A very thought provoking essay, Graham, I really enjoyed reading it. I have a few comments. On war: War is never productive, always destructive. Even when the aggressor wins, they have already destroyed much of what they won. There are people who say, "yeah, but, look at all the inventions that came out of warfare" Like without war nothing would have been invented? Inventions come from a need. There really is no need to kill.
On the current environment: We will not destroy the planet, fortunately no matter how clever we think we are, we aren't. Homo sapiens are like cockroaches, some of us will survive, and we're always willing to procreate. We may destroy several species more beautiful and valuable than we are, but single celled organisms will continue to thrive, as will insects, plants, and animals (unfortunately including some of us.)
On trade: We have been 'trading' for at least 10,000 years. Overpowering greed is what is destroying commerce now, the best way (in my opinion) to cure that is to tax them to the extent of their full share of the cost of living in society.
On how to rein in the warmongers among us: I vote for total isolation. No diplomatic embassies for or from, no commerce of any kind allowed, no communication between any war mongering nation like Russia to or from any other country. Relief from isolation when they make a binding agreement with all the rest of the world to cease and desist from all aggressive behavior. To start, I would include China, Iran, North Korea, Russia, and the United States - but in my Country, the US, I would insist on agreement with all political parties not just whichever is currently in power.
As to your question, trust me Graham, you would not want me as your emperor or empress, I'm too bloody opinionated.
A very thought provoking essay, Graham, I really enjoyed reading it. I have a few comments. On war: War is never productive, always destructive. Even when the aggressor wins, they have already destroyed much of what they won. There are people who say, "yeah, but, look at all the inventions that came out of warfare" Like without war nothing would have been invented? Inventions come from a need. There really is no need to kill.
On the current environment: We will not destroy the planet, fortunately no matter how clever we think we are, we aren't. Homo sapiens are like cockroaches, some of us will survive, and we're always willing to procreate. We may destroy several species more beautiful and valuable than we are, but single celled organisms will continue to thrive, as will insects, plants, and animals (unfortunately including some of us.)
On trade: We have been 'trading' for at least 10,000 years. Overpowering greed is what is destroying commerce now, the best way (in my opinion) to cure that is to tax them to the extent of their full share of the cost of living in society.
On how to rein in the warmongers among us: I vote for total isolation. No diplomatic embassies for or from, no commerce of any kind allowed, no communication between any war mongering nation like Russia to or from any other country. Relief from isolation when they make a binding agreement with all the rest of the world to cease and desist from all aggressive behavior. To start, I would include China, Iran, North Korea, Russia, and the United States - but in my Country, the US, I would insist on agreement with all political parties not just whichever is currently in power.
As to your question, trust me Graham, you would not want me as your emperor or empress, I'm too bloody opinionated.