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Living in a country where a global total war and several occupations of the most evil totalitarian regimes in history is still within living memory, and having

Living in a country where a global total war and several occupations of the most evil totalitarian regimes in history is still within living memory, and having been under an isolationist totalitarian power, comments like these make me shudder. Globalization has some problems. The benefits so far have massively outweighed them, especially if you take the long view. How about we try to fix those faults, instead of retreating and isolating?

alisonkisk 6y ago
Are you imagining that globalization will somehow create peace and prosperity between Chinese, Arabs, Jews, USAmericans, billionaires, cocoa growing child slaves, and the rest?
- pilsetnieks 6y ago
  Yes, it already has, between most of them most of the time.
- ben_w 6y ago
  Looking at the statistics, it’s certainly more plausible than the idea it might be making those things worse. https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20190111-seven-reasons-why-the-world-is-improving https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20190111-seven-reasons-wh...
  - goodpoint 6y ago
    ...until you consider the looming environmental collapse.
ironmagma 6y ago
Centralization of supply chains, economic monoculture, increased spread of disease, increased carbon emissions, massively increased pollution. That’s a lot of risks which are mostly unquantifiable; it’s dubious to claim we know which is worse, especially in the long run. We lived without globalism for many thousands of years, it’s incredibly new and unproven.
- Infinitesimus 6y ago
  I think the idea here is that keeping most humans alive, relatively healthy and out of poverty is good end goal and globalization helped with that. We do have unquantifiable long-term risks but I would wager you don't want to live in the days where you did from a small wound because we don't have the technology or scale to provide antibiotics.
  - ironmagma 6y ago
    That is a false dichotomy. There was a sweet spot we had in between the invention of the antibiotic in the 1920s and now when societies were more localized. I find it quite doubtful, for example, that disposing of tons of forever chemicals (PFAS, etc.) in the ocean is at all compatible with keeping humans alive, even most humans. These are the unfortunate incentive structures we get when there is so little accountability.
- wait_a_minute 6y ago
  We had a much less global world in the early 1900s. Didn’t stop the Spanish flu and multiple world wars from happening.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]

alisonkisk 6y ago

Are you imagining that globalization will somehow create peace and prosperity between Chinese, Arabs, Jews, USAmericans, billionaires, cocoa growing child slaves, and the rest?

pilsetnieks 6y ago
Yes, it already has, between most of them most of the time.
ben_w 6y ago
Looking at the statistics, it’s certainly more plausible than the idea it might be making those things worse. https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20190111-seven-reasons-why-the-world-is-improving https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20190111-seven-reasons-wh...
- goodpoint 6y ago
  ...until you consider the looming environmental collapse.

ironmagma 6y ago

Centralization of supply chains, economic monoculture, increased spread of disease, increased carbon emissions, massively increased pollution. That’s a lot of risks which are mostly unquantifiable; it’s dubious to claim we know which is worse, especially in the long run. We lived without globalism for many thousands of years, it’s incredibly new and unproven.

Infinitesimus 6y ago
I think the idea here is that keeping most humans alive, relatively healthy and out of poverty is good end goal and globalization helped with that. We do have unquantifiable long-term risks but I would wager you don't want to live in the days where you did from a small wound because we don't have the technology or scale to provide antibiotics.
- ironmagma 6y ago
  That is a false dichotomy. There was a sweet spot we had in between the invention of the antibiotic in the 1920s and now when societies were more localized. I find it quite doubtful, for example, that disposing of tons of forever chemicals (PFAS, etc.) in the ocean is at all compatible with keeping humans alive, even most humans. These are the unfortunate incentive structures we get when there is so little accountability.
wait_a_minute 6y ago
We had a much less global world in the early 1900s. Didn’t stop the Spanish flu and multiple world wars from happening.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]