The Age of the Unthinkable

Purchase The Age of the Unthinkable

WHY THE NEW WORLD DISORDER CONSTANTLY SURPRISES US AND WHAT WE CAN DO ABOUT IT

Just a few years into a new century, we've arrived at a moment of peril that not long ago would have seemed unimaginable. All around us, the ideas and institutions that we once relied on for our safety and security are failing- and the best ideas of our leaders seem to make our problems worse, not better. A global war on terror produces, in the end, more dangerous terrorists. The fight to stop financial crisis seems to accelerate its arrival. Carefully negotiated peace plans produce less peace.

This wasn't always the case. For decades, our engagement with the world was based on the seductive belief that there was a logical relationship between the power of states and the physics of change. But that traditional physics of power has been replaced by something radically different- and what we face isn't one single shift, like the end of World War II or the collapse of the Soviet Union, so much as an unprecedented avalanche of ceaseless, unthinkable change.

Fortunately, there's hope. In this book, Joshua Cooper Ramo puts forth a revolutionary new model for thinking about- and thriving in- this world of the unpredictable. After all, great historical shifts don't only produce losers. They also create a whole new cast of historical champions, new fortunes, and ideas that can endure for centuries. Ramo explains precisely why our current way of thinking, and the policies that result, backfire. Drawing upon history, economics, complexity theory, psychology, human immunology, and the science of networks, Ramo describes a landscape of inherent unpredictability- and remarkable possibility. Finding surprising lessons from people as diverse as Silicon Valley titans, relentless Islamic terrorists, legendary spymasters, unconventional physicists, and innovative game designers, The Age of the Unthinkable offers both clarity and hope- hope that the most unthinkable thing of all may be that each of us has the power to save the world.