eventually lead to the very end of the idea of a Nation
you say that like it's a bad thing.
May I recommend that you read
Amazon.com: The Diamond Age: Or, a Young Lady's Illustrated Primer ... paying particular attention to Phyles
- Phyles are groups of people often distinguished by shared values, similar ethnic heritage, a common religion, or other cultural similarities.
Also consider the MonkeySphere
- scientists realized that the size of a primates brain directly correlated with the number of social relations the animals had. Humans can, on average (remember the Bell Curve) relate directly to about 150. 150 is US...beyond that is THEM. 150 is the envelope, the phase change, beyond which the rules of social interaction and behavior Change.
Which...brings to mind The Iron Law
- In any bureaucracy, the people devoted to the benefit of the bureaucracy itself always get in control and those dedicated to the goals the bureaucracy is supposed to accomplish have less and less influence, and sometimes are eliminated entirely.
The synthesis implies that nations are a KLUDGE. They were cobbled together over countless years and untold deaths and suffering have resulted. The only thing that they had going for them was that they were better than any other alternative.
Until now.
The Birth of the Nation as a Service is a start.
Sorry if I was unclear. I agree that nations, at least as we currently know them are extremely inefficient. I'm just also slighted worried that the NaaS become a pretext to instaure the rule of the strongest as law (=> write in stone (Law/Constitution) the current state of affairs, making it even harder/really impossible to reverse).
Part of the huge inefficiency of our current states are their inability to enforce properly: rich people avoiding justice and taxes, minorities targeted by the police...
Glad to see you adopting the term adopting the term though, I will keep writing on the topic I think as there so many questions left to answer. The next one will probably be around the "monopoly of legitimate violence" in a NaaS, and overall the enforcement in a NaaS.
Thanks for suggesting some reading. I was familiar already with the idea of the monkey sphere and the Iron Law (called differently in French), but had never heard about the Phyles.
Edit: I've read the Cryptonomicon with a lot of interest, and just found out that Neal Stephenson is behind The Diamond Age. I'll definitely give it a read thanks for the rec!
you're welcome.
hope to see more of your writing.