Brexit, North Atlantic Union, and Transcendence Geopolitics

General discussion about anything related to Transcendence.
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Prophet
Militia Captain
Militia Captain
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Joined: Tue Nov 18, 2008 6:09 pm

I believe that there must've been some form of mass extinction (WW3, alien invasion, climate collapse....) to explain why human development in game is so far behind extrapolated estimates with regards to Moore's law and predictions from people such as Ray Kurzweil. The advancements in medical fields will open new doors that we have not even imagined yet.

Assuming life on Earth continues and society remains, at least, as stable as it currently is, we would have most/all of the Trans tech by 2100. If we pretend that humans could set aside their differences and turn Earth into a Utopia, all humans could be effectively immortal (from natural causes at least) as well as all the fun genetic augments, cyber/nano implants and other tech, we would all be super-human.


One thing that Brexit and the American election has really shown is the ever increasing influence of corporate interests and how far those people are willing to go to protect and expand their interests.

I think that the Trans sovereigns need not trace back to any country or religion of the current time as they will ALL have collapsed or merged multiple times by the present day (in game) but I do acknowledge that it is necessary to provide the player with some form of recognition in order to create an immersive story.


TL;DR
Real life events will be more unbelievable than any story we write.
Coming soon: The Syrtian War adventure mod!
A Turret defense genre mod exploring the worst era in Earth's history.
Can you defend the Earth from the Syrtian invaders?
Stay tuned for updates!
JohnBWatson
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Joined: Tue Aug 19, 2014 10:17 pm

'Collapsed' is a strong word - a nation and a government aren't necessarily the same thing. Humans are naturally inclined towards associating with identities, which don't die easy. Even if the US government collapsed tomorrow, we'd have Americans for potentially centuries to come. Most of humanity's oldest nations have been through many wildly different iterations, but have kept the same identity throughout. China, for example, has always kept a strong education system, a great degree of national pride, and a skepticism of outside influence, even as it shifted from dynastic rule to a nationalist state, followed by a communist state, followed by the technocratic system it has now. While China's current government has its issues and may not last into the next 100 years, China will almost certainly continue to exist for as long as humans reside on planet Earth. England and France have similarly gone through radical changes over the years, with them and many other European nations transitioning from theocratic monarchies to secular democracies, but these nations have kept their names and identities through it all. It's not unfathomable that America could go the same way, changing its government while its people maintain its identity as a bastion of Lockean beliefs, the goal of seeking out prosperity through peace and neutrality, and its stalwart support of free enterprise. The NAU, as I interpret it, could only be born from Americans, but this does not necessarily imply that the United States as we know it must continue to exist.
snafu
Commonwealth Pilot
Commonwealth Pilot
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Joined: Tue Apr 07, 2009 9:03 pm
Location: London, UK

Heinlen's /Friday/ (along with a few of his previous works) gives the idea of the result of a collapsed US & what it may devolve into (the forerunner of the NAU?), including a central gvt (& accompanying presidential figurehead) that doesn't have enough power to enforce its policies; police states & individual city-states with all sorts of different governmental styles.. including physical border/barriers (he calls them 'fences', with autonomous guards attached, but the description is very much reminiscent of the Berlin Wall) between them. Unfortunately (East Indian) Asia & the Orient don't figure much in his books; I'd have very much liked to have seen how he would have developed/projected those cultures :(

I feel that China's presence/threat is more to do with its ingrained (over millennia) worker/lower class subjugation (mainly from lack of education) & thus their imperative to 'obey the class above'* (as opposed to the former USSR, which didn't have that ingrained obedience; or the US, which tends to focus on personal/individual gain & independence from the governing authority (necessary around 1776 +-50yrs or so, but causing all sorts of problems now..)). Plus China's vast natural resources & consequent wealth (cultural & otherwise, now they're finally using them in global rather than only local markets) makes it a significant player in the global stakes; their only current problem is their governmental creed. Over the next century or so I'd expect this (gvt creed) to relax (it's already happening after all: compare with the China of (say) the 1970s or even '80s), but it'll take them a /very/ long time to disseminate the new 'creed', & even longer to make it work in the hinterlands. Expect a fair few uprisings/secessions similar to the former USSR in the meantime.. & similar worries about what sort of power arises afterwards (Gorbachev or Putin? Or Stalin?) & whether it'll be /allowed/ to be a stable state.. or several unstable ones similar to the current Middle East or Balkans :(

*Japan, of course, famously had a similar ruthless feudal system which gradually died out over its long period of 'westernisation', starting from its desperate need for trade outside its own lands. China doesn't have that lack of space/resource problem: it's simply lacking skilled labour & infrastructure in sufficient quantity to take advantage of its land's bounty


FWIW south of the Equator (Oz, NZ) should be fine with an influx of Japanese tech knowhow & industrial methods due to their headstart WRT Western economic/education/production techniques, while the S American continent will still continue to struggle due to lack of available land for expansion (& therefore internal (endemic?) corruption).. unless they chop down the entire Amazon rainforest (possibly leading to a global disaster on Extinction Event scale?) :(

India/Africa (the whole sub-continents, not their individual countries) have their own problems of course, but they're far more detailed, involved & religious for me to go into here (or anywhere, preferably) :(


I think I may try saving up for a permanent Antarctica residency.. :(
Dom 8-)
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