> How would you design a system that simultaneously achieved all these goals:
There is an obvious solution that achieves all of these, that, on 1000 year timescales, seems inevitable: deprecation of the nation-state.
The internet solves every problem the nation-state purports to. For example, the very real problem of coordination, eloquently and convincingly outlined in the federalist papers (tldr: we need a central republic structure because it's too difficult to coordinate disparate statehouses via horseback with every little intrastate decision) is solved by dint of instant communication and long-term data retention. So it is with every other claim in favor of these huge legacy state structures.
In this age, there is no longer any state needs to be larger than say, 1500 square km - about the size of a large county. This way, people can flee on foot to an adjacent state if needed, and no state can possibly control enough infrastructure to force Vodaphone to send such nauseating propaganda.
We need the elder statesmen in the room to read the writing on the wall and begin this process.
> In this age, there is no longer any state needs to be larger than say, 1500 square km - about the size of a large county.
Assuming a rectangle of 30 by 50 kilometers, and no organized military for defense, it would take the Russians about 30-45 minutes to reintroduce the imperial subject experience on your proposed utopia.
The reason states are required are that other people are organized in states. Now I am guessing you are from the US, the standard of your living is only made possible, by millions of men and women working seriously to guarantee it, and thousands of nuclear weapons. Take either out of the equation, and your standard of living will very quickly become untenable.
Hell, the internet that you believe can solve all the problems, is only operational because hundreds of thousands of people are continuously working on it, many of them government employees.
>Assuming a rectangle of 30 by 50 kilometers, and no organized military for defense, it would take the Russians about 30-45 minutes to reintroduce the imperial subject experience on your proposed utopia.
Lmao, which they will get around to after regaining and relosing the same Ukranian square kilometer 20 times for the next 12 months.,
We need large nation-states to make the modern world possible. The internet isn't just bits; everything depends on stuff that has to be shipped by sea. It takes a hegemon like the US and its allies to keep the sea lanes open. Navies are super expensive and a collection of small states wouldn't be able to build ships that could operate around the world.
If anything, technology is making possible for states like Yemen and Iran to shut off chokepoints. It might take multiple powers working together to keep things open.
This tally only makes sense if you believe history started 2 years ago. The US literally re-opened the Strait of Hormuz itself back in the 80s during the Tanker War, at the very least for Kuwaiti oil tankers during Operation Earnest Will.
The current administration clearly does not care about freedom of navigation operations, but every other post war administration made it a major priority and they are still being conducted in spite of the current cluster.
Its crazy to not see that as the result of more US interventions in the middle east blowing up in their face, than actually any kind of goodwill mission.
What happens when China or Russia decides to stay a massive empire and starts conquering your microstates? What happens when state A allows the dumping of pollution that flows into state B?
Soldiers are not interchangeable robots in a RTS. Personnel, units and organizations have to practice working extensively together to function as a cohesive whole and have anything resembling esprit de corps.
> The internet solves every problem the nation-state purports to.
Nations organize themselves into states to protect and promote their interests, including their existence as cultural and ethnic groups, from competing states (and other dangers, e.g. natural disasters). A.k.a. politics.
I was not aware politics has been solved by the internet.
>including their existence as cultural and ethnic groups
I mean if people want to have a distinct culture or ethnicity they will or will not as they desire.
If anything the history of the nation state is forcing 12 different ethnic groups into a single culture that only reflects part of their heritage. Look at Nazi Germany trying to suppress Bavarian culture as insufficiently German. Or the UK suppressing Welsh and Irish culture.
Nation States enforce a mono culture to build false unity, always has been.
>from competing states
Ukraine Iran and Afghanistan are really the only states that have done defense "Alone" in recent memory. Everyone else joins larger groups for defense. NATO for example. The Nation State isnt the headline defensive organism, and when it is, its generally a failure.
>Nations organize themselves into states to protect and promote their interests.
This is the closest to the truth, except it would be better put as
>Nations organize themselves into states to protect and promote the interests of the ruling party.
Always has been, ever since the 2 dominant forms of government were Palace Economies and Temple Economies. The goal was suppression and slavery of farmers to ensure the quality of life of the people in the cities, so they can build secondary and tertiary industries to enrich the Prince or Priest at the top of the pack.
> I mean if people want to have a distinct culture or ethnicity they will or will not as they desire.
Yes, and they usually want to form a state based around this identity. I suppose you don't consider that desire legitimate. But then who will perform the functions of the state that you baselessly claim the internet solves? Who will settle disputes, determine land ownership, pass and enforce laws, prevent other groups from taking the territory, etc.? The internet?
> Ukraine Iran and Afghanistan are really the only states that have done defense "Alone" in recent memory.
It's telling that you think that because they don't only do good, then the good that they do doesn't count. They're not innocent enough for you, so they should dissolve their militaries, surrender their ability of self-defense, and throw themselves at the mercy of the world (How does that usually work out?) I wonder if you apply this standard evenly, or only to things you dislike.
>Yes, and they usually want to form a state based around this identity. I suppose you don't consider that desire legitimate. But then who will perform the functions of the state that you baselessly claim the internet solves? Who will settle disputes, determine land ownership, pass and enforce laws, prevent other groups from taking the territory, etc.? The internet?
Genuinely dont care, but forming a bigger meaner government seems to be absent from most cultural priorities.
>It's telling that you think that because they don't only do good, then the good that they do doesn't count. They're not innocent enough for you, so they should dissolve their militaries, surrender their ability of self-defense, and throw themselves at the mercy of the world (How does that usually work out?) I wonder if you apply this standard evenly, or only to things you dislike.
I genuinely have no idea what you are driving at here.
So you propose to replace the nation states with corporate governments. Okay, two questions: who gets to make the laws, including the property laws? and who gets to enforce those laws?
Given the vacuum left by pinhole-sized states, Vodafone could become the issuer of propaganda itself as it would have the airwaves and the power of a large state.
Well, I suppose my argument does turn on the scope on which you consider each of these 10 points.
My presumption is that, as nation-states are deprecated, coordination between them will have to take the shape of sufficiently decentralized technology that the "networks have the ability to vet and ignore" portion becomes a local and voluntary process.
And - probably an area where reasonable people disagree - it's the (real or perceived) authority that makes it possible to "be used for evil"; if there is no badge and gun, and each message (broadly considered) is to be considered on its own merits (both for its truth and its persuasiveness), then I think that corporate propaganda just lands in the 'ignore' (or even 'spam') pile.
There is an obvious solution that achieves all of these, that, on 1000 year timescales, seems inevitable: deprecation of the nation-state.
The internet solves every problem the nation-state purports to. For example, the very real problem of coordination, eloquently and convincingly outlined in the federalist papers (tldr: we need a central republic structure because it's too difficult to coordinate disparate statehouses via horseback with every little intrastate decision) is solved by dint of instant communication and long-term data retention. So it is with every other claim in favor of these huge legacy state structures.
In this age, there is no longer any state needs to be larger than say, 1500 square km - about the size of a large county. This way, people can flee on foot to an adjacent state if needed, and no state can possibly control enough infrastructure to force Vodaphone to send such nauseating propaganda.
We need the elder statesmen in the room to read the writing on the wall and begin this process.