9 ms·
> What sort of organizing principle would the world have then? I haven't seen anything historically like that Basically City-States
by s_kilk 10y ago
> What sort of organizing principle would the world have then? I haven't seen anything historically like that
Basically City-States
- nostrademons 10y agoActually, yeah, it has a lot in common with city states. It differs from historical city-states in that the primary factor of production in the classical/medieval era was land, and so city states negotiated from a position of weakness and remained confined to the city because they lacked the resources to capture more territory. Now, food is abundant, and actually requires fossil fuels and genetic engineering for its production. That changes the negotiating position of a port city without a lot of land significantly. (It does make me wonder what would happen if we got a nationalist heartland ringed by a number of small city states, and then the heartland would refuse to sell food. Massive famine and political collapse? Peaceful trade with overseas nations to supply an alternate source? A large army streaming out of the city states to capture the heartland by force? Mutually assured destruction where everyone dies, since modern crops don't actually grow by themselves without fresh inputs of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, antibiotics, and genetically-modified seeds?)
- zigzigzag 10y agoFood is abundant but still grows outside of cities. There's no particular reason to assume that genetic engineering companies are all based in cities. A city state arrangement is one I was thinking about a lot lately but it seems very hard to make it stable.
- morgante 10y agoYup. I actually think the world is ripe for the return of city-states. The advantages of nation-states have fallen in importance, while their disadvantages have become increasingly clear. Just look at the success of Singapore to see how effective a modern city-state can be. London, New York, San Francisco, etc. would all be better off as independent self-governing city-states.
- noobermin 10y agoWhat will happen to the interiors when they realize their tax subsidies won't exist anymore?
- flukus 10y agoWhat will happen to the cities when the realize they need food and other items from the interiors?
- noobermin 10y agoI guess it will become a sort of inefficient, hyper-federalist system.
- leurfete 10y agoSeems like having the interior pay its own way by selling food and other resources would be quite a lot more efficient. It would also allow people to govern themselves how they see fit. It's a more humane solution IMO.
- sbmassey 10y agoWhy inefficient? Easing the burden of centralised government on all interstate trade should be more efficient, I would think
- eitally 10y agoIf this actually happened, people in the interior wouldn't be able to afford the food they were selling.
- ricksplat 10y agoHow would they feed themselves?
- morgante 10y agoTrade. The same way that the many countries with net agricultural imports feed themselves.