THE HIDDEN CONNECTIONS
A SCIENCE FOR SUSTAINABLE LIVING

HarperCollins, London, May 2002

Recent scientific discoveries indicate that all of life -- from the most primitive cells, up to human societies, corporations and nation states, even the global economy -- is organized along the same basic patterns and principles: those of the network. In The Hidden Connections, Fritjof Capra has developed a unified, systemic understanding that integrates the biological, cognitive and social dimensions of life and demonstrates clearly how life at all levels is inextricably interlinked by complex networks.

As the new century unfolds, there are two developments which will have a defining impact on the future of humanity. Both have to do with networks and both involve radically new technologies. One is the rise of global capitalism, concerned with electronic networks of financial and informational flows; the other is the creation of sustainable communities based on ecological literacy and the practice of ecodesign, and is concerned with ecological networks of energy and material flows. The goal of the global economy is to maximize the wealth and power of its elites; the goal of ecodesign is to maximize the sustainability of the web of life.

These two movements are currently on a collision course: whereas every member of a living network is included and contributes to the sustainability of the whole, global capitalism is based on the principle that money-making should take precedence over all other values, which creates great armies of the excluded, and creates an economic, social and cultural environment which is not life-enhancing but life-degrading, in both a social and an ecological sense. The great challenge of the twenty-first century is to change the value system currently underlying the global economy to one that is compatible with the demands of human dignity and ecological sustainability.

Capra demonstrates conclusively how tightly humans are connected with the fabric of life and makes it clear that it is imperative to organize the world according to a set of values and beliefs that is not driven solely by the economic imperative, not only for the well-being of human organizations, but for the survival and sustainability of humanity as a whole.