ore the middle of the last
century has literally ceased to exist. In its place is a communications
network that operates twenty-four hours in the day and seven days in the
week. By a move of the hand and a flick of a switch everybody can be in
touch with anybody and anybody with everybody almost everywhere.

Channels of communication, trade and travel keep members of the human
race constantly in touch with one another. Except for the solitary,
living alone in the wilderness (urban or rural) there is no hiding
place. Mechanisms supplementing man's five senses, see, feel, hear and
report everything.

Facility in communication provides a wealth of information. Using
available means of human communication, a central planetary authority
can inform, alert and arouse the entire human family with its 3,700
million members. Socially minded, it could announce and initiate the
measures necessary to maintain peace and order through conformity to a
common program of social action. Coordinating, integrating and
administering the channels of communication at the planetary level will
be a primary responsibility of any planet-wide economic program.

Planetary government will be responsible for establishing, maintaining
and improving a network of communication and education designed to
ensure both uniformity and diversity in the human population. The
revolution in science and technology has been particularly noteworthy
in the field of communication, extending from the family to the entire
human race; from the home telephone, the morning newspaper, the
phonograph, radio and television to regular mail delivery, the printing
press, the camera, lithography, the typewriter, tele-communication, the
computer, public address systems and the various devices for overhearing
and recording that produce more or less permanent records of casual
vocal expressions.

Planet-wide communication in the 1970's provides an example of the
transformation from economic localism to economic worldism during recent
times. By its very nature, communication tends to involve all four
corners of the planet. In that sense, communication tends to become
unique. It is not a real exception, however. Through communication
channels, knowledge concerning every aspect of man's economy, from
agriculture to commerce and finance, crosses frontiers almost
automatically, strengthening, deepening and integrating planet-wide
economy.

A planet-wide economy will not be designed,