Quantum Shift in the Global Brain: How the New Scientific Reality Can Change Us and Our World Paperback – February 27, 2008

This book by Ervin Laszlo is dramatic; it is like approaching an abyss and looking down how steep it is. This is a metaphor for the possibility of refusing the necessary changes that we are facing globally now. It is the looming possibility of annihilation of the human race. By the same token, we could be at the bottom of the steep wall and look upwards; this then is a metaphor for the possibility to rise from our ashes, so to speak, and restart our life’s journey, as a human race founded upon the basis of a new worldview, a new scientific, social and global understanding of our ultimate interconnectedness.To give an overall judgment of the book upfront, it goes in my view beyond his earlier book 'The Chaos Point (2006)' in that it contains the basic (quite catastrophic) information of the earlier work, but goes beyond and provides in each chapter a kind of retrospective of parts of Laszlo’s earlier works. In addition, in Part Three, it contains the basic history and objectives of the ‘Club of Budapest’ that was founded by Laszlo for cognizing, in a large team project, various solutions of an integral and holistic kind to our global worldwide challenges. In addition, I found this book to be written in a very easy-to-understand language, which gives me a hint it might be written for younger people or college students. To begin with, let me provide an overview over the structure of the book, for it by itself contains a map that traces the territory in clear lines.PART ONE1. Evolution or Extinction: That is the Question2. Macroshift: The Dynamics3. The Roots of Unsustainability4. A Better Way to Grow5. A New Vision6. A Planetary Ethic7. The Culture of Holos8. Evolution, Not Extinction! A Call from FijiPART TWO9. The Cosmic Plenum: The New Fundamental Concept of Reality10. Nonlocal Coherence: The New Concept of Manifest Reality11. The Akashic Field: The Newly Rediscovered Concept of Reality12. Metaphysical, Theological, and Ethical Implications13. The Next Evolution of Human ConsciousnessPART THREE14. A Brief History of the Club of Budapest15. Manifesto on Planetary Consciousness16. Principal Activities of the Club of Budapest17. Objectives of the GlobalShift University18. Objectives of the World Wisdom Council19. Objectives of the International Survey of Emergent Cultures20. Objectives of the Global Peace Meditation/Prayer DaysLaszlo explains in ‘The Birth and Body of this Book’ that Part One is meant as the ‘practical part’ which focuses on the shift of the world we are living in, and that Part Two is the theoretical part, and focuses on the changes in science that have blown up the former Cartesian worldview and created a new dimension of scientific thinking that is called ‘holistic’ or ‘holos movement’.Now, starting with Part One, I would like to quote the eight points the author makes here, which could be a diagnosis of the present global situation, and which are further outlined in his earlier book, The Chaos Point (2005).—Quote——There is deepening insecurity in countries both rich and poor and greater propensity in many parts of the world to resort to terrorism, war, and other forms of violence.—Islamic fundamentalism is spreading throughout the Muslim world, neo-Nazi and other extremist movements are surfacing in Europe, and religious fanaticism is appearing the world over.—Governments seek to contain violence through organized warfare; world military spending has risen for the past eight years running and has reached more than one trillion dollars a year.—One in three urban dwellers in the world live in slums, shanty-towns, or urban ghettos. More than 900 million people are classified as slum-dwellers. In the poorest countries 78 percent of the urban population subsists under life-threatening circumstances.—Although more women and girls are being educated than in previous years, in many parts of the world fewer women have jobs and more are forced to make ends meet in the ‘informal sector’.—Frustration and discontent continue to grow as both power and wealth are becoming further concentrated and the gap widens between the holders of wealth and power and the poor and marginalized populations. Eighty percent of the world’s domestic product belongs to one billion people; the remaining twenty percent is shared by five and a half billion.—Climate change threatens to make large areas of the planet unsuitable for human habitation and for an adequate level of food production. Very few countries are still food self-sufficient – and the internationally available food reserves are shrinking.—The amount of available fresh water is diminishing rapidly; over half the world’s population faces water shortages. On average, 6,000 children are dying each day of diarrhea caused by polluted water.—End of Quote—After this quite matter-of-fact summary of just the peak of the iceberg of our global problems, Laszlo shows two possible scenarios. The first scenario is the Business As Usual Scenario, the second is the Timely Transformation Scenario. The first scenario is an extrapolation of the facts onto a probability scale when no change is done, that is, when even the need for change is (as all so often) denied, by our political policymakers and the big capital. Now, to read through the first scenario is quite dramatic; it looks like an apocalypse, scientifically explained, while it reminds the politically conscious observer of all what is daily written in our newspapers and shown on our television screens; with the difference, however, that the analysis in those media is lacking for the most part, presenting the picture, without more. It is the picture of a dying civilization that virtually suffocates in the violence it has brought about in thousand years of patriarchy that virtually turned nature upside-down, and does so to the present day. I shall summarize here as follows, and these quotes are adapted from pages 9-11 of the book:—Quote—1. The Business As Usual Scenario—The Weather Pattern. Drought, storms, harvest failures, flooding, famine, hurricanes, disasters—The Security Threat Pattern. Epidemics, agricultural pests, contaminated water, waves of migration, terrorist groups, nuclear proliferators, narco-traffickers, organized crime, unscrupulous entrepreneurs—The Ecopolitical Pattern. Terrorism, NATO collapses, France-Germany-Russia-China coalition to balance US military-economic hegemony, joined by Brazil, India, South Korea and other countries, Global military spending, Arms race, Global economic stagnation that weakens IMF and WTO, North-South Agreements cancelled, trade flows interrupted, trade war replaces trade flow, growing poverty—The Ecological Pattern. Water and food shortages creating hunger in many parts of the world, Overexploitation of soils and overfishing leading to a shrinking of international food reserves, Starvation and unsanitary conditions create epidemic disease in most poor countries, gulf stream vacillates, global warming has reached alarming dimensions—The Military Pattern. Discord rises both between U.S. and their allies, and this whole bloc and the opposing blocs to reaching a crisis point which can lead to global war including the use of mass destruction weapons, Strong-arm régimes rising in Southern Hemisphere, Regional wars, Major power blocs may decide to use high-tech weaponry to achieve their ecopolitical goals, New strong-arm régimes are in possession of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons for resolving regional conflicts, War may escalate to a global level2. The Timely Transformation Scenario—The First Steps. Experience of terrorism, rising poverty and cataclysms change people’s way to think and drive them to finding solutions together, Worldwide popular movements organize themselves effectively so as to impact upon political leadership and intercultural solidarity, Political leaders begin to take anti-course action, Business leaders may change strategies where profit of growth is informed by corporate, social and ecological responsibility, E-Parliament is created online, linking parliamentarians worldwide, providing a forum for debate for serving the common good, NGOs link through the Internet and develop shared strategies to restore peace, and implement new and viable social policies.—The Crystallizing Contours of a Cooperative World. Money is shifted from military to educational purposes and for projects that are ecologically sustainable, A worldwide renewable energy program is created, that is ecological and provides key solutions, Agriculture is restored to its primary importance in the world economy, Business leaders join for creating a self-regulating market economy that ensures fair access to natural resources, etc.—The Rise of a Sustainable Civilization. National, continental and global governance structures are reformed or newly created for finding creative solutions that are sustainable for all members of society, A new consensually created globally coordinated market begins to function as an eco-system and natural resources will be distributed equitably, International and regional conflicts are solved by developing a higher trust-level in the possibilities of the ‘new human’/12-14—End of Quote—Now, it is important to remember the lecture from 'The Chaos Point (2005)' that Laszlo reminds in ‘Macroshift: The Dynamics.’—Quote—At the threshold of a critical instability, fluctuations that were previously corrected by self-stabilizing negative feedbacks within the system run out of control—they break open the system’s structure. The system enters a period of chaos. Its outcome is either the disintegration of the system into its individually stable components (breakdown) or rapid evolution toward a kind of system that is resistant to the fluctuations that destabilized the prior system (breakthrough)./18—End of Quote—As I cannot quote through the entire book without bursting the limits of a book review, I will give pointed comments on important passages. Now, within the Macroshift phase, we are entering the bifurcation point around 2020, now being in the 3rd of the 4 stages; there is one important thing that systems theory has overlooked so far: it is the impact of human intention.This is obviously an important political argument that however seems to be taken lightly by our ‘strong-armed’ political leaders, with the result that there are hostilities almost everywhere, ongoing wars, civil wars, ongoing genocide in several major parts of the world, and political chaos with grand parades to cover the failures of the system. And looking further in the roots of unsustainability, we see that ‘in the six decades since World War II, humanity has consumed more of the planet’s physical and biological resources than in all of history prior to that time.’The author then enumerates Nine Outdated Beliefs and Six Particularly Dangerous Myths (pp. 54-59).NINE OUTDATED BELIEFS—Everyone is unique and separate—Everything is reversible—Order calls for hierarchy—Efficiency is the key—Technology is the answer—New is always better—My country, right or wrong—The more money I have, the happier I am—Living without conscious forward-planningSIX PARTICULARLY DANGEROUS MYTHS—Nature is inexhaustible—Nature is like a giant mechanism—Life is a struggle where only the fittest survive—The market distributes benefits—The more you consume the better you are—Economic ends justify military meansTo summarize, this book is a definite wake-up call written by a grand mind of our times, scientist, artist and philosopher, twice nominated for the Nobel Prize, and one of the leading intellectuals of our era. His words cannot be taken lightly by anybody who cares for the future of the human race.

Quantum Shift in the Global Brain is another effort from the author of Science and the Akashic Field, one of many ideas about what David Bohm referred to as the implicate order of the universe. Ervin Laszlo's version of what some call The Matrix or the Zero Point Field is the Akashic Field. In Quantum Shift in the Global Brain Laszlo brings together multiple ideas from globalization to climate change and sets them in the context of his version of entanglement. (page 85) "Scientists now know ... that particles are entangled - nonlocally connected - with each other throughout space: they have a prior unity that is active and manifest. Living things of all kinds are nonlocally connected throughout the biosphere; theirs is a subtle connection that is likewise active and real, although we have only recently discovered it."More accessible than Science and the Akashic Field, this book is highly thought-provoking; it brings together scientific and religious knowledge towards an idea that Laszlo dubbs (page 125) "a Holos-civilization" - "a civilization based on empathy, trust and solidarity".At a time when atheists and theists seem increasingly to be talking past one another, Laszlo sets out some very constructive ideas for integration around the vested interest that we all have in preserving and better understanding the holistic environment that we inhabit. It is encouraging that intellectuals such as Laszlo are continuing the Bohm tradition of looking for harmony where others see conflict. A very good read.

This is a book which should be read by everyone who is concerned about the future of Planet Earth. It emphasizes the need for a new approach to growth and sustainability.

This book is tremendously inspiring in terms of whether or not humans will survive this 6th extinction event. The physics and biology of what is happening and what is possible is very positive.

I like the book and it really met my expectations in all ramifications!

A brilliant look at the future - a must-read.