VISION FOR THE 22ND CENTURY

In a not so distant 22nd century, specifically by 2100, a lot of changes and creative approaches would need to be made for planet earth to experience a truly better future and peace in the world.

By 2100, I envision a world where science, innovation and new technology will radically transform the world that we live in especially in army, wars, international security and regional conflicts. Particularly, my vision for these specific areas are:

• Terrorism: Terrorism will be a thing of the past. We would no longer have to worry about where the next terrorist attack will be because global scientific gadgets and equipment would have been developed to identify the formation of such activities even in the furthest and most rural parts of the earth. Hence, there would be an automated working method that effectively determines and predicts accurately the next terrorist attack and counters it immediately.
• Cyber security: In the next 80 years, threats to cyber security should be a thing of the past in the sense that just as the roads have police officers and security check points, the internet would have its own equipped “police officers” so no matter how cunning and crafty hackers are, they would always be caught and apprehended.
• Maritime piracy: Ships would not have to worry about getting robbed by pirates because there would be drones giving live feeds, hovering about the waters every single hour in a day. The drones will not be prone to attack or faults and would be very accurate and quick in data collection, and transmission.
• Armed forces: Army officers would have no business being at war fronts and risking their lives physically. They will have 100 percent assurance of coming back alive because the technological devices will be used to fight battles, and in instances where they must be on the field as humans, they will not be prone to losing their lives because there would be technology that secures them from the effects of bullets and grenades.
• Drug trafficking: In the 22nd century, drug trafficking should be a thing of the past not just because it’s not legal but rather science, innovations and technology would enable police officers and boarder officials to visually see the substance from far off irrespective of whether it is concealed or not.

INTRODUCTION

In the current world we live in called planet earth, we are faced with numerous and diverse problems in which solutions are yet to provided or discovered. For some of these problems, the solutions that currently exist are ineffective or inefficient, hence not being able to solve some of the most complex problems faced in human history. Problems are no respecter of place or person, however, depending on the part of the world one lives in, problems and problem-solving skills and capacities differ enormously. For instance, in a study conducted by SAMHSA, it was evidenced that in 2016, more than 38.8 million people over the age of 12 admitted to at least one-lifetime use of cocaine in the United States of America and in 2017, this figure rose 40.6 million individuals. Contrasting this with problems in other countries and continents shows the diversity of problems faced in the world. For example, according to Wikipedia, as at 2012, Nigeria was estimated to have lost over $400 billion to corruption since independence. However, these two scenarios are not absolute or exclusive; the evidence provided does not necessarily mean that USA does not experience corruption as a nation or that Nigeria does not have cocaine problems, it simply means that depending on the context and location, the extent of certain societal problems, and emphasis on them differ. This paper aims to unpack and examine a range of problems that are all interconnected and offer theoretical and practical solutions.

 

GOALS AND OBJECTIVES OF THIS RESEARCH PAPER

• To examine a range of interconnected multiple societal problems affecting the world, as a whole
• To highlight the salient adverse effects of such problems
• To offer innovative solutions to the highlighted problems

 

A close look at the armed forces globally

The armed forces are operatives usually tasked with the duty of keeping a nation safe from any form of threat whatsoever. However, a usual challenge towards the army in many countries is gross underfunding which is closely linked to a continual decline in their budgets – with governments attributing it to the allocation of resources to other sectors in a country, especially in countries that are attributed to be peaceful. However, what some countries do not realize is that with the evolution of new technology keeps daily, it is paramount that military technology is should be at the forefront of technological innovations so that they can be ready for anything that comes their way. Unfortunately, some countries don not realize the importance of this until the time are being attacked and lack the capacity and technological advancement to respond to such attacks. This is one of the reasons why USA still remains the world power today, because each year it constantly invests significantly in resources to upgrade its military equipment and intelligence. According to Wikipedia, on the 28th of September 2018, the President of the United States of America, President Donald Trump signed the Department of Defense appropriations bill which is $686.1 billion. This is not comparable to many nations in the world, especially African nations like Nigeria, who have been affected by the activities of terrorists’ groups for several years.

 

Living in a society plagued with regional conflicts

Terrorism can be attributed to many causes, and one is usually conflict. Simply put, conflict is the disagreement between two or more parties, but regional conflict is further complicated as it can be heightened by political, economic, environmental, ethnic and social factors and is usually deeply tied to a people’s sense of place or belonging. These conflicts can usually only be resolved with multiple nations involved. This kind of conflict if not handled appropriately can cause strife between the two regions hence if transactions were normally carried out between the two regions, that may hinder it.

So, in general, it is known that conflicts occur everywhere around the globe, whether it be political, inter-personal, intra-personal, or even frozen conflicts.

Conflicts has become a norm in societies at large now, and even though it may have some adverse effects, it also has a lot of unappreciated advantages. I know it may seem like an oxymoron to have conflict and advantage in the same sentence, but it has its positive side. One of the mistakes most people, organizations and nations make is to try so hard to prevent and manage conflicts in which they themselves cannot see the positive sides of conflict. Conflict on its own is inevitable and if it is not managed properly it can escalate a long way. I feel like conflicts on its own doesn’t bring benefits, but how it is handled and managed is what brings benefit which can include ability to solve problems better, improved productivity, etc.

Terrorism fueled by weakened armed forces or conflict?

Terrorism has undergone a lot of phases over the years. Take for instance, back in the 90’s or 80’s where the terrorist then would usually take hold and captivate probably a region or two regions. Now, we have terrorist groups that are known on a global scale, like Al-qaeda and ISIS. These terrorist groups do not just speak about their perceptions of ‘right’, but they have battalions of weapons and try to coarse people to believe in what they believe in. These groups have instilled a lot of fear, anguish and tragedy into the lives of people, families and nations as a whole, and this is evidenced in the traumas and stories of some of the survivors which were fortunate enough to be able to live in the “lion’s den” and still be able to give an account of it. You would be able to see how horrific and animalistic their account was, women turned into sex slaves, men turned into farmers, some unimaginable things that even a normal human would never do cattle.

A ReachOut article defines terrorism as the use or threat of violence that aims to spread fear in a population, and to advance a political, ideological or religious cause. From this definition, for a terrorist act to be enforced, there must be the use of force or coercion. An example can be seen in the recent terrorist attack that took place in New Zealand where a white man who felt like the immigrants were taking over New Zealand decided he wanted to do something about it for the “white’s” to keep their supremacy, hence he went on to carry such a barbaric act which involved him killing people at Christchurch mosques during prayers.

From the word terror, you can see that for a terrorist group to gain ample ground, two factors must be in place, firstly the use of force, and secondly in the way it is carried out i.e. it must be so inhumane for the fear this terrorist seek from people to be instilled in the people. Take for example when Osama Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda attacked the world trade center on the 9th of September 2011. This was clearly a terrorist attack, and although the government could not prevent it then because they never thought such an attack was possible, government officials are still stunned till date of how “creative” it was.

It is important that to prevent such a problem from happening, governments should not allow terrorists groups any room to gain ground whatsoever or allow them to grow or establish themselves in any way. Once an initial first attack has been carried out and the group announces themselves and their manifestos, governments should work with other governments and well-resourced forces to flush out the group in any and every way possible, because once given time to grow and build, they would be able to capitalize on it so much that even taking out their leader would not be enough to stop their attacks or growth. Take for example, Al qaeda. Osama Bin Laden might be dead, but Al-Qaeda is not, and it is because they had ample time to grow.

It is also important to come to the realization that terrorist groups constantly undergo innovation and advancement. The way terrorists thought in the 90’s is not the same way they think now and for this reason, governments should be innovative in their approach and be ahead technologically. I mean by now it should be evidently clear to everyone who can see that technology keeps on innovating day in and day out, there should not be need for our soldiers to die no more except in severe cases. I mean, when a drone can be sent out to the desert or forest to inspect it and report live feed in real time (it could even be camouflaged to resemble the desert, and probably solar powered to ensure efficiency) there would not be need for our soldiers to die no more.

Drug trafficking, a salient nation killer

According to Justicia, drug trafficking, also known as drug distribution, is the crime of selling, transporting, or illegally importing unlawful controlled substances, such as heroin, cocaine, marijuana, or other illegal drugs. Please note briefly that drug trafficking doesn’t refer to just the transport of illegal or illicit drugs, it can also mean legal drugs being transported through illegal means. There are different kinds of illicit drugs and they come in various sizes with different methods of intake. Drug trafficking has been around since the early 19th century and it has really done a lot of harm to the society at large. Drug trafficking has had and still has so much adverse effects ranging from mild ones such as fatigue, depression, low appetite to ones so severe such as mental illness or even overdosing which could easily lead to death.

The problem of drug trafficking does not just affect one country, or the nations mostly highlighted in the news for experiencing this problem, it is a global issue. The fact about drug trafficking is that ideally there is no clear-cut effort or solution to solve the issue we term as “drug trafficking”, rather what can be done is to try and reduce its reach drastically immensely. Drug cartels (that is the people in charge of the growth and transport of the illicit drugs to final consumers), when examined by the law in the just completed “El-Chapo case trial” it was seen that the cartels that may just seem random and may look like as if processes are just carried out anyhow, but from testimonies of former drug gangs they were able to point out and even prove that this so called gangs actually have a very organized and meticulous structure that everybody must follow. When dealing with drug traffickers (which are usually from drug cartels), the upmost precision must be taken and adhered to if not, the slightest mistake could be very catastrophic.

According to Wikipedia, the Organization of American States estimated a whopping $34 billion in 2013 for cocaine sales in the US. At this juncture, it is important to point out that the US has one of the largest amounts of border checkpoints and yet this much cocaine could still be smuggled into it. Looking at the Sinaloa cartel, their most recent capture was the leader then of the cartel. But looking now at it again, even though the cartel lost its leader, they almost never felt it because almost immediately there was a replacement for his post and now, he is just captioned a “fallen leader”. Cartels have really gotten creative about the way they transport their drugs ranging from smuggling through the checkpoints to smuggling it in sugar packs to smuggling it through toys all the way to even building underground tunnels to safe and secure package of the goods.

Considering of how creative these traffickers have become, it really puts the efficiency of the government to test and work, and they always must be on their best game. In order for governments to be able to impede the success of this traffickers, they are going to have to put in place such strategic plans such as setting up baits for these traffickers to take up so they can be locked up. It can be in various ways such as bait cars, bait buyers etc. just so they can pick up the traffickers. I know that this solution may seem on the slow side, but if one trafficker can be put behind bars hence saving many from overdosing on drugs, then it should be worth it. Another possibly solution the government could employ is to go on a general search for their accomplices, in as much as the cartels have excellent methods to bypass the authorities, they are almost so perfect in what they do and that it is not possible if they do not have co-conspirators which are also aiding them and possibly funding them most likely for some gain in the profit.  Another solution that can be possibly carried out is the addition of the adverse effects of illicit drugs to school’s curriculum at all levels. One of the causes of drug abuse is ignorance, a student might not know the harmful effects and might just be getting the supply from his friends, when he finally figures out the effect it may be too late for him because he may probably be addicted or worse dead.  Another solution proffered even though this is after one may have been addicted, one should be offered counselling, therapy and addiction services when the person realizes the effects and wants to turn a new leaf. No one should be rejected or subjected to any form of seclusion just because they were once drug addicts, if that happens the person is most likely to go back to his/her former habits and since the traffickers do not care about individuals but are driven by making their money, he/she is likely to overdose.

Maritime piracy: A ticking time bomb?

Maritime piracy is the plundering, hijacking, or detention of a ship in international waters. It is usually a robbery of a ship by armed bandits on the sea. This has evolved over the centuries but remains a challenge to international law, and they always make sure it is so strategic in the sense that they attack when you are already deep into the sea and you cannot easily call for help.

Piracy is popular in Africa and the people who usually attack is called pirates or bandits and if the situation is not properly handled it can lead to loss of lives. Most times what the pirates wants are just valuables and cash and if they have their way, everyone goes back safe and sound. Now one major reason this happens is take for instance in countries like Somalia where the GDP is so poor to the extent that some indigenes can live on merely 2$ a day, it can be bad. They tend to feel like the visitors have come to make money on their land and since they do not have ample money or sources of income, they feel they have a right to the belongings of such visitors, hence maritime piracy. Maritime piracy tends to cause effects such as a decline in the attraction of tourists, also since the number of tourists reduces that means it will have a toil on the country’s economy and in adverse cases there could be kidnapping and even death toils at some encounters.

Some minor and major solutions have been applied together with technology inputs and have equally been put into place to help prevent and avoid such issues. These include the introduction of automatic identification systems in which and vessel monitoring systems such as GPS, so that in the case where the vessel is stolen it will be able to be tracked down easily and speedily. However, does this solve the problem?

Convergence of the outlined problems

We live in an interconnected and interdependent world and one thing that should be noted is that all the challenges discussed (and many others) intertwine and meet at a point. Take for instance cyber security, cyber security is the process or state of protecting one’s networks, devices and programs from malicious attacks which can come from viruses, hackers etc. We currently live in an information and internet age and something so important such as securing one’s files, devices etc. should not be toyed with because in the blink of an eye, someone else could take hold of your identity online (identity theft) and destroy your reputation. A decline in one’s cyber security compromises information security, especially if someone else has assumed his identity and this makes cyber security one of the most budgeted things in a country’s budget.

Linking and narrowing it down to information and data protection and security, if a country’s data is to be compromised, technically their national security is at stake. This could foster terrorism attacks and even regional conflicts and a weakened armed force would make the situation worse. The cycle goes on and on and evidences the intrinsically complex nature of wicked problems. However, what approaches can be taken to solve some of the problems expatiated on?

CREATIVE APPROACHES TO OUTLINED PROBLEMS

Although we are in the technological age, we cannot still be able to achieve everything we think of, although we can do our best to try. Many of the societal problems we are faced with are “wicked problems” and solving them totally would be impossible. However, it is paramount that steps are taken, and policies considered to resolve these problems which have a no-stopping rule. Potential solutions were offered as part of the discourse above but some points to consider in tackling the problems outlined above include:

• Employ the use of modern technological innovations and artificial intelligence to substitute certain duties of armed forces officials: Humans that constitute the armed forces should not be dying “fighting” for their country. We live in a technological age and technological innovations such as robots and drones should be at the battle front fighting, not human beings. A major setback to this is that there has never been a perfect software made that would be able to emulate a human being fully, especially with thinking processes that involve rationality and intuitiveness on the part of humans. Another issue that could arise from this will be the ethics and ethical considerations of this approach. However, a good solution to this should be to invest in the officials and persons who make this robots and operate them, or give directives in such situations, with the aim to ensure that these tools are appropriately tested and the armed forces are recruited and trained to employ and retain staff that highly advanced critical thinking in complex situations.

The same applies to cyber security challenges. It is imperative to always keep systems updated and keep evolving and innovating with technology to keep ensure privacy, protect data and keep information and data safe.

• The United Nations should step in a lot more into the affairs of countries undergoing conflict: Whether it be political, regional, etc., the united nations can act as an arbitrator between the two or more conflicting parties, hence making the conflict amicable. A key consideration in debates related to this is that the United Nations ought to remain neutral. However, with the powers and authority it has been vested with, it has most influence of this issue globally and can set strict guidelines and rules to guide against and resolve conflicts in diverse contexts. These guidelines can be set in collaboration and the involvement of other important international bodies like the world bank, the World Trade Organization, etc., to raise the stakes for countries considering having unresolved countries with others.
• Global awareness of drug trafficking: Taking a cue from climate change, raising awareness about the extent of this problem globally would be a step to take in combating the problem, and this would have a considerable large effect. When the discourse of climate change began to happen initially, it was the problem of the first world countries. However, with awareness constantly being raised, there have been more knowledge and understanding spread across the world regarding the global effect of this problem and what people can do to solve it- from individuals changing their behaviours towards energy consumption and disposal of waste, to policymakers deciding on regulatory instruments, it is obvious awareness served as a major trigger. In the case of drug trafficking, there should be an awareness of the nature of this underlying problem and the long-term effects of drug trafficking globally so that no one would be left behind ignorantly thinking about it as a problem of “it’s just a sniff and it ends there”.
• Satellites and adequate surveillance techniques are vital to combating terrorism: There should be use of more satellites to track the operations of terrorists and terrorists’ groups that are on the wanted list, in conjunction with intelligence information. Every country should have a well-resourced satellite, and governments of countries should partner and relay information to one another for there to be an effective counter terrorism mission. However, this can be quite difficult due to diverse political and economic landscapes across the world.
• Indigenized workforce: For maritime piracy, foreign organizations in operation at countries should recruit and include the local indigenes in their workforce in a locality. Examining the international development organizations around the world, this approach was absent for years but shifts started happening over time and this model has worked very well in many countries all over the world. Now, when interacting with international development organizations at their country offices, a large percentage of staff members are usually sourced locally, and this helps the work being done to advance significantly and breeds trust in other locals. However, this might not be the easiest feat to achieve without government interventions and policies. Governments should mandate this as part of requirements for the operation of foreign investors in the maritime industry. The set policies should be reasonably considered as well, to ensure that they do not threaten foreign investment in this industry.
• Financing: Funding should be made available for technological innovations that cut across various sectors. Financial investments should also be made in new and upgraded military equipment, and adequate allocations should be included in annual budgets dedicated to funding innovations and innovative ideas. For less technological inclined nations such as Nigeria, further financial investment can be made by sending scientists and inventors to more technological advanced nations so that they can learn, come back and make an impact in innovation in their own country.
• Innovations with new technology: Extremism which can be likened to terrorism, should not be difficult to handle as long we are willing to invest properly in technological advancements. From wherever the army is, they should be able to send a drone out to scout and survey the area for hostile militants. This drone should be like a chameleon — in the sense that with respect to its environment, the colour of the drone should be able to change and blend in with the environments hence making it very deceptive and hard to notice. It should also be able to move with utmost stealth for the enemy not to sight it. In the case of detection of hostiles, they could be gunned down with the use of the satellites in space, just as enumerated above.

CONCLUSION

It is obvious that there are a lot of challenges the world is facing at large, and it is not up to national governments alone to fix these wicked problems. Individuals can be extremely instrumental solving world problems by utilizing their skills, expertise, and by offering clear cut and precise innovative ideas to make the world a better place to live in. A popular saying ‘little drops of water make a mighty ocean’ sums up the importance of positive individual contributions in this context, as the little things we do as humans have the power to foster a better inhabitable planet earth. At the end of the day, if and when we have a better world at large, the positive impact is not going to be felt by just the government alone, it will affect and be felt by all, including the young bright minds as well.

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REFERENCES

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APPLICATIONS

This research paper can be useful in solving some of the problems encountered by the military, in conflict resolution and peace keeping globally and can be a source of further research towards tackling global problems and achieving sustainable development.