Publisher's Synopsis
This work investigates the growing gap between the promises of new global capitalism and the reality of insecurity, inequality, social breakdown, spiritual emptiness and environmental destruction. It looks at what went wrong and offers solutions based on examples from new biology.;The author examines ways in which economic values and institutions are shaped by certain beliefs about the nature and meaning of life. Modern societies have been shaped more than is realized, by beliefs embedded in the story told by Newtonian physics of a clockwork universe in which life is an accident and consciousness an illusion. This theory has led to the creation of competitive, individualistic, and materialistic societies grounded in a Hobbsian philosophy that there is no moral purpose to life and therefore good is merely that which brings pleasure and evil that which brings pain. This text outlines specific measures to free the creative powers of individuals and societies through the realization of a radical democracy, the local rooting of capital through stakeholder ownership, and a restructuring of the rules of commerce to create "mindful market" economies that combine market principles with a culture that nurtures social bonding and responsibility.
