From: Charlie Stross (charlie@antipope.org)
Date: Sun Sep 22 2002 - 09:09:03 MDT
On Sun, Sep 22, 2002 at 01:44:11PM +0930, Emlyn O'regan wrote:
>
> (reply at bottom)
So why did you quote Anders' ENTIRE article just to add a one-liner? You
might want to learn what the "delete" key is for ...
> > One fear with global hegemony is that it would simply slow
> > the emergence
> > of the new. There would be no new frontiers, nowhere to escape
> > culturally or politically. If the global hegemony were to turn
> > anti-progress, it would not just stifle progress locally, but
> > globally.
> > .... The important thing is to make sure that when
> > nations and empires crumble, we don't get buried in the rubble.
> > Hegemonies might last far longer, so we should be even more
> > careful with
> > them.
> erm... so that means "the US is bad", right?
I think you need to tune either your reading comprehension or your
sarcasm indicators; one or the other of them is malfunctioning.
What Anders said pretty much hits it on the nail -- where there's a
hegemony, there is (a) nowhere to flee if you disagree with its policies
and (b) if the hegemon screws up and drops the economy, there's no outside
world to keep the candle of civilization burning. I'd like to add (c) --
while the USA isn't as bad as some other possible hegemonists, let's
not forget that this whole idea has been floated by the conservative
right and is seen as a way of propagating conservative social values.
These social values are, I feel safe in asserting, not extropian-friendly.
Look for little things like global bans on stem sell research, a big
down on anti-aging research -- because if you don't die, how does Jeezus
get to judge you? -- and so on.
If you want to know why I'm afraid of this, go look at the current fun
in the Johannesburg Summit, where the US government ganged up with
Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the Vatican to try and sink an agreement on
women's health issues that was designed to discourage "honour killings"
and female circumcision -- because the administration was concerned
that the same declaration of rights might have been interpreted as not
opposing abortion. And in May the US formed a coalition of opportunity
with Iraq and Somalia to defend the legitimacy of the death penalty for
children at a UN special session. Child execution and clitoridectomy
aren't exactly widespread within the US -- but the idea of a hegemonic
power who supports this kind of shit elsewhere on the planet, and from
whom there is no escape, does not fill me with glee.
-- Charlie
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