United World Government? (A bit of an essay)

[Apparition of Jack]

In his Conscious Politics series Leo talks about promotion and creation of a singular world government as part of his policy ideas, and it's been something I've been mulling over for the last while. Like many people I used to think such an idea was just a pie-in-the-sky fantasy that sounds nice on paper but ultimately wouldn't work and would cause more problems than it solves, but as I've been increasing my consciousness and looking at world issues on a deeper level, I've come to see the wisdom in such an idea.

 

Think about it - as we move forward in the 21st century, the processes of globalisation, technology, immigration and so on are only going to increase, not decrease. Yes there will be obvious backlashes to these things, as we've already seen to some extent, but the conditions are such that the set-up for increasing global integration is more or less inevitable at this point. Plus, the collective issues the world faces - climate change, income inequality, national tensions - need to have broad, inter-national co-operation in order to solve, not just local governments trying to fix these things piecemeal.
Not only that, but, based on what I've observed, a unified "global culture" is already starting to emerge, depending on the places you live and the people you interact with. You could meet, for instance, a woman born in India, raised in Spain, educated in the UK and now living with a Japanese husband in the US, and it will feel completely natural. The old idea of "solid," distinct nation-states that served humanity in the 19th and 20th centuries is starting to lose its cultural hegemony, IMO.

 

So then let's talk about the benefits of increasing government integration between nations. If nations start to come together and operate in a more unified manner, the ability to distribute resources where they're needed will increase massively. For instance, if Canada and the US unite, you could drastically improve the health standards in Alberta by getting rid of the expensive taxes on imported medical technology from the US, which would do a lot to reduce the rates of cancer, heart disease, and so on in that province. Or if France and Germany united, then access to well-built German electric cars would improve dramatically for French drivers, which would do a lot to reduce emissions for France. Plus, if we are to get serious about space travel and colonising other planets, then the only realistic way to do that would be to have as much co-operation between countries as possible, and to share the most amount of resources, time, expertise, etc. possible, because such an undertaking will require these things on a level that a single nation alone wouldn't be able to accomplish.
Another benefit would be the obvious reduced risk of war and conflict between nations. If, say, eventually India and Pakistan unite, then the threat of armed conflict between those two countries - as well as the endless blaming each other from both sides, and all the cultural tensions that exist between them - would disappear, as instead arguments over land and resources become mediated through the unified India-Pakistan authority, rather than through trying to negotiate between two different authorities.

 

Of course there are downsides to this too. As national identity is still a key part of most people's psyches, telling people that they will now live in a nation with people who (for the time being) have a distinct language and culture to them won't go over well with a lot of people. Plus, the fact of the matter is that distinct local cultures will be hurt by this - for instance, using the France-Germany scenario, French people will begin to see more German beer, more German words, more German songs in the places they live, and in Germany people will begin to see more French wine, French words, French songs and so on. The ideas of "Frenchness" and "Germanness" would get muddied, and for a lot of people that will seem very alien and confusing, especially in the short term. But the benefits of this over the long-term would be that people begin to feel a sense of connectedness with people they previously didn't - after 50 years of France and Germany being one country, a person born to French parents would no longer see a person born to German parents as an "other", and would at that point probably share the same values, ideas, and even language (a French-German hybrid.) Plus, the two cultures coming together would create benefits too - Germans would learn to appreciate taking life easy and leisurely from French people, and French people would learn punctuality and industriousness from the Germans, which would improve the lives of both peoples. Or, to put it in other words, this new French-German synthesis would be greater than the sum of its parts.

 

Now, obviously such ideas are still relatively far off in the future from happening in real life, but I think for us here at Actualized.org it's a good thing to start thinking about, since it'll help us clearly navigate the direction the world is headed.
Prior to WW1 and 2, the idea of an international organisation that works to prevent wars and promote harmony wouldn't have been possible - the two most powerful countries in the world before this - the British Empire and the Germany Empire - would have never agreed to solve their disputes through an impartial international organistion, especially since they had such great success previously using force of arms instead, and the result was the two most destructive wars in human history. But then, the UN was created, and the mechanisms it utilises has helped prevent the two newest most powerful countries on the planet - the USA and the USSR - from going to war with each other. Instead, the UN helped the USA and USSR resolve its disputes diplomatically instead of military, and ended up presiding over the most peaceful and prosperous time in human history (despite some wars in hotspot regions during this time.)
So if a Unified World Government seems unlikely or impractical, then just remember so did the UN, and the massive period of peace and prosperity it created. Yes, there will be problems with greater international integration, and no one is saying it will be an easy or straightforward process, but for the sake of humanity's long-term evolution and consciousness, I think it's actually one of the most realistic and practical things we can help create.

 

What is everyone's thoughts on this?

Edited January 6, 2020 by Apparition of Jack

[Leo Gura]

49 minutes ago, Apparition of Jack said:

So if a Unified World Government seems unlikely or impractical, then just remember so did the UN, and the massive period of peace and prosperity it created.

This applies all the way up and down the chain of life.

If a Unified World Government seems unlikely or impractical, just remember that 2000 years ago the idea of a country was crazy because there were only walled city-states. And 2 billion years ago, the idea of multicellular organisms was crazy because there were only single-celled organisms eating each other.

For a human body to exist, single-celled organisms had to learn to cooperate with each other despite having their own selfish agendas.

This is a game that life has played out for 2 billion years.

[crab12]

I enjoyed reading that.

Quote

This applies all the way up and down the chain of life.

If a Unified World Government seems unlikely or impractical, just remember that 2000 years ago the idea of a country was crazy because there were only walled city-states. And 2 billion years ago, the idea of multicellular organisms was crazy because there were only single-celled organisms eating each other.

For a human body to exist, single-celled organisms had to learn to cooperate with each other despite having their own selfish agendas.

This is a game that life has played out for 2 billion years.

Ahhh now I finally see the case for a world government.

But cooperation can only happen when it benefits both parties. The rise of nationalism is happening because, right now, they are perceiving that they will end up losing in a world government. It's a LOSE-WIN deal for the. The argument is they should just give up their fight because it's:

Quote

more or less inevitable at this point

It will only cause them to entrench further and prepare to fight till the bitter end, because they are going to perish either way.

This is very much like when you are trying to study for the exams but at the same time you have the urge to play video games. You can suppress your desire to play games this one time but internal suppression isn't going to work as a long term solution. The suppressed desire will revolt and wreak havoc sooner or later. A long term solution would be to find a way that satisfies both of your internal needs, a WIN-WIN for your own self.

If you truly want a unified world government you are going to have to come up with a solution that satisfies everyone, including people who want to preserve their preferred way of life (nationalists). Not just tell them, it's inevitable, just give up. Otherwise you are being a carnivore devouring them for the "greater good", but the "greater good" is to satisfy all needs and to unify all.

[Apparition of Jack]

3 hours ago, crab12 said:

If you truly want a unified world government you are going to have to come up with a solution that satisfies everyone, including people who want to preserve their preferred way of life (nationalists). Not just tell them, it's inevitable, just give up. Otherwise you are being a carnivore devouring them for the "greater good", but the "greater good" is to satisfy all needs and to unify all.

Yes, of course. That phrase was the one I was most hesitant to include in this post because I knew it would be the one that would make people feel uncomfortable the most, but I felt compelled to write it anyway.

Integration between nations will obviously be an uncomfortable process, even for the most advanced people in a society. I know a lot of Orange/Green people who talk about international peace and multiculturalism who would still feel a backlash against the idea of joining another nation, since national identity is something we still have deeply ingrained inside of us. It would have to be a long-term process that is conscious and considerate of all parties involved, since it would be such a big change for everyone. Focusing on the positives of integration - better wealth, better education, reduced risk of war, more technological opportunities, hell, even better sex - would do a lot to convince people to get on board.

[Amil]

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Edited May 17, 2020 by Amil

[Parththakkar12]

On 1/6/2020 at 11:22 AM, Apparition of Jack said:

Another benefit would be the obvious reduced risk of war and conflict between nations. If, say, eventually India and Pakistan unite, then the threat of armed conflict between those two countries - as well as the endless blaming each other from both sides, and all the cultural tensions that exist between them - would disappear, as instead arguments over land and resources become mediated through the unified India-Pakistan authority, rather than through trying to negotiate between two different authorities.

This is a nice long-term benefit. However, I feel that we need to be able to get along as separate countries first if we're having border disputes. If we talk about uniting India and Pakistan today, both sides will feel outraged like you're taking away their identity and rightly so. Pakistan has been trying to colonize India since the beginning of time. We need to be secure in our identities as countries first, especially Pakistan. A country secure in its identity would never try to colonize another country.

Both countries need to be nationalistic first, but in a co-operative manner. Once we're able to actually resolve these issues and get along as separate countries and really be in love with each other in fact, then we can think about unification. (Using a marriage analogy lol)

Overall, I'm fully on board with you when you give the benefits of integration of countries. That would be some seriously awesome progress for humanity if we were to actualize it!