The population explosion was unstoppable.

This could have significant implications for Asia s ostensibly unstoppable rise and thus for the West s supposedly inevitable decline.

But then I knew for certain that although my body might be limited, it was my spirit that was unstoppable.

If, for example, house prices are routinely described as climbing and climbing, higher and higher, people might naturally assume that that rise is unstoppable.

And this is visible in the unstoppable change in language the fact that by the time the Academy finishes their dictionary, it will already be well out of date.

We continue to face strong headwinds originating from the deepening European debt crisis, as well as geopolitical tensions in the Middle East. China, once the world s unstoppable growth engine, is slowing.

The speed of our daily life is visibly increased and not for the better by this unstoppable evolution. The tyranny of pragmatism seems to mark all of the complex dilemmas of our time.

Too much public debate, or interference from citizens and their political representatives, would only slow things down. Hence the typical EU language about unstoppable trains and irreversible decisions citizens are not supposed to question the wisdom of great planners.

When the revolutions of 1848 in Europe were rolled back the following year, everything was nonetheless different, as we now know. The monarchies remained in power for decades, but the Industrial Revolution and the advent of democracy had become unstoppable.

POTSDAM Recent satellite observations have confirmed the accuracy of two independent computer simulations that show that the West Antarctic ice sheet has now entered a state of unstoppable collapse. The planet has entered a new era of irreversible consequences from climate change.

KYIV For many years, the European Union s eastward expansion seemed unstoppable. But with Russia s invasion of Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin appears to have succeeded in ordering a halt to Europe s efforts to extend democracy, the rule of law, and open markets throughout the continent.

Meanwhile, Iran s unstoppable rush to develop nuclear weapons could prove to be a monument to the international community s failure to stem the atomic tide in the region. The Israeli Palestinian conflict continues to be the diplomatic charade that it has been for many years now.

As Germany s economic preponderance translates into greater political power, it becomes increasingly important to supplement this with France s unique point of view. This is particularly true in view of today s unstoppable progress toward closer economic integration, which will lead, happily or haphazardly, to greater political integration.

The situation remains dangerous and not only for Greece. Spain and Italy face the redemption of government bonds valued at 13.2 billion ( 16.5 billion) and 17 billion, respectively, in July, with redemptions continuing every month thereafter like an unstoppable tsunami, ensuring continued turmoil in Europe and beyond.

In the presidential election of June 2006, he received 45.5 of the vote not enough to defeat Alan García, but sufficient to show how deeply he had tapped into the hopes and trust of many Peruvians. At that time, populism seemed an unstoppable force in Latin America.

Second, over the past 15 years, hundreds of millions of jobs shifted to Asia, which offered inexpensive and often highly skilled labor. The West, euphoric from its victory over communism and its seemingly unstoppable economic growth, failed to implement necessary structural reforms (Germany and Sweden were rare exceptions).

Asia s movement toward resuming its former central role in the global economy has so much momentum that it is virtually unstoppable. While the transformation may not always be seamless, there is no longer room to doubt that an Asian century is on the horizon, and that the world s chemistry will change fundamentally.

The truth is that the Internet led process of exploiting under utilized resources be they physical and financial capital or human capital and talent is both unstoppable and accelerating. The long term benefits consist not just in efficiency and productivity gains (large enough to show up in macro data), but also in much needed new jobs requiring a broad range of skills.

Rather than try to stop the unstoppable, we should think about how to put this new reality at the service of our values and welfare. In addition to rethinking institutions and practices predicated on traditional employment contracts such as social security contributions we will need to begin to invent new institutions that harness this technology driven transformation for our collective benefit.