The US fundamentally didn’t stand a chance of achieving a Star Trek future. Individuals and society have opposing goals. The US is big on individuals, so society will suffer.
I read a Chinese work on this a year or so ago. In that, our current world fell apart in the nuclear war because America couldn’t settle its differences. Humanity built a new society on top of it to be much more collectivist, though they also modified the anatomy of the human species somewhat to make this possible. Of course, some people felt that the price of preventing the rise of another Trump is too much to pay, and started a revolt.
The question put forward by that work is essentially this: Suppose you had a magic button that made everyone feel immense empathy for everyone else, and want to genuinely improve everyone’s well-being. However, this will cause everyone to live simple lives, forever. “Interesting times” will be a thing of the past, for better or worse. Would you take the offer?
The US fundamentally didn’t stand a chance of achieving a Star Trek future. Individuals and society have opposing goals. The US is big on individuals, so society will suffer.
I read a Chinese work on this a year or so ago. In that, our current world fell apart in the nuclear war because America couldn’t settle its differences. Humanity built a new society on top of it to be much more collectivist, though they also modified the anatomy of the human species somewhat to make this possible. Of course, some people felt that the price of preventing the rise of another Trump is too much to pay, and started a revolt.
The question put forward by that work is essentially this: Suppose you had a magic button that made everyone feel immense empathy for everyone else, and want to genuinely improve everyone’s well-being. However, this will cause everyone to live simple lives, forever. “Interesting times” will be a thing of the past, for better or worse. Would you take the offer?