Grammatical relations?

Question

"We are traveling at breakneck speed into an age of the extremes – extremes in wealth and poverty, extremes in technology and the experiments that scientists want to perform, extreme forces of globalism, weapons of mass destruction and terrorists acting in the name of religion".

My question:
Is "extreme forces (of globalism)" not related to the following "weapons of mass destruction and terrorists acting in the name of religion"? I think AND indicates the last one in the series.

Thanks for your reply. But if the forces include three things, then there is no AND before the last phrase. It seems native speakers use "the AND before the last" rule very strictly in formal writing. Any comment? Thanks again.

Answer 1

I would say there are three categories of extremes mentioned:

1. extremes in wealth and poverty
2. extremes in technology and the experiments that scientists want to perform
3. extreme forces of globalism, weapons of mass destruction and terrorists acting in the name of religion"

Within #3 there are three extreme forces mentioned:

1. globalism
2. weapons of mass destruction
3. terrorists acting in the name of religion.

I find the parallellism that comes from the repetition of the word "extreme(s)" is more compelling than the usual rule that a series must be in the form "a, b, c, and d". Perhaps the use of -- makes that even more the case. It's not an absolute rule anyway.