Mankind has moved into a new phase of its history

Mankind has moved into a new phase of its history. Death of distance has occurred and time zones have been conquered. Nation State is rapidly losing its legitimacy over absolute sovereignty along with loss of the total monopoly of power over the land it controls. Non state and non governmental organisations are on the rise to the extent that some of them are more powerful than any nation state or government. Microsoft and al Qaida are the two contradictory examples of such non state organisations who can play havoc with a nation state. World is slowly transforming into zones of stability (producing Microsoft) and zones of chaos (producing al Qaida). Due to the collapse of distance and time barriers stable zones cannot afford to have too many unstable zones in the world. So it becomes imperative to have a 'new world order' that can maintain rule of law and stability in the world which is getting smaller by the day. While all this is happening, the individual has completely lost his individuality and the ability to remain private and unique. This phase of uncertainty in my opinion is going to last at least for 25 years when things will start settling. In almost a quarter of a century new patterns will get established, new norms will come into being and a new way of global life will emerge. Humanity as a whole at the moment is going through birth pains of that new era. My gut feeling is that if understood properly and planned proactively this new era will bring unprecedented opportunities for the mankind. However, if we remain oblivious of the trends unleashed in the late 90s of the last century, we surely are then going to face some very unpleasant surprises.