Although the news we are constantly subjected to regarding the state of human affairs around the globe gives us cause to be pessimistic about prospects for the future viability of the species, there are also trends that may suggest a different future. I have come to this conclusion not out of unfounded optimism or purely wishful thinking but rather out of the realization that there exists an insatiable hunger within the vast majority of the world's people for a more peaceful world grounded in true human equality and social justice. The desire to satiate this longing is evidenced by the...