We're living in the last decades/centuries of a doomed empire... The system they have created will not work. It will lean toward tyranny, and corruption, and th

We're living in the last decades/centuries of a doomed empire... The system they have created will not work. It will lean toward tyranny, and corruption, and there will be a long, boring, dull fizzle as it all grinds down. This reminds me of Venkatesh Rao's idea of 'Hackstability'. Part of this concept describes how the antiquated and inefficient institutions of present could be maintained indefinitely through the continuous application of hacks and jury-rigging. This is proposed as an alternative to oft-entertained future trajectories like an apocalyptic cataclysm or technological singularity. Rao envisions our present system hobbling along for another century or so, growing incrementally more kludgey with each passing day, but persevering nonetheless. Mr. Rao describes it far more lucidly than I, if you've never read his work you ought to check it out. http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2012/04/18/hacking-the-non-disposable-planet/ http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2012/04/18/hacking-the-non-disposa...