海角大神

The Trump administration has been signaling that the United States should be pulling back from alliances and treaties. Some call this an abdication of the US leadership role. But the White House maintains the US can still lead while running a leaner, more efficient foreign-policy operation.

Typically, when a natural disaster hits, Americans with more resources bounce back faster. Will post-Harvey Houston find a way to manage a more equitable recovery?聽

What happened to South Sudan's "Freedom Bridge"? Announced five years ago, it was intended to reach across the Nile and improve the infant country's economic connections to Kenya and Uganda. But then things got complicated.聽

Why are environmental issues so often associated with a liberal worldview?聽Humans aren鈥檛 born Republicans and environmentalists, notes a conservative environmentalist. Rather, they become both of these things after witnessing waste.聽

Is change really possible in Washington? Two authors have some ideas. A lot depends, they say, on the model you start with. 聽

Ten years after Apple made the smartphone 鈥渃ool,鈥� it wants to turn its retail stores into something warm. It announced last week that the nearly 500 Apple Stores will no longer really be stores but 鈥渢own squares.鈥� In the era of social everything, Apple鈥檚 glass-and-white-walled boxes are to become gathering places. People will be invited to 鈥渞elax, meet up with friends, or just listen to a local artist on the weekends.鈥�

If that sounds a lot like your local mall, Starbucks, or even McDonald鈥檚 鈥� commercial places designed to be social spaces 鈥� Apple鈥檚 idea goes further. It wants to attract 鈥渋nfluencers,鈥� or thinkers and leaders who can create new connections or spark new ideas. The 鈥済enius bar鈥� will become a 鈥済enius grove,鈥� with plants that might promote friendliness. Courses such as photography will be offered in 鈥渇orums.鈥� Children can attend a 鈥渒ids hour鈥� on Saturdays. Apple products will be sold in 鈥渁venues.鈥� Local entrepreneurs can use rooms to work. The open spaces will be 鈥減lazas,鈥� suitable for concerts or lectures.

Apple is hardly the first American tech firm to encourage and satisfy people鈥檚 desire for a sense of belonging, either in cyberspace or physical space. Google claims it offers 鈥渁 rich experience for community conversations.鈥� Airbnb encourages guests to join common activities, or 鈥渆xperiences.鈥� The world鈥檚 greatest connector, however, may be Facebook, with more than a billion users. It claims to 鈥渕ake it easy to coordinate with friends near and far.鈥�

As French writer Alexis de Tocqueville noted in the 19th century, 鈥淎mericans of all ages, all conditions, and all dispositions constantly form associations.鈥� And that is why the US Constitution protects the right of peaceable assembly. The Digital Age isn鈥檛 just about hardware, software, or 鈥渢he internet of things.鈥� It can also be an 鈥渋nternet of community,鈥� or what Wired magazine described in 2005 as an 鈥渆lectricity of participation.鈥�

The biggest gap between countries today, says Klaus Schwab, founder of the World Economic Forum, isn鈥檛 as much about the disparity of wealth as it is about those who are connected and those who aren鈥檛. According to a new report by the United Nations-backed Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development, 52 percent of the world鈥檚 population still do not have internet access. Most of those people are in Asia and Africa. Yet, in a sign of how people can leapfrog old technology, two-thirds of people do have access to mobile phones 鈥� more than those who have electricity at home, a bank account, or running water. People crave the bonds of community as much as their worldly needs.

The Digital Age comes with many problems, writes Mr. Schwab in a new book, 鈥淭he Fourth Industrial Revolution.鈥� But it can also 鈥渓ift humanity into a new collective and moral consciousness based on a sense of shared destiny. The choice is ours.鈥�

Apple鈥檚 鈥榯own squares鈥� may be only one of many shared places to come up with that shared destiny.