From: Charlie Stross (charlie@antipope.org)
Date: Mon Mar 20 2000 - 02:53:20 MST
On Mon, Mar 20, 2000 at 02:08:12PM +1100, Damien Broderick wrote:
>
> To those outside the USA, this is transparently obvious, and bleakly
> hilarious. I'm glad to see somebody here joining the dots. I don't suppose
> this insight should offend too many American extropians, who are pretty
> cynical about realpolitik, but I suspect it might do so.
My personal take on all this is that, from the perspective of another
century, the last third of the second millennium will be seen to have
been dominated by the British empire -- first the eastern British empire,
then it's western continental offshoot. Just as the Roman empire lasted
nearly fifteen centuries, with its last millennium being dominated by the
capital in the east (after the original capital had fallen), there's so
much political and cultural inheritance from the British empire to the
American that once we're beyond this era, the historical distinction
will blur.
Clue: the British conquest of India was a corporate affair. Look for
the parallels ...
-- Charlie
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