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It's obviously true that consolidation of power by empire-like nation states was always a stupid idea. Power should always be distributed, countries with too mu

It's obviously true that consolidation of power by empire-like nation states was always a stupid idea. Power should always be distributed, countries with too much power act as ass holes around the world and are not needed.

mythrwy 7y ago
I've always thought the most efficient setup would be two levels of governance: 1) Global Governance. Sets regulations on trade, basic human rights (i.e locals can't hang gay people etc), environmental policy (region A can't send pollutants down stream to region B). Things of that sort. 2) City/County level governance. Mosques can only be 10 feet tall and motor vehicles are not allowed. Or whatever the cultural preferences are. However, an argument for nation states might be, they allow some level of selection. If nation A becomes corrupt or refuses to embrace science, nation B overcomes it. But this does cause a lot of suffering and war.
- usrusr 7y ago
  I think you are underestimating just how "provincial" those sub-provincial governments could become. County level is where the professionalization gap between ruling ideas and opposing views is the largest.
  - BuckRogers 7y ago
    Every county would send a delegate to the global governance, which would be the World Unity Council. So we would maximize democratic engagement locally (county), and have direct and equal influence in the global body. As long as democracy is healthy in both places, it won't ever be perfect, but it'll be as good as it gets. Unless we unleash AI to run the world before that, and I think that's more likely to happen. Half the population views direct democracy as some sort of distrustful evil. Just the way people seem to be, especially when democracy doesn't go their way. Conspiracy theories. It's all about good management, with anything. It's never perfect or suits everyone all the time. That's just the human condition. So as a result we're most likely going to be dominated by AI at some point in the near future. It's probably what humanity overall deserves since people don't want to be sensible and engage in democracy. Even though it's immensely fulfilling to become connected to your own destiny and relevant community- it's work, and people don't like that. I do think more people would do it, if they saw direct, near-immediate results from their engagement, which does not really exist as much today. So after a couple billionaires have a nuclear war, we'll end up putting the robots in charge, unless the robots simply takeover first- and we'll be done with it.
- BuckRogers 7y ago
  I think you're on the money. Humanity would be best suited with global governance to ensure everyone gets treated with a moderate to high level of human dignity and protection. We're already near a return to city-states anyway. Governance is best done at that level, and most cities occupy 1 county, and 1 county is also the appropriate size for rural area engagement. So this global<->county arrangement makes a lot of sense. My country (USA) stands in the way of this because it's currently the top dog, but it's mostly just because of existing wealthy folks on top who have the current arrangement in their best interests. It's possible to spread the idea, have enough people demand this, and get global-county governance in place. It's very clear in the US today, that there's 2-4 nations existing within the US. We had a civil war between 2 nations already. Instead of churning matters and moving to 2-4 nations, just cut to the chase and go to global-county. Local involvement improves everyone's life, and that's the best way to do it, ensure democracy is healthy in every county. It's when people disengage when things get ugly, despair, no control over their own situation and lives. Unfortunately, global demand for this idea will probably require a major war or nuclear catastrophe. I don't see people doing it otherwise when things are working out even a little bit.
asdf21 7y ago
Wouldn't taking away the US's power just result in China (a dictatorship with organ harvesting concentration camps) accumulating more power?
- devoply 7y ago
  Yes that's why China needs to be broken up as well.
  - asdf21 7y ago
    And how would that happen?

mythrwy 7y ago

I've always thought the most efficient setup would be two levels of governance: 1) Global Governance. Sets regulations on trade, basic human rights (i.e locals can't hang gay people etc), environmental policy (region A can't send pollutants down stream to region B). Things of that sort. 2) City/County level governance. Mosques can only be 10 feet tall and motor vehicles are not allowed. Or whatever the cultural preferences are. However, an argument for nation states might be, they allow some level of selection. If nation A becomes corrupt or refuses to embrace science, nation B overcomes it. But this does cause a lot of suffering and war.

usrusr 7y ago
I think you are underestimating just how "provincial" those sub-provincial governments could become. County level is where the professionalization gap between ruling ideas and opposing views is the largest.
- BuckRogers 7y ago
  Every county would send a delegate to the global governance, which would be the World Unity Council. So we would maximize democratic engagement locally (county), and have direct and equal influence in the global body. As long as democracy is healthy in both places, it won't ever be perfect, but it'll be as good as it gets. Unless we unleash AI to run the world before that, and I think that's more likely to happen. Half the population views direct democracy as some sort of distrustful evil. Just the way people seem to be, especially when democracy doesn't go their way. Conspiracy theories. It's all about good management, with anything. It's never perfect or suits everyone all the time. That's just the human condition. So as a result we're most likely going to be dominated by AI at some point in the near future. It's probably what humanity overall deserves since people don't want to be sensible and engage in democracy. Even though it's immensely fulfilling to become connected to your own destiny and relevant community- it's work, and people don't like that. I do think more people would do it, if they saw direct, near-immediate results from their engagement, which does not really exist as much today. So after a couple billionaires have a nuclear war, we'll end up putting the robots in charge, unless the robots simply takeover first- and we'll be done with it.
BuckRogers 7y ago
I think you're on the money. Humanity would be best suited with global governance to ensure everyone gets treated with a moderate to high level of human dignity and protection. We're already near a return to city-states anyway. Governance is best done at that level, and most cities occupy 1 county, and 1 county is also the appropriate size for rural area engagement. So this global<->county arrangement makes a lot of sense. My country (USA) stands in the way of this because it's currently the top dog, but it's mostly just because of existing wealthy folks on top who have the current arrangement in their best interests. It's possible to spread the idea, have enough people demand this, and get global-county governance in place. It's very clear in the US today, that there's 2-4 nations existing within the US. We had a civil war between 2 nations already. Instead of churning matters and moving to 2-4 nations, just cut to the chase and go to global-county. Local involvement improves everyone's life, and that's the best way to do it, ensure democracy is healthy in every county. It's when people disengage when things get ugly, despair, no control over their own situation and lives. Unfortunately, global demand for this idea will probably require a major war or nuclear catastrophe. I don't see people doing it otherwise when things are working out even a little bit.

asdf21 7y ago

Wouldn't taking away the US's power just result in China (a dictatorship with organ harvesting concentration camps) accumulating more power?

devoply 7y ago
Yes that's why China needs to be broken up as well.
- asdf21 7y ago
  And how would that happen?