Institutions that must and will change

There are a whole range of current institutions that will need to change and adapt to survive the paradigm shift in progress. The earlier they pay attention to the issue, the better.

Remember, the issue is the change in how we perceive our own identities. Instead of viewing ourselves as having a simple, self-consistent, past-oriented functional orientation structured in terms of a central nucleus, boundaries and a set of memberships, we are become multiply identified, inconsistent, now-oriented and organized into networks with no clear boundaries. Our larger social and economic institutions, which consolidate our sense of identity, will necessarily have to change and function differently. They must learn to view themselves as small parts of much larger networks, rather than as miniature attractive centres. This involves rethinking function and operational behaviour.

Institutions such as schools and, especially, universities are undergoing tremendous pressure for change right now. The crisis is coming in these locations at the speed of light.

Museums are also experiencing pressure to adapt and change. Often this is felt as a pressure to integrate new technology, but the changes, as outlined elsewhere, go much deeper than that.

Business, even though it has to some extent re-invented itself over the past decade or so, will need to undergo another massive change.

Communications organisations, whether these be TV, radio, telecoms, newspapers, magazines, etc. are already undergoing massive reconfiguration, which is unlikely to stop in the near future.

Entertainment organisations such as cinema, payTV, theatres and opera houses, recording studios, and so forth, which have been growing rapidly for decades, are about to undergo a number of massive "sideways shifts" towards new forms of engagement with the public.

Politics, political parties, and, indeed, government structures are one of the institutions that will need to change, even though inertia in these structures is huge. They may be among the last to change, but the shift will be all the more important when it occurs there.

Science and research must change, to some extent, must reinvent itself. More sideward shifts.

How we deal with aberration (crime, justice, war, etc.) will also need to change eventually as we become more aware of the interconnections between human beings and how aberrant we all are, if we only admitted it to ourselves.

Family and family arrangements, and marriage, will change even more than they have up until now!

The list goes on...

Opening statement

In this blog, I aim to explore the consequences of the major paradigm shift currently underway, as reported in my sister blog to 21stcenturyparadoxes.blogspot.com, in terms of our immediate environment, our ongoing daily lives and current world events.

I expect to do this in a variety of ways, not all of them linear or logical or argumentative in structure. Some blogs will be artistic, musical, elliptical and otherwise eclectic, following my own personal whim and otherworldly nature ;)

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