and such streaming services as, on the one hand, gave us an imaginary freedom of choice, and on the other, made it possible to meet a person with similar interests in real life more difficult.

Instagram has begun testing “no likes” in some regions of the United States. According to the company's new policy, likes will only be available to the author of publications, and not to his subscribers

Moreover, based on Dunbar's work, it can be falsely concluded that the number of people on social networks should not exceed 150 people. But in fact we add as friends a large number of people, half of whom we have never met or will not see at all. The numbers in the friends tab today are a source of dopamine, but not real happiness.

According to a recent study, a person is only able to maintain five truly close contacts throughout his life. This is why the top five people are highlighted separately on your social media feed. But with the rest of the conditional 145 friends, communication is a little strange - about once a year or six months we congratulate each other with messages, for example, “happy birthday,” as if letting the other person know that we remember his existence. But such “zombing” on social networks cannot be called full-fledged communication. It turns out that our ancestors communicated with each other much more, more often and more productively than we do, and this communication was often a key factor in their well-being in life.

Zombing is a like or a happy holiday greeting from a person with whom you do not communicate, both online and in real life.

I would like to note that the Internet and the information age have not only enriched the Russian language with the latest borrowings, but also changed etiquette. Thus, in the modern world, the ability to put down your smartphone in time and not take too many photographs in the presence of others is highly valued.

Black Mirror is no longer a TV series

Fans of social science fiction have probably watched at least one episode of Charlie Brooker's Black Mirror. The first episode of the third season talked about how likes on social networks affect social status and determine the position in . And if the relationships between people in the world shown in this episode look like an exaggeration, then the reality has actually not gone so far - a taxi driver today can actually lose his job if a client gives him only one star out of five a couple of times. And the way almost all interactions between people take place in modern China seems to make you think: “Isn’t this the world of “black mirror””?

Still from the series “Black Mirror” (season 3, episode 1)

Of course, the advent of the Internet and modern technology has changed more than just friendships and relationships. Today, the Internet influences almost every aspect of our lifestyle - from basic needs to the most luxurious things. And as we step into the future, it is logical to assume that dependence on the Internet and its role in our lives will only increase. The modern world is blurring boundaries, resembling a global city that exists thanks to the Internet. After all, despite the fact that communication today is increasingly superficial, we can now communicate with anyone, anytime, anywhere. has become a kind of guide to all information and queries about beauty, health, fashion, lifestyle, personal hygiene and much more. Moreover, we can not only work from the comfort of home, but also receive education while sitting in the comfort of our own chair. The Internet has become a huge platform for the free exchange of knowledge. Yes, we see each other’s faces less often, but we have Wikipedia.

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Concluding this article, I cannot help but note that along with the endless opportunities that have appeared thanks to the Internet, there are no less reasons for concern. Our society is rapidly transforming and the “okay boomer” meme, which recently swept the world’s social networks, is a clear example of this. The Baby Boomers - people born between 1943 and 1963 - don't really understand Millennials, much less Gen Z. The fact is that social environment The environment in which boomers grew up was completely different from the environment that surrounds modern children and adolescents - and they, among other things, are surrounded by the screens of smartphones, tablets, televisions and limitless flows of information.

The cast of the series “Friends” is almost complete. The inscription at the top is “Boomers”

Changes affect worldviews and even jokes. What was considered funny 20 years ago and what they joked about in the series “Friends” today causes indignation among young people. The values ​​that the boomer generation conveyed are becoming outdated at an incredible speed, which only fuels the misunderstanding between people. But I see the inability, and sometimes even reluctance, of network users as no less dangerous. It's no secret that pseudoscientific and dangerous ideas, for example, about the dangers of vaccination, are spreading with incredible speed and success in Russia.

No matter how our society changes with the development of technology and the advent of the Internet, we still remain people with our inherent thinking errors, the need for communication and intimacy with others. Perhaps the best thing each of us can do today is to stop for a minute and think about what direction and where we are going.

Geopolitical rivalry, economic inequality, climate change and the rollback of democracy - these problems, despite their heterogeneity, will be the main ones for humanity next year, more than 1.5 thousand experts from the World Health Organization came to this conclusion. economic forum. The results of their analysis are presented in the annual report “Outlook on the Global Agenda” for 2015.

The WEF conducted the first such study in 2008. In 2015, the impact of the economic consequences of the global financial crisis, which for several years remained key for many countries, will decrease somewhat, notes the founder of the Davos Forum, Klaus Schwab. Now stability is threatened by political challenges - the growing terrorist threat and the exacerbation of geopolitical conflicts, and this, in turn, prevents countries from jointly solving pressing problems.

Growing inequality

The problem of income inequality will take first place in 2015 (a year ago the WEF put it in second position). On this moment The less wealthy half of the population owns no more than 10% of total wealth, and this problem extends to both developed and developing countries, the report's authors note. According to a WEF survey, the situation is most likely to worsen over the next year in Asia, as well as North and Latin America.

For effective fight With economic inequality, countries must approach solving this problem in a comprehensive manner - increasing the availability of education, healthcare and other resources. Most people believe that the primary responsibility for this lies with the government, but it can also be shared by corporations, since businesses themselves benefit from rising incomes for the poor. This is how the number of consumers and the market for goods and services grows.

Continuous rise in unemployment

Economic growth without employment growth (jobless growth) is a phenomenon in which the level of employment does not change (and even decreases) in combination with GDP growth. The authors say the main reason for this problem is the too rapid transformation of the labor market due to the development of technology.

The problem is familiar even to China: the country has experienced unprecedented growth in production and exports and increased the competitiveness of its products, but the number of people employed in industry has declined significantly over the past 20 years due to high rates of industrialization and automation. This is a long-term trend that will be observed throughout the world, the WEF points out.

Lack of leaders

According to the WEF survey, 86% of respondents believe that the modern world lacks leaders, 58% do not trust political leaders, and almost the same number (56%) are distrustful of religious leaders.

Corruption, basic dishonesty in government and an inability to cope with modern problems are the main reasons for this distrust, according to Pew Research Center polls conducted in China, Brazil and India. On the other hand, society is increasingly willing to trust non-governmental organizations and, oddly enough, business leaders who have achieved success through their abilities, education and desire to innovate.

In the modern world, leaders can emerge from “ordinary people,” believes one of the co-founders of the Malala Yousafzai Foundation, Shiza Shahid, referring to her friend Malala, who was awarded this year Nobel Prize world for educational and human rights activities. “We must promote a society where honesty and empathy are considered key traits, and where talent is given the opportunity to develop, explains Shahid. – This will allow the most ordinary people to gain strength."

Growing geopolitical competition

After graduation cold war and collapse Soviet Union The world temporarily came to a liberal consensus, but today geopolitics is again coming to the fore, the WEF notes. The growth of geopolitical competition is not limited to events in Ukraine; similar processes are unfolding in Asia and the Middle East.

As a result of the Ukrainian crisis, the West may economically and politically move away from Russia, which until recently was considered the guarantor of regional stability and peace, the authors of the report indicate. And the situation in the Asian region - the growing influence of China and its territorial claims - could potentially have more serious consequences. global consequences, writes WEF. About a third of participants in a Pew Research Center survey believe that in the foreseeable future, China will seize the palm of the leading world power from the United States.

In addition to the threat of geopolitical conflicts, the weakening of established ties between states will prevent them from jointly solving global problems such as climate change or infectious epidemics. The rise of nationalist sentiments and the destruction of the system of multilateral relations between countries should become one of the most important lessons of 2014, WEF experts believe.

Weakening representative democracy

Faith in democratic institutions has been declining since 2008: the economic crisis has undermined trust in both business and governments, which failed to prevent it. This provoked popular unrest, for example, in Greece and Spain, and protests for political reasons for last years firmly entered the global agenda. " Arab spring"affected almost all countries North Africa and the Middle East, dissatisfaction with political regimes has exacerbated the situation in Ukraine and Hong Kong; in Brazil, protests over excessive government spending accompanied preparations for this year’s World Cup and Olympic Games, which will take place in 2016.

Despite the fact that development information technologies allows for significant improvements in democratic procedures, there is a rift between citizens and their elected officials around the world. Governments are still 19th century institutions with 20th century thinking that cannot keep up with needs civil society. To change this situation, officials must use modern means communication to include larger sections of the population in the decision-making process, according to WEF experts.

More frequent natural disasters

Extreme weather are a direct consequence of climate change, WEF experts note, and in Lately they appear more and more often and more intensely and are more and more destructive. Floods in the UK, Brazil and Indonesia, drought in the USA and Australia, heavy rains in Pakistan and snow storms in Japan, these events change public perception of the problem of climate change.

Ironically, the people living in the poorest countries are experiencing the greatest destruction, and global community, as a rule, tries to help them eliminate the consequences of disasters that have already occurred, rather than investing in preventing damage from future disasters. This is a significant expense, the effect of which will only be noticeable in the long term. However, they will bring benefits to national economies, businesses, and, undoubtedly, the poorest and most vulnerable nations, the report’s authors explain.

Aggravation of nationalism

Since the Industrial Revolution, people have turned to political nationalism to protect traditional values ​​and identities. Catalonia in Spain, Belgium, Lombardy, Scotland in the UK - everywhere people demand protection from economic shocks, and social conflicts, and globalization, which threaten to disrupt established traditions, values ​​and ways of life.

Nevertheless, the Scots voted to remain part of the United Kingdom. Perhaps this rejection of separatism will demonstrate that in the new global world Nations can combine strong and vibrant personality traits with the desire for closer cooperation with the rest of the world, WEF experts hope, because we are no longer just talking about the coexistence of nations within one state, but also about functioning as part of an integrated global economy.

Deteriorating access to drinking water

Difficulties with access to drinking water in various countries may be a consequence of both financial and resource factors, notes one of the WEF experts, actor Matt Damon, who is one of the founders charitable organization Water.org. In India, millions of people are only a few dollars away from clean drinking water, the actor explains, while in Africa and Asia it simply does not exist. For more than 750 million people in the world, the lack of drinking water is a pressing problem today, Damon complains, and, according to OECD experts, by 2030 almost 1.5 billion people will experience “water stress.”

Meanwhile, according to the report World Bank, about 50% of the current gap between economic growth rates in developing and developed countries is due to health problems and low life expectancy. States must spend more on maintaining the health of their citizens, and subsequently this will certainly affect the economic well-being of the country, WEF experts point out. As an example, they cite the ever-increasing costs of healthcare in China, including biomedical research, which increase by 20–25% annually. Quite soon, China will spend more than the United States (in absolute terms) on this area. The Chinese believe that these investments contribute to building the country's economy, and the WEF agrees.

Pollution in developing countries

Industrialization developing world remains a source of uncontrolled environmental pollution, WEF experts note. If on a global scale this problem ranks sixth in importance, then for Asia this challenge is among the three most serious. China became the leading source of greenhouse gases in 2005 and continues to be, followed by the United States and the European Union, according to data from the World Resources Institute. Brazil and India are next on the list of largest polluters.

While the primary responsibility for reducing emissions lies with developing countries themselves, developed economies also have a responsibility to overcome the challenge. On the one hand, they must invest in the creation of new technologies with a low level of hydrocarbon use, on the other hand, they must provide developing countries financing that will enable the transition to more environmentally friendly energy sources.

During the development of civilization, humanity faced certain difficulties. But scientists began to talk about global problems in the 70-80s of the last century, when more resources were needed to support the population. And waste began to increase significantly. What global problems are of concern today?

10 Natural disasters

9 The backwardness of some countries

8 Peaceful space exploration

7 Use of ocean resources

6 Food

5 Energy

4 Demographic

3 Raw materials

2 Environmental

1 Mira