The entire thing is built on the false premise that the world is getting worse. I think morals are probably getting worse (for some, certainly not all), and the environment is taking a bit of a beating, but apart from that, as far as I can see most other indicators are improving. It's a huge myth that the 20th century was the bloodiest in history. The absolute numbers of people killed were large, but the world's population was vastly bigger too. In terms of relative numbers, the 20th century was the most peaceful in history - by a long shot. Before industrialisation, something like a third of adults died before age 30. A sizeable chunk of children died at birth. This mirrors what happens, right now in the non-industrialised world. So, things are getting better - not fast enough, and not for everyone, but they are.

The WT society must be aware of the accelerating pace of globalisation and technology, and the possible implications of this. There are some problems. Basically, unless we annihilate ourselves with nanotech weapons this century, or run out of oil before the development of clean technology, then the human race might do just fine. This is obviously not an idea that the WT want their members to consider. Fortunately the media do a great job if instilling doom and gloom into people, but this might not last. People can already read alternative views just with a simple internet connection. Worse, the next form of the internet being developed at CERN is far more advanced and potentially thousands of times faster. We might think we're in the information revolution but I think it's barely started, and many agree with this assessment.

I don't think the 'faithful' slave is fond of the idea of cosy book studies carrying on during a profound expansion of internet technology, as we will see in roughly 2010-2020. It doesn't surprise me that they decided to do this in... 2009. It's all or nothing, they either tighten their control over information, or they watch their membership start to drop off. The thing is, though, is that they've effectively given JWs an extra night for browsing the internet. Wonder if they thought about that.