3 ms·

the book is quite interesting, one idea was - how many hours do we spend online per day? i spend, like, 15 hours plugged in - PC, iphone, TV/games. i’m plugged

the book is quite interesting, one idea was - how many hours do we spend online per day? i spend, like, 15 hours plugged in - PC, iphone, TV/games. i’m plugged in when i’m driving, when i’m out jogging, i’m plugged in right now as i wake up drinking coffee in bed, I have more internet friends than IRL and they are more important, my business/financial relationships are entirely digital, as is most of my relationship with the state. So, why are governments organized by geography? How long until we free ourselves entirely from this constraint?

teitoklien 2y ago
We can’t , physical violence is still localized and geography based. A States core authority and existence is formed by having a monopoly on violence across a region, not services provided.
- dustingetz 2y ago
  can't what? civilization is organized hierarchically, alliance union country state county city township neighborhood street family individual. Layers get added on top as civilization progresses in order to make trade more efficient. A concrete issue today is getting startup stock options to cross international lines in a remote-first world. There is sufficient demand for a solution that solutions will emerge on a timescale of, idk decades for sure. There were not global alliances 400 years ago and 400 years from now there will probably be interstellar. Fudge N to match your best guess as to rate of progress.
ljm 2y ago
Maybe I'm a simple person, but what you and other people who subscribe to this idea think seems to just be another brand of libertarianism. And libertarianism (by the US definition) is basically just edge-lord politics: if something isn't personally important to me then why does a government need to provide it? In this world free of geography, who exactly is responsible for keep all of the geographically constrained plumbing in operation while you recline at your desk and enjoy the digital porcelain? And would a board of corporate overlords owning your patch of land really serve you better than a council of local representatives?
- dustingetz 2y ago
  who said i subscribe to what now?
cmehdy 2y ago
Your wireless connection makes you believe that you're more globalized than you actually are. Your internet pipes are starting right behind the modem. So is your electricity. The energy mix powering your life depends on the geopolitics of your area, as it might be nuclear/solar/hydro/gas/fuel powered and therefore dependent on your country's stance towards nuclear power plants, renewables, your country's geography, and natural resources. Your power bill at the end of the month also largely depends on that stuff, amongst most other things. Consequently so does your net income and ability to enjoy all that tech. The content served to you is generally on CDNs nearest to you. A vast majority of the content you produce and consume is extremely related to relatively localized influences, such as your English keyboard, the average search engine results that are biased towards your location, any of the myriad of system settings that accommodate for your local culture, etc. Side-note: as a French (France) citizen in Quebec (Canada) it's been absolute hell trying to actually access the internet I knew back home, because search engines flat out don't show me what I used to get in fr_fr since fr_ca dominates here. (Kagi offsets that a bit thanks to locale being selectable, although there's a dearth of results at times somehow, perhaps driven by differences between what's preferred on the pipes in North America vs Europe). When and how you access these technologies depends nearly entirely on your local area, as you're generally unlikely to be jogging at 2:30am your time, unlikely to play your games mid-day on a weekday as defined by your country and culture, etc. And when a storm hits your area, the whole world won't care but your neighbor will have to protect himself and his belongings just as much as you will. While we are indeed more connected than ever before, the primary things we've connected are our anxieties and rich people's consolidated power. The rest remains profoundly local.
- dustingetz 2y ago
  book covers that. No civilization in history wants a hyper-libertarian world without firefighters, that's for sure
tomrod 2y ago
> So, why are governments organized by geography? Defense from strongman-style authoritarians and bandits > How long until we free ourselves entirely from this constraint? When we overcome the gravity well with several orders of magnitude less energy than required. Then the constraint is still geography, but allows people to spread out.

teitoklien 2y ago

We can’t , physical violence is still localized and geography based. A States core authority and existence is formed by having a monopoly on violence across a region, not services provided.

dustingetz 2y ago
can't what? civilization is organized hierarchically, alliance union country state county city township neighborhood street family individual. Layers get added on top as civilization progresses in order to make trade more efficient. A concrete issue today is getting startup stock options to cross international lines in a remote-first world. There is sufficient demand for a solution that solutions will emerge on a timescale of, idk decades for sure. There were not global alliances 400 years ago and 400 years from now there will probably be interstellar. Fudge N to match your best guess as to rate of progress.

ljm 2y ago

Maybe I'm a simple person, but what you and other people who subscribe to this idea think seems to just be another brand of libertarianism. And libertarianism (by the US definition) is basically just edge-lord politics: if something isn't personally important to me then why does a government need to provide it? In this world free of geography, who exactly is responsible for keep all of the geographically constrained plumbing in operation while you recline at your desk and enjoy the digital porcelain? And would a board of corporate overlords owning your patch of land really serve you better than a council of local representatives?

dustingetz 2y ago
who said i subscribe to what now?

cmehdy 2y ago

Your wireless connection makes you believe that you're more globalized than you actually are. Your internet pipes are starting right behind the modem. So is your electricity. The energy mix powering your life depends on the geopolitics of your area, as it might be nuclear/solar/hydro/gas/fuel powered and therefore dependent on your country's stance towards nuclear power plants, renewables, your country's geography, and natural resources. Your power bill at the end of the month also largely depends on that stuff, amongst most other things. Consequently so does your net income and ability to enjoy all that tech. The content served to you is generally on CDNs nearest to you. A vast majority of the content you produce and consume is extremely related to relatively localized influences, such as your English keyboard, the average search engine results that are biased towards your location, any of the myriad of system settings that accommodate for your local culture, etc. Side-note: as a French (France) citizen in Quebec (Canada) it's been absolute hell trying to actually access the internet I knew back home, because search engines flat out don't show me what I used to get in fr_fr since fr_ca dominates here. (Kagi offsets that a bit thanks to locale being selectable, although there's a dearth of results at times somehow, perhaps driven by differences between what's preferred on the pipes in North America vs Europe). When and how you access these technologies depends nearly entirely on your local area, as you're generally unlikely to be jogging at 2:30am your time, unlikely to play your games mid-day on a weekday as defined by your country and culture, etc. And when a storm hits your area, the whole world won't care but your neighbor will have to protect himself and his belongings just as much as you will. While we are indeed more connected than ever before, the primary things we've connected are our anxieties and rich people's consolidated power. The rest remains profoundly local.

dustingetz 2y ago
book covers that. No civilization in history wants a hyper-libertarian world without firefighters, that's for sure

tomrod 2y ago

> So, why are governments organized by geography? Defense from strongman-style authoritarians and bandits > How long until we free ourselves entirely from this constraint? When we overcome the gravity well with several orders of magnitude less energy than required. Then the constraint is still geography, but allows people to spread out.