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My view on this is that the "natural" method for organizing human societies is the feudal monarchy. The rich and powerful run things by a combination of force, tradition, and formal agreements. Leadership is determined nominally by inheritance with some legal structure. The economy is controlled to the advantage of the rich, with only enough power delegated to the poor to squelch the worst of the riots and revolutions.

To expect the world to "evolve" into some other utopian system is a very optimistic position, given that this is how things have been for several thousand years, with a few minor exceptions. There are plenty of current and historical examples to draw from.

My take on it is that we have been living, for the past 100 years or so in the U.S. and the past 60 or so in Europe, in a bubble situation where representative democracy worked pretty well. If the bubble doesn't burst it will be pretty surprising.

by asdf on Fri Jun 22nd, 2012 at 02:03:47 PM EST
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Thermodynamically, any empire, corporation, society,  utopian system is a machine that requires resources, has some beneficial effects to someone, and leaves waste. It is probably symptomatic, that social contracts and societies are disintegrating when energy supplies are not growing and about to decline. Beneficial effects are restricted, waste increases - that is how any sputtering machine operates.
by das monde on Fri Jun 22nd, 2012 at 09:04:41 PM EST
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