Yan Xuetong (#56) is awesome. I heard him lecture in China and asked him if there were any scenarios where a globalized utopia could arise. He said the only way that could happen is the Independence Day scenario (an alien invasion) but it would give us unity like nothing else.

This is the most recent publication I've seen by him (I have a Google alert for him). http://meiguofeilong.blogspot.com/2008/06/who-will-maintain-...