Alternative scenarii for Asia: fusion and innovation or copycat and snakes and ladders

What will Asia of the future be like? Will the continent continue to be divided, copying the used and discarded cultural and economic models of the West? Will it innovate, creating transformative models of energy, governance and identity or will it slide back into poverty? This essay explores alternative futures for Asia and concludes with suggestions for its transformation, taking stock of the continent's cultural, scientific and spiritual age-old capital and present potential. It advocates a creative synthesis of various Asian civilisations— Buddhist, Confucian, Taoist, Hindu, Islamic, et al —to achieve an environmentally balanced, harmonious and peaceful state.