Focused commerce and blurred social goals, coupled to weak institutions is not a recipe for progress. Many of the forces described in the scenario Renewed Foundations begin to express themselves, but from polar positions which it is hard to recover. Growth begins to slow after 2010, and markets falter as they realise that some of the headier options will not pass the test of social acceptability. The acute nature of the demographic crisis begins to bite in some nations during this period. In addition, the absence of international structures expresses itself in three ways.
Fast growth has causes environmental degradation to accelerate in many poor nations.
Poor institutions have combined badly with access to international commercial machinery and the relationships struck between the middle income ad poor nations are exploitative, painful and the source of much discontent. Migration is out of control, and crime is widespread. Three particular forms of crime strike into the industrial world. Intellectual property, laboriously created, is stolen. Activities which the industrial nations regulate for social reasons such as managing the nature of your offspring, extreme cloning technologies and psychoactive chemicals and neural modifications are available to visitors and by mail.