The World in 2030

30 The World in 2030
imports of American television shows and films. But the
renowned veteran American futurist John Naisbitt 50 (author
of the best-selling 1982 book ‘Megatrends’ 51 ) rejects the idea
that globalisation is a form of American cultural colonialism.
In his 2006 book ‘Mind Set! Reset Your Thinking And See
The Future’ he observes:
The question is: ‘Does globalization mean Americanization?’
My short answer is no. In measuring
globalization, we can count telephone calls, currency
flows, trade sums, and so on, but the spread of culture
and ideas cannot be so easily measured. Embedded
in the present is the unrecognized paradox that
culturally, America itself is changing more dramatically
than America is changing the world. Immigration
is reshaping America more profoundly than
America’s influence around the world. In the United
States there are more Chinese restaurants than there
are McDonald’s. 52
However, another world-famous American futurist, Jeremy
Rifkin 53 – author of the bestselling books ‘The End of
Work’, 54 ‘The Biotech Century’ 55 and ‘The Age of Access’ 56 –
sees both sides of the argument. He writes in his 2002 book
‘The Hydrogen Economy’:
Globalization is the defining dynamic of our time.
Proponents look to it as the next great economic
advance for humanity and as a way to improve the
lives of people everywhere. Its critics view it as the
ultimate example of corporate dominance over the
affairs of society and as a means to deepen the gap