I think that the survival of the First World and Western Civilization is
definitely at stake. If transhumans are ever to make it to posthumans,
it can only happen in an educated, sophisticated, technologically
literate, capitalist democratic society as found in US, Europe, and Japan -
essentially the industrialized First World. The undeveloped Third World
such as Afghanistan, much of South America, most of Africa and some of
Asia will, it seems, never make it. Some countries like India and Pacific
islands like Taiwan and Singapore may be able to upgrade their countries
from Third World to First World, otherwise, the rest may need to go
extinct like the dinosaurs.
Futurists a decade ago called this bifurcation the North South economic
conflict between wealthy Northern Hemisphere nations and poor,
impoverished Southern Hemisphere nations. The East West political
conflict of Eastern Hemispheric Soviet (Second World) nations and
Western Hemispheric, democratic nations is the other conflict that has
somewhat subsided at least in the classic Cold War bipolar US vs. USSR
dual superpowers scenario. What is happening is totalitarianism is now
mixed with Islam instead of Marx (for the East West conflict) and
the North South conflict of First and Third World is more alive than ever
Actively exterminating terrorists is essential if First World transhumans
are
ever to make it to the 22nd century. The Pentagon's Strategic Defense
Initiative (SDI) or "Star Wars" program is really intended to fend off
nuclear blackmail from the Third World. Such nuclear blackmail would
take the form of "give us your money, food, medicine, etc. for free or
we will nuke New York City" SDI would simply counter their missiles
and kill them. The Third World must "die" by upgrading to First World
status by going for capitalism and foreign investment like India appears to
be doing or die by the intertribal/civil war combined with the infection and
starvation that comes with unrestricted overpopulation. - William.
> Date: Fri, 28 Sep 2001 15:48:48 +0200
> From: "Jacques Du Pasquier" <jacques@dtext.com>
> Subject: Domination
>
> Pat Fallon wrote :
>
> ...that the US are Evil, and that it is all Their Fault, and I recalled
> the first chapters of Kaczynski's essay (it is not an argument, I
> know, sorry).
>
> As to intervening in the rest of the globe or not, the US may have
> done it in exaggeration in the past, but won't they now be FORCED to
> do it more and more, as the dangers grow with the destructiveness of
> the available weapons ? They need to avoid at any cost that a
> malevolent (sorry Pat, to be such Manicheist) power develops out of
> control. Poor Iraq, for example, is presently trying to build atomic
> weapons.
>
> I think this is pretty much an extropian topic, as one of the problems
> with the extropian plan is to know whether we will live to see it
> happening / make it happen. For the large view of it, again, I think
> of Drexler's "Engines of creation" (part three).
>
> Do you agree with such necessity in the long run ? Do you connect the
> present situation to this necessity, or think that we speak of
> different time scales ? Do you think that the present attitude of the
> US is ahead or behind of such necessity ?
>
> I realize that, specially for an American, it may be difficult to
> speak out on this, as no one wants to seem arrogant. On the other
> hand, if there is some urgency, shouldn't we openly face these things ?
>
> Jacques
>
>
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