Civilizace na rozcestí

The rapid scientific and technological development initiated by the industrial revolution in the 18th century brought numerous changes to the traditional way of life. Utilizing the results of this development allowed for extending and improving the quality of the human life. Other side of this process is the dissolution of traditonal social values, destroying the environment and emergence of new risks related to potential abuse of scientific findings. According to some views, the future of mankind is seriously endangered. To avert this danger, it is imperative to make far-reaching changes to the current way of life, the value system and exploitation of natural resources. The solution should be to apply the sustainable development approach. An opposing view states that the current state of mankind is, thanks to the stable economic growth, better than at any point in the past and that only the continuation of the economic growth can create conditions for solving the current issues.