2nd Monthly TOEFL Essay; 21st century

2nd Monthly TOEFL Prompt; The 21st century has begun. What changes do you think this new century will bring? Use examples and details in your answer. 

 The 20th century was coined as the Age of Extremes by the famous modern historian Eric Hobsbawm. It was the age of dichotomy, the age of clashes and the age of the world turning upside down. It engendered many changes and development, as well as numerous victims. The 21st century is the initiation of the Third Millennium and many different figures are trying to predict and at the same time carve the new era, mostly to the good way; to embrace and go with the former victims. Thus, the changes of this new century are followings; the equality of the knowledge, tolerance on the diversity, and, ironically, integration.

 First of all, the equality of the knowledge would be one of the most foremost change in 21st century. The development of internet leads the wave of the equality and countless companies, universities and scholastic academies have established their archives on the internet.  Before the wave, the people in the distance place or relatively lower classes were hardly able to access to the high-quality sources, but the internet marked the watershed. Students in Korea now can access library catalogues of Cambridge, bloggers who are no more than common citizens are able to approach Wikileaks to analyze current affairs and people under repression use SNS to urge for cooperation. Confidences are opened and dictatorship based on mobocracy cannot stand anymore. The age of intellectual equality arrived and the equality is spreading to other parts of the society.

 Also, the increase of the diversity should be noted. Under the dichotomous circumstance (the Cold War) of the late 20th century,the calls for the diversity and minority was often ignored. However, as the former system collapsed the demand for the diversity was realized as the drastic increase of religious, cultural, national and terrestrial conflicts. Not only clashes but also the rights of the minority groups extended such as homo-sexual, transgenders, feminists, immigrants, paupers and minority races. Not even a century before, it was normal to repress and even to commit homicide to these kinds of people, but the Volonté Générale of the 21st century doesn't allow such 'crimes'. The age of ideology passed and the age of the tolerance and the diversity is coming. Although we have a long way to go, and the upcoming age still coexists with terrorism, violence and prejudice, but the new century will bring a progress and that would be the tolerance on the diversity.

 The third one seems to be a contradictory change; the integration, or collaboration. The globalization had now become a irresistible tide, and quite a number of futurologist predicts that the boundary splitting countries to countries would soon disappear, or at least become meaningless. World economy will be united; such as ASEAN, OPEC, APEC and various free trade agreements, political powers are trying to consolidate; European continent already finished the task, and cultural mixture will be conducted; American adolescences dance Mal-chum by a Korean singer and Japaneses are used to English-derived terms. It might means the annihilation of minor cultures and languages. However, to think differently, the customs of tolerance which would be developed by the process of integration will permit the coexistence of the diverse identities in integrated system. 

 To sum up, the 21st century would be a quite different, progressing time, and it will engender a more complex and intriguing world.