ABSTRACT
We speak of being interconnected in a global village. In fact, governments do interact with one another in terms of politics and economics: We are allies and trading partners, and the rapidity of communication possible today allows us to keep in touch with the far corners of the planet instantly. This interaction is also responsible for cultural diffusion, a process that has allowed every society to become acquainted with the products, if not the culture, of every other society. Interaction is not really such a new phenomenon: For thousands of years interbreeding has occurred on a large scale, so that no “pure” stock exists anywhere in the world (with the possible exception of small groups that may exist in inaccessible locations). On the whole, however, it seems that people have chosen to stress their differences rather than their similarities. As a result, much of human history has been primarily a record of struggles and conflicts, of conquests and oppression, even of genocide, with one group of people pitted against another.
