Culture,perception of reality,and the newly emerging planning paradigm

Three development decades have illustrated the strikingly varied performance of some 150 countries linked with their different cultural backgroud from which values, skills, motivation, social discipline, capability for flexible adaptation, and a sense of responsibility for the community emerge. We observe different perceptions of reality and distinct patterns of interacting with it. Increasing cross-cultural dialogue reconciling rational and intuitive approaches may lead to a more comprehensive world view conceiving socio-economic development as part of a global evolutionary process towards rising differentiation, complexity, and Intelligence at large. A holistic perspective and an awareness of the interrelatedness of all phenomena of life may be instrumental in giving way to a responsible use of scarce resources and an intelligent mode of handling both nature and human affairs in a viable balance.