Post by Walker on Jun 29, 2012 9:51:38 GMT
Source
Some Major Problems with the Future of Civilization
by High Priest Wombat, KSC
As one searches for the limits of a community within a global
society future one wonders why can't a single community say fuck-all to its
neighbors and develop a highly technological locality. Afterall if
the decision-making is fair and democratic and no coersion occurs
between individuals within the community, then its decision to go
forward with technology should have no problem...right?
Well, not exactly. Much of pre-industrial technology might be able
to continue at this level, but I'm not looking at a society that has
erased the history of capitalism and perhaps wishes to continue with
many of the industrial and post-industrial technologies that were
developed during its time. These technologies require more than
simply drawling from an isolated region to upkeep. Even the simplest
lightbulb or television set requires the community to reach further
than its own resources can manage.
But it doesn't stop here and even some civilizations that use pre-
industrial technologies could fall into this next point. This point
being that of the pollutants needed to be produced so that these
technologies can exist and function can have an affect outside of the
community, and perhaps could affect regions, nations, and perhaps
even the entire globe. Certain levels of pollutants may not seem
much, but overtime, the buildup of even the smallest pollutants can
expand outside of the community. These pollutants could even be the
waste created by the concentrated piss and shit that humanity dumps
into the rivers, lakes, and oceans in order not to contaminate their
own communities. No civilization can avoid these concentrations of
pollutants, and the larger the urban sprawls get, the greater these
pollutants affect areas outside their own communities.
Now we have astablished that this single community cannot have most
technologies by itself if its desire is to not have a coersive
relationship with its neighbors. So now we see that most levels of
technology and most levels of civilization have a need for communities to
confederate in order to maintain its most basic of
functions. These confederations must expand like a web over regions
for all of civilization, and for most industrial and post-industrial
civilizations these confederations must even reach the global level
to continue. This begins to present problems, especially if civilization is
presented with communities that don't want to participate in the maintenence of
civilization.
If there is a desire to end or dramatically reduce the project of
civilization, the community that desires this suddenly throws the web of
civilization completely out of wack. This could include the resources that lie
within the regions they dominate and the plants and factories that lay within
that community, forcing other regions to seek these resources elsewhere. But
elsewhere may be too costly or too rare for a high technology community to
aquire and if these communities don't recieve the technologies they need to
maintain their level of civilization, collapse and death could be massive.
So now we are presented with some conflicts. Pollutants and the demand for
resources have a level of coersion that must be accepted, even by those that
don't desire it, resulting in coersion towards those communities forced to aid
in the project of civilization against their will. Or the more advanced
civilizations must accept a level of its population abandoning, suffering,
and/or dying to avoid this coersion.
It is completely justifiable and ethical for individuals affected by coersion
to strike out against those that coerse their communities, and perhaps even
simply individuals that are coersed can strike out. But on the flip side it is
justifiable, though unethical, for most civilized communities to demand from
those communities that reject a certain level of civilization to continue
granting resources and accepting pollutants needed so that misery doesn't set
in the higher of civilized communities. If these undercivilized communities
refuse (again justifiable though unethical), the higher civilized communities
can aggress, perhaps even violently, against these communities to prevent
suffering.
If these communities work with the confederations required to maintain
civilization, perhaps a happy medium can be found, though it is clear that even
if undercivilized communities demand to be pulled out of these confederations
they would not be free of confederal influence and may have to still comply to
the guidelines presented within them as long as these confederations have a
level of dominance in society.
So we are left with a few questions for the future. Could a happy medium be
developed even if it comes at the expense of an acceptable level of coersion,
much like workers of today's capitalist era must accept shitty wages in order
to live? Could technology continue to progress, or even alter to a level where
these problems can be avoided? Can these problems be avoided if communities
refuse to participate in confederal bodies from the get go? The uncertainty of
a socialist future lies in the hands of the present, a direction must be found.
Some Major Problems with the Future of Civilization
by High Priest Wombat, KSC
As one searches for the limits of a community within a global
society future one wonders why can't a single community say fuck-all to its
neighbors and develop a highly technological locality. Afterall if
the decision-making is fair and democratic and no coersion occurs
between individuals within the community, then its decision to go
forward with technology should have no problem...right?
Well, not exactly. Much of pre-industrial technology might be able
to continue at this level, but I'm not looking at a society that has
erased the history of capitalism and perhaps wishes to continue with
many of the industrial and post-industrial technologies that were
developed during its time. These technologies require more than
simply drawling from an isolated region to upkeep. Even the simplest
lightbulb or television set requires the community to reach further
than its own resources can manage.
But it doesn't stop here and even some civilizations that use pre-
industrial technologies could fall into this next point. This point
being that of the pollutants needed to be produced so that these
technologies can exist and function can have an affect outside of the
community, and perhaps could affect regions, nations, and perhaps
even the entire globe. Certain levels of pollutants may not seem
much, but overtime, the buildup of even the smallest pollutants can
expand outside of the community. These pollutants could even be the
waste created by the concentrated piss and shit that humanity dumps
into the rivers, lakes, and oceans in order not to contaminate their
own communities. No civilization can avoid these concentrations of
pollutants, and the larger the urban sprawls get, the greater these
pollutants affect areas outside their own communities.
Now we have astablished that this single community cannot have most
technologies by itself if its desire is to not have a coersive
relationship with its neighbors. So now we see that most levels of
technology and most levels of civilization have a need for communities to
confederate in order to maintain its most basic of
functions. These confederations must expand like a web over regions
for all of civilization, and for most industrial and post-industrial
civilizations these confederations must even reach the global level
to continue. This begins to present problems, especially if civilization is
presented with communities that don't want to participate in the maintenence of
civilization.
If there is a desire to end or dramatically reduce the project of
civilization, the community that desires this suddenly throws the web of
civilization completely out of wack. This could include the resources that lie
within the regions they dominate and the plants and factories that lay within
that community, forcing other regions to seek these resources elsewhere. But
elsewhere may be too costly or too rare for a high technology community to
aquire and if these communities don't recieve the technologies they need to
maintain their level of civilization, collapse and death could be massive.
So now we are presented with some conflicts. Pollutants and the demand for
resources have a level of coersion that must be accepted, even by those that
don't desire it, resulting in coersion towards those communities forced to aid
in the project of civilization against their will. Or the more advanced
civilizations must accept a level of its population abandoning, suffering,
and/or dying to avoid this coersion.
It is completely justifiable and ethical for individuals affected by coersion
to strike out against those that coerse their communities, and perhaps even
simply individuals that are coersed can strike out. But on the flip side it is
justifiable, though unethical, for most civilized communities to demand from
those communities that reject a certain level of civilization to continue
granting resources and accepting pollutants needed so that misery doesn't set
in the higher of civilized communities. If these undercivilized communities
refuse (again justifiable though unethical), the higher civilized communities
can aggress, perhaps even violently, against these communities to prevent
suffering.
If these communities work with the confederations required to maintain
civilization, perhaps a happy medium can be found, though it is clear that even
if undercivilized communities demand to be pulled out of these confederations
they would not be free of confederal influence and may have to still comply to
the guidelines presented within them as long as these confederations have a
level of dominance in society.
So we are left with a few questions for the future. Could a happy medium be
developed even if it comes at the expense of an acceptable level of coersion,
much like workers of today's capitalist era must accept shitty wages in order
to live? Could technology continue to progress, or even alter to a level where
these problems can be avoided? Can these problems be avoided if communities
refuse to participate in confederal bodies from the get go? The uncertainty of
a socialist future lies in the hands of the present, a direction must be found.