The World as One, Part II

Imagine a world undivided, a world where everybody spoke the same language, administered by a single government, all races present in every corner of the same earth. There are no more countries, each city belongs to a single mass culture easily accessed by everyone.

Is this where we are heading? The world certainly looks as though it is becoming more open to itself, and if this is true and we do one day slip away from what we know now, is that a good place to go? Is it better than the way things are or have been in the past?

The first and possibly obvious problem here is our loss of culture and heritage; we would no longer be able to travel the world to experience the many different cities and cultures and people when everything we want to see is present everywhere. You could still travel to see certain landscapes but is that truly enough? Will we not become a little bored by the fact that everybody speaks the same way and lives in similar circumstances? Will this be too homogeneous? There is an idea that while we might move in the direction of a worldly language that everyone can speak, we will still keep our native tongues within our societies. This would allow us to keep to an extent, our culture, yet the ability to communicate with others in a common language opens up all the possibilities for work, study and relationships that would otherwise be very difficult.

There is something mystical and appealing about exploring foreign lands and people, experiencing something unlike what you have ever before, for a country to have a unique identity, a unique language, unique structure and ecosystem, all give it a way to stand apart from the rest of the world; in the end, if we do grow into a single culture, will the fact that countries are so unique be the culprit?

I am sure that civilization will find its own way and that if this one world is a good place to be, then that will happen, and if not, then people will find a way to preserve the cultures and societies in the original and special ways that they exist. After all, there are numerous examples of people and communities today changing things and creating things to do just that: websites often have their sites translated into several different languages, movies and television shows have voice overs, and countries have  visas and restrictions to limit the number of tourists and people that can stay within their borders. This all helps to keep national identity safe and unique languages in use, but for how long can that all last with the increasing ease of travel and multitude of videos and websites being created every day?

I have already asked you an abundance of questions throughout this post, all of which don’t have a definite answer and rather provide us with something to ponder over. So I will simply ask you one thing: what is your opinion?