ANALYSIS Global Capitalism and the Challenges Facing Social­Ecological Transformation in Latin America V ivianne V entura -D ias In the age of mature modernity, the dangers and uncertainties derived from the high degree of spatial-temporal integration that has eroded national borders; the concentration and centralization of capital; and technology development and its tensions are all turning societies that had overcome the basic hazards of survival into societies at risk. Limitations on technological and social changes are gaining currency once again in light of the magnitude of the impact of human activity on the planet. Nev­ertheless, the human limits on confronting these changes are just as important as the planet’s physical limits. The acceleration of the times is leaking into every corner of our personal and collective lives, throwing off the balance between the social time needed for sociability and citizen engagement and the pace set by technological changes. The word modernity refers to forms of social life to which the Latin American people were introduced as“modernizing” projects, imposed from the top down and which, far from responding to the exclusive property ownership structure, only reproduced the power structure and widened the prevailing economic and social inequalities. Every technology innovation opens up a window of opportunities for societies to choose what is best for them. This open window of opportunities contains within it policy options. But it is the institutions, ideas, and social movements which will in the end delimit the field of potential by adopting the technologies that are best for society.