Pandora's Box

John Robb claims that the onrush of globalization has unlocked Pandora's Box, giving groups plenty of motivations for war:

Toxic ideas. When western European colonists arrived on the shores of previously isolated locations, they often carried many afflictions to which they had immunity (a product of a large and diverse population). The result was devastating to local populations since they didn't share this immunity. A reprise of this process is underway within the world of ideas. Ideas (or Richard Dawkins' memes) for which we have a certain degree of immunity to — from alcohol to pornography to divorce to gambling to irreverence... — in the developed world can be toxic to those populations that are now exposed by globalization. The result is a violent reaction as people turn to primary loyalties for protection. For an excellent primer on this, please watch a short video by the philosopher Dan Dennett (at TED). We've seen this from Thailand to Algeria.

Indeed, watch the video: