The Sixth Wave

Originally published: Vintage/Random House Australia, 2010, 2010.

Making predictions about the future is a dangerous game, particularly when that future has never looked more uncertain. Natural resources are dwindling and we are wasting the resources we do have at an unparalleled rate. Climate change threatens our way of life and digital technology is advancing at such a rate as to leave many of us baffled. But far from being all ''doom and gloom'', these signs point to the emergence of an exciting new wave of innovation. Throughout modern history, the tide of innovation and progress has ebbed and flowed but a clear pattern exists - five waves of innovation, beginning with the Industrial Revolution, have each transformed society, economies and industry. The fifth wave was dominated by information and communications technology but its peak is beginning to fade and a new, brighter star is emerging. The sixth wave of innovation will be about resources - natural resources, human resources and information. With the challenge of a planet running out of essential supplies and a population staring down the barrel of Malthus' dire predictions, the sixth wave will see humanity finally make the break away from resource-dependence. Economic growth will no longer be tied to resource consumption or waste production (such as carbon) and industry will no longer think in terms of products but in terms of services. Everything, from the smallest leaf and light switch to the largest cities and online communities, will have a value that can be measured, so nothing is ever wasted. Driving this will be a spectacular boom in technologies ranging from clean technology to digital mapping to online collaboration. Traditional physical and geographical boundaries will mean nothing in a world where everything and everyone is online.

What are the major new growth markets of the future? Why do groundbreaking innovations - like the computer, the automobile or the steam engine in the past - increasingly fail to materialize? What are the current growth barriers that hinder the further development of economy and society? The reader will find answers to these questions in this book. The Theory of Long Waves serves as a scientific foundation. In short, it states that economic and social development is significantly determined by periodic cycles that last between 40 and 60 years. In honor of their discoverer Nikolai Kondratieff, these long waves are called Kondratieff cycles. Since the late 18th century, economists have empirically proven five Kondratieff cycles. The long waves have a particularly strategic role: those, who identify the respective current Kondratieff cycle early on are able to focus on the future, to take the lead in economic and social development and benefit the most from its momentum - just like the leading command of information technology during the last, the fifth Kondratieff cycle made full employment and increasing wealth possible for these countries. The sixth Kondratieff cycle has begun with the turn of this century. As the analyses in this book show, health care will be the driving force of this new Kondratieff cycle. However, health is not just seen in a physical, but also in a holistic sense, encompassing the physical, psychological, mental, psycho-mental, social, ecological and spiritual aspects. Why are health expenditures that were previously considered a mere cost factor going to assume the role of a growth locomotive in the future? We need to recall the findings of modern growth theory here: the most important source for economic growth in developed countries is productivity advancements. The analyses in this book show that a new understanding of health is indispensable to improve productivity on all levels of the economy and society. Thanks to this new understanding, health will become a strategic weapon for the next decades. This book is tailored to a general audience, includes 76 graphics and 13 tables and is aimed at stakeholders in economy and society, experts and managers and all those, who are interested in the future. Aside from a profound analysis, the book also describes measures to develop the sixth Kondratieff.

A brave, intimate, beautifully crafted memoir by a survivor of the tsunami that struck the Sri Lankan coast in 2004 and took her entire family. On December 26, Boxing Day, Sonali Deraniyagala, her English husband, her parents, her two young sons, and a close friend were ending Christmas vacation at the seaside resort of Yala on the south coast of Sri Lanka when a wave suddenly overtook them. She was only to learn later that this was a tsunami that devastated coastlines through Southeast Asia. When the water began to encroach closer to their hotel, they began to run, but in an instant, water engulfed them, Sonali was separated from her family, and all was lost. Sonali Deraniyagala has written an extraordinarily honest, utterly engrossing account of the surreal tragedy of a devastating event that all at once ended her life as she knew it and her journey since in search of understanding and redemption. It is also a remarkable portrait of a young family's life and what came before, with all the small moments and larger dreams that suddenly and irrevocably ended.

Ideology and Utopia in China’s New Wave Cinema investigates the ways in which New Wave filmmakers represent China in this age of neoliberal reform. Analyzing this paradigm shift in independent cinema, this text explores the historicity of the cinematic form and its cultural-political visions. Through a close reading of the narrative strategy of key films in New Wave Cinema, Xiaoping Wang studies the movement’s impact on film, literature, culture and politics.

Mobility is fundamental to economic and social activities such as commuting, manufacturing, or supplying energy. Each movement has an origin, a potential set of intermediate locations, a destination, and a nature which is linked with geographical attributes. Transport systems composed of infrastructures, modes and terminals are so embedded in the socio-economic life of individuals, institutions and corporations that they are often invisible to the consumer. This is paradoxical as the perceived invisibility of transportation is derived from its efficiency. Understanding how mobility is linked with geography is main the purpose of this book. The third edition of The Geography of Transport Systems has been revised and updated to provide an overview of the spatial aspects of transportation. This text provides greater discussion of security, energy, green logistics, as well as new and updated case studies, a revised content structure, and new figures. Each chapter covers a specific conceptual dimension including networks, modes, terminals, freight transportation, urban transportation and environmental impacts. A final chapter contains core methodologies linked with transport geography such as accessibility, spatial interactions, graph theory and Geographic Information Systems for transportation (GIS-T). This book provides a comprehensive and accessible introduction to the field, with a broad overview of its concepts, methods, and areas of application. The accompanying website for this text contains a useful additional material, including digital maps, PowerPoint slides, databases, and links to further reading and websites. The website can be accessed at: http://people.hofstra.edu/geotrans This text is an essential resource for undergraduates studying transport geography, as well as those interest in economic and urban geography, transport planning and engineering.

A guide to aligning your life with the frequencies of the Nine Waves of Creation • Explains the quantum physics behind the Waves of the Mayan Calendar system and how their holograms shape the human mind • Shows how throughout history each revolution in human consciousness has been driven by the activation of one of the Nine Waves of Creation • Reveals how we can consciously work to deactivate the negative patterns of the Sixth Wave and manifest the unity consciousness of the Ninth Wave In the past few years the world has witnessed changes in social consciousness whose sudden development the ruling scientific paradigm has not been able to explain. These changes correspond with the activation of new Waves of Creation emanating from the center of the universe that influence human thinking. From the Big Bang to the present, these Waves guide the evolution of the universe and, through their holographic resonance with the human mind, profoundly shape revolutions in religion, technology, economy, and social consciousness. Presenting a quantum-holographic perspective on world history and human consciousness, Carl Calleman explains the quantum physics behind the Waves of the Mayan Calendar system and how these Waves allow us to understand the shifting eras on Earth as well as the possibilities of the future. He describes how, prior to the activation of the 6th Wave in 3115 BCE, our social systems were based on a unified cosmic order, but the hologram of this Wave shifted society to an all-consuming focus on Good and Evil, leading to the rise of patriarchal religious structures, slavery, and warfare. He explores how later Waves and their new holograms helped humanity survive the negative effects of the 6th Wave, such as the Industrial Revolution of the 7th Wave and the Digital Revolution of the 8th Wave. In 2011, the 9th Wave was activated, bringing with it an accelerated push for a more egalitarian world, a rising awareness of unity consciousness, and access to the full power of all Nine Waves of Creation. Calleman explains how our individual resonance with each Wave plays a role in the quality of our lives and how we must consciously work to resonate with the higher Waves. Revealing how we can become quantum activists in a holographic world by aligning with the 9th Wave, the author shows how we each can help manifest the destiny of humanity hinted at in ancient texts.