Sixty years since the end of World War II is two generations. And two generations is long enough to measure whether there has been a substantial change in direction in how mankind orders its affairs. It is clear that it has. Not just in matters of war and peace- there has not been a Third World War- but in its attitude to poverty, economic progress, human rights, its habitat and its relationship to the other sex and its offspring. In all there have been great strides forward that at the time of the ending of the war seemed barely conceivable.
Conundrums of Humanity poses eleven questions for our future progress, ranging from “Can we diminish War?” to “How far and fast can we push forward the frontiers of Human Rights?” to “Will China dominate the century?”. The answers to these questions, the author believes, growing out of his long experience as a foreign correspondent and columnist for the International Herald Tribune, are largely positive ones, despite the hurdles yet to be overcome. They all depend for fruition, partly on building on the important work already accomplished, partly on creating a more benign and positive atmosphere in the world order and partly on demonstrating how the world can be even better in the future and thus giving the world’s peoples a sense of forward momentum.