Time, Conflict, and Human Values

Widely acknowledged as the world's foremost authority on the interdisciplinary study of time, J. T. Fraser moves easily among the realms of literature, philosophy, biology, physics, mathematics, ethics, and religion to excavate the foundations of human values and elucidate their role in the lives of individuals, societies, and the historical process. As the twenty-first century begins, five and a half billion people are crossing a cultural bridge: from social institutions appropriate for an earth where human groups could interact only very slowly, if at all, to one where all social institutions interact instantaneously and simultaneously. In this brilliant disquisition, Fraser addresses the challenge posed by a cyberspaced humanity to all received ideas about human values. Fraser builds his reasoning on an interpretation of the nature of time that permits a novel understanding of the dynamics of human values. He shows that seeking the true, doing what is right, and admiring what is beautiful, far from promoting permanence, continuity, and balance in individual and social affairs, actually perpetuate the chronic insecurity of the time-knowing species and drive its remarkable creativity and frightening destructiveness. A work of extraordinary depth and range,Time, Conflict, and Human Valueswill serve as a benchmark for all future discussions in the arena of human values.