Ideology in the post modern is irrelevant. China, the last bastion of socialism, is one of the United States’ greatest trading partner. In theory, they should mutually hate each other, yet there is to much money to be had. Western companies see the one billion people in China as a huge market ready to be exploited. Chinese workers can turn out products at a lower cost than their American counterparts. The ideology is less important than the money.
The Internet is a huge part of the post modern world. Using the Internet, everyone can access the aggregate sum of knowledge that is stockpiled on the Internet. It is fairly cheap, yet it crosses borders. The Internet is a medium for the free exchange of ideas. It can reach every corner of the globe. Villages in Siberia that are inaccessible by cars can set up a satellite link and be connected just as well as a user in New York.
Worldwide trade and the Internet are killing the unique cultures that exits on Earth. Just as China trades with its ideological enemy, other cultures are shedding their uniqueness in the name of easier communication. Cultural idiosyncrasies hinder trade. Traditional folk dress look peculiar among business suits. For example, the traditional drink of Russia was kvass, a dark bread beer. After the Soviet Union and the normalization of trade, Coke and Pepsi was introduced by Western business. Now, it is impossible to buy kvass in Moscow, as it was displaced by the distribution muscle of Coke and Pepsi. Children also are the weak link to keeping cultural tradition alive. The traditional folk customs are associated with the parents and the children strive to break away from this tradition. Given forty years time, the entire world will look exactly the same; one can travel from the US to the most remote location possible and it will be impossible to tell the difference once one got there.
An excellent example of post modern society is Los Angeles. LA is a superficial hyper-comsuer culture. Each individual has the notion that they are the center of the universe. Everyone is a manipulative user who only cares about themselves. Each person strives for material wealth at the expense of each other. People are defined by the cloths that they wear. If one wears Ralph Laren, the people that he/she meets will check the label to make sure it is real. Appearance is everything. Los Angeles is the cosmetic surgery capital of the world. Many of the women have had breast implants, and even some of the men have surgically improved their features. Breast implants actually deaden the sensation of the breast, so they actually decrease sexual pleasure in the user. However people continue to get implants, sacrificing sensation for improved appearance.
The post modern is by no means the final stage of human development. Hopefully, humans will move past the greed of material possessions. Eventually, a balance will be found between ethnic identity and global monoculture. Rampant consumerism comes at a high price. The material wealth that America enjoys is at the cost of a huge amount of resources. If other countries try to join in on the prosperity, severe damage to the ecology could result. Imagine one billion Chinese, all driving cars. The world can only support a certain amount of people at the prosperity of Americans. The continual expansion of the world economy at the end of the twentieth century is pushing all nations to wealth yet there is no way for all to enjoy such prosperity, something must give.