Integration and Whole Futures

Global Challenges excerpt from the 2010 State of the Future report

Global Ethics

How can ethical considerations become more routinely incorporated into global decisions? [Challenge 15]


Global Ethics

How can ethical considerations become more routinely incorporated into global decisions? [Challenge 15]

 -- Brief Overview --

The global financial crisis demonstrated the interdependence of economics and ethics. While quick fixes have pulled the world out of recession, it is not clear that ethics has been addressed sufficiently to prevent future crises. International meetings of the G-20 and other forums are trying to reach agreements about how to improve systems in order to increase integrity, financial transparency, and accountability. The 140 countries of the UN Convention against Corruption have not come to an agreement on how to verify compliance with this treaty. As a result, Transparency International and others will provide an alternative compliance mechanism by contacting governments about their anti-corruption efforts and reporting the results publically at the Conference of the Parties in 2011.

Multinational business ethics is the focus of the UN Global Compact, with over 6,000 business participants, which has improved business-NGO collaboration, raised the profile of corporate responsibility programs, and increased businesses' non-financial reporting mandates in many countries. Although 1,800 businesses have been delisted for failing to report on their progress, the Compact grows by over 100 businesses per month. The approximately 70,000 multinational businesses constitute a potential force for global ethics if this movement continues. The International Criminal Court has successfully tried political leaders and proceedings are Web-cast. News media, blogs, mobile phone cameras, ethics commissions, and NGOs are increasingly exposing unethical decisions and corrupt practices. Collective responsibility for global ethics in decision making is embryonic but growing. Corporate social responsibility programs, ethical marketing, and social investing are increasing. Global ethics also are emerging around the world through the evolution of ISO standards and international treaties that are defining the norms of civilization.

At the same time, 12–27 million people are slaves today, more than at the height of the nineteenth century slave trade; the World Bank estimates over $1 trillion is paid each year in bribes; and organized crime takes in $2–3 trillion annually. Concerns are also growing about ties between organized crime and terrorism threatening the future of democracy. Meanwhile, trivial news and entertainment flood people's minds with unneeded products and unethical behavior.

Some experts speculate that the world is heading for a "singularity"—a time in which technological change is so fast and significant that people today are incapable of conceiving what life might be like beyond 2025. This acceleration of technological change seems beyond the ability of most people and institutions to comprehend, leading to ethical uncertainties. Do we have the right to clone ourselves, or to rewrite genetic codes to create thousands of new life forms, or to genetically change ourselves and future generations into new species? Individuals can now experiment with genetics to create new life forms in home labs without the safeguards of government and commercial laboratories.

Globalization and advanced technology allow fewer people to do more damage and in less time, so that possibly one day a single individual may be able to make and deploy a weapon of mass destruction. Hence the healthy psychological development of all children should be the concern of everyone. Such observations may be not new, but the consequences of failure to realize their importance may be much more serious in the future than in the past. New technologies also allow more people to do more good than ever before, such as single individuals organizing worldwide actions around specific ethical issues via the Internet. The moral will to act in collaboration across national, institutional, religious, and ideological boundaries that is necessary to address today's global challenges requires global ethics. Public morality based on religious metaphysics is challenged daily by growing secularism, leaving many unsure about the moral basis for decision making. This has been compounded for some, as the Catholic Church is embarrassed by the sexual misconduct of many of its priests. Unfortunately, religions and ideologies that claim moral superiority give rise to "we-they" splits.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights continues to shape discussions about global ethics and decisions across religious and ideological divides. UNESCO's Global Ethics Observatory is a set of databases of ethics institutions, teaching, codes of contact, experts, etc. UNESCO and the World Commission on the Ethics of Scientific Knowledge and Technology have initiated meetings on the ethical issues of climate change and assessed the advisability of creating a Universal Declaration of Ethical Principles in Relation to Climate Change. The climate change strategy of cap and trade gives rise to the ethical question, Should one population be allowed to pay another for their right to pollute? Similarly, is it right for pharmaceutical trials to move to poorer nations where rules are less strict and costs are lower?

Entertainment media could promote memes like "make decisions that are good for me, you, and the world." We need to create better incentives for ethics in global decisions, promote parental guidance to establish a sense of values, encourage respect for legitimate authority, support the identification and success of the influence of role models, implement cost-effective strategies for global education for a more enlightened world, and make behavior match the values people say they believe in. Spiritual education should grow in balance with the new powers given to humanity by technological progress. Challenge 15 will be addressed seriously when corruption decreases by 50% from the World Bank estimates of 2006, when ethical business standards are internationally practiced and regularly audited, when essentially all students receive education in ethics and responsible citizenship, and when there is a general acknowledgment that global ethics transcends religion and nationality.

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