What the electronic acceleration of history means is that troubling new trends must be caught at much earlier stages if there is to be any chance of altering their course and affecting outcomes. Whether it is exploding populations and vast intercontinental migrations, endemic poverty or a painful redefinition of labor by computers, problems cannot be left to fester until they are turned into disasters and then uncontrollable violence. The politics of reaction and crisis management needs to give way to a new system that assigns its highest priority to social detection and prevention. Preventive politics. Preventive diplomacy. And yes, preventive journalism. A systematic and continuing effort to patrol ahead for causes before they become results, to attack problems in the deepest recesses of society before they grow into political strife and then explosions.

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