Dear Kosmos Reader,

The new global era that is emerging offers exciting promise that some of the regrettable legacies of the dying Industrial Age will be overcome by the powers and possibilities of the vibrant new Information Age, the Age of Networking. Already the effects of worldwide networks are radically changing our personal and collective lives in every dimension: political, economic, cultural, and social.

To begin to look at some of the current and probable future consequences of the Information Age, Kosmos asked the contributors to this issue to ponder, “How do we know what we know?” From a cultural perspective we decided that education and media were the major institutions that informed us, while networks distributed what we knew and connected us to others. (There are 1.5 million networks in the US alone, and 50,000 are added each year.)

With our increased global connectivity comes a new environment charged with the tension of radical change. Scarcity and abundance, separative fears and connecting love, competitive alliances and cooperative partnerships are examples of forces traditionally in antagonism with each other that are now opening to new alignments that are mutually accommodating and respectful.

Democratic access to information is key to the continuation and development of these world-changing shifts, and the Internet that made it all possible offers ever-expanding additional possibilities. Yet already the Internet’s potential to serve is at risk from self-interested power bases. Only public engagement can safeguard the opportunities it offers.

Is access to information a human right? We are told that we have only begun to see the potential for manipulating information and distorting truth through abuses of media and education. Already we are being challenged to remain discerning as the power of moving images to sway us is felt in films and video productions that are based on history but present the makers’ version of the truth. The media we trusted to be watchdogs of business and government are now often partners in disinformation.

Some time ago Mikhail Gorbachev realized the magnitude of the problem of protecting truth from distortion. He called together experienced international journalists to dialogue about the state of the media today. This meeting exposed the worldwide penetration and subversion of the media by the power of business and governments whose self-interest obscures their moral compass. Kosmos reports on these discussions in its opening article.

Inundated as we already are by waves of corporate advertising via the Internet, its limitless expansion promises more flooding of data. Wikipedia and Google are examples of access to information whose quantities are too large to handle and whose quality is too difficult to ascertain. Joe Firmage offers a confident vision of the possible transformation of the World Wide Web from poverty to richness. Don't miss the Digital Universe he has created. It is called the PBS of the Internet. Meanwhile, as Vicente Garcia-Delgado warns us, we must remain aware that the Digital Universe has as much power to separate as to join together—and that those left behind in the Digital Divide are uniquely disadvantaged in today’s world, with no place in tomorrow’s.

Exploring issues of quality and values provokes thoughts about the higher self in Rolland Smith’s musings about the potential of the media to elevate itself. In so doing, it can lift us with it to the best we are capable of. Education, too, must join the media in reaching for high purpose and service in the global era. Are our children being educated to meet the challenges of the 21st century—provided, that is, that they are not among the 43 million children beset by war and poverty who have no educational opportunity at all; or who are indoctrinated into fundamentalist religious programs; or who are trained with outdated material suitable for nationalism rather than global engagement? Will they be fortunate enough to be among the children taught at Saybrook Institute, for example, or at the Integral Institute—or through a program such as that advocated by Arthur Zajonc: one that honors the development of wisdom and the interior life so that children will develop into valuable contributors to a whole new society?

Who will be the educated elite and who will be left out? In an era when no one can know everything, networks are key to the new civilization. They are proliferating in government, economics, the social order—and as they do, they are empowering unprecedented thrusts for decentralization of power.

As we discover and participate in developing new ways of finding truth, connecting with each other, and sharing information, we are making history by building world community and a new global civilization. Walking with beauty…elevating perspectives…touching the human heart…engaging with wisdom…. This is what will define the new era. Quality replaces quantity as the measure of the times.

Kosmos honors the visionary artists and thinkers and doers in this issue who offer you the best they have. Their dedication gives us the courage to Be in the world and to stand for and create a new world of hope.