Our Future

As technology progresses and our knowledge of the universe expands, a world government is not only inevitable, but may become necessary at some point if we wish to, as a race, advance further. That said what form will a one world government take? It all depends on who wins the “culture war”. Barring any kind of cataclysm such as an asteroid impact, volcanic super eruption or extraterrestrial invasion, eventually the world will be united under a single doctrine and I dare say that all we can do about it is influence who wins. Unless our society can evolve into something similar to those in Star Trek or Ian M. Banks’ Culture, we are doomed to endure a despotic world government of some kind. The new world government will eventually fail and a global civil war will result, then another group will take over, and this process will repeat again and again until we eventually destroy ourselves. Albert Einstein knew this when he famously wrote in a letter to Harry S. Truman: "I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones."

What form will the world government take? I believe there are three strong possibilities:

1. Western free market capitalism/democracy.
Since this form of rule rewards people for their work with money to purchase comforts and convenience, a person is motivated to work harder to achieve their goals. There used an axiom in the old Soviet Union: “As long as they pretend to pay us, we will pretend to work.” Under a socialist/communist or despotic form of government, every thing is owned by the state, and you own nothing. All things human boil down to our egotistical nature and that is why communism and dictatorships have failed world wide. Before you say something about China, their government will collapse in the next 30 years, I assure you. Since they currently employ the “One Country, Two Systems” policy, the commies have ensured their own demise. While the population shares a great sense of national pride and are assured of their own racial superiority (Middle Kingdom Complex), this will not be enough to achieve their stated goal of Sino-dominance. Since they allow certain places to operate under a sort of free market, democratic system, China is essence controlled by those that make the money, just like the West. While their Politburo controls the government and military, the pseudo-capitalists control the money, without which the government and military can not function. The Chinese communist government will fall, and be replaced by a western style free market/democratic government for the same reasons the Soviets fell. Capitalism is not perfect by any means, and by definition ensures that there will almost always be poverty and corruption and people that are more successful than others. The difference is that with capitalism you always have at lest one thing: Hope, sort of.

2. Sharia (Islamic Law)
The greatest threat to freedom and capitalism at this point is Islam. These religious fanatics have a single goal: To install a world-wide Islamic Caliphate. What makes Islamists so dangerous is that they are highly motivated to achieve their goals, and the rest of the world is only highly motivated to secure oil. Since most of the worlds oil supply is controlled by Muslim countries, they already have a sword at the economic throats of nearly every nation on Earth. The only thing that keeps them in check is the advanced technology of the West’s militaries. If the West had the political and social will, they could crush the armies of the Middle-East and take over the entire region in a matter of months, and the Islamists know it. The West and the Islamists also know that the West does not have to will to sustain a protracted military occupation of lands filled with Muslim fanatics. Islamists have realized that they can not defeat the West by military conquest, (as they have tried to do throughout history) so they are using the laws of modern Western democracies to do so from within. France will be the first to fall to Islamists if current social and political trends continue. The Muslim riots that France has endured in the past year are just the beginning. Like the Hashshashin (Assassins) of old, the current Islamist doctrine is to infiltrate and destroy. Islamists believe that converting the World’s population to Islam is the will of God, and no action, however perverse or evil it seems to a normal person is barred if it is for the greater good of Allah.

The lure of Islam is extremely seductive. On the surface the politeness, the unity with other believers, the apparent rightness of cause, the belief in something bigger than your self fulfills almost every Human psychological need. However, to sustain it’s self, Islam needs the same thing that all other cults and oppressive systems of government need to motivate the people: The Enemy. No oppressive system can exist without another system to combat against. With Muslims it’s the kaffur, (unbeliever) with the communists, capitalism is the enemy, etc. You can not control your subjects in an oppressive system without explaining to the people you rule the reason why they are oppressed.

3. World Fascism/ Dystopia
In my opinion, this is the most likely first world government. I am talking about a society similar to the video game series Syndicate, what the Antichrist creates in the Left Behind series, what you saw in the film Equilibrium, what you read in Orwell’s 1984. We all know that there is no greater thrill to a bully than to have control over other people. It is said that while men become physical bullies, women become psychological bullies, and somewhat vice versa. I don’t believe that any thinking person would say that this is not true in general, however both types of bullying have the same goal: Control over others. In general, most leaders are greedy, vain and arrogant. Otherwise, what motivated them to become leaders? While an exceptional few are truly altruistic and wish nothing more than better the human condition, almost every person is ruled by what the Soviet KGB called the M.I.C.E. principal. This stands for: Money, Ideology, Conscience, and Ego. The KGB believed, correctly it seems considering their vast success at recruiting spys, that almost every person is motivated by one or more of the M.I.C.E. principals. This insight combined with technology is just begging for a super-leader seduce and conquer the world.

Since technology is advancing at such a rapid rate, and humans have a need to control other humans, it seems inevitable that we will see in our lifetime a world government emerge. Money, speech, expression and maybe even thoughts, will all be controlled by the whims of our future rulers, as we are now somewhat controlled by our current ones. The difference at this point in time is that the control is not yet consolidated; however it seems likely that this will happen within the next hundred years.

In conclusion, I say that two events will occur in one succession or the other: The creation of a world government and subsequent revolt resulting in a nuclear holocaust, or a nuclear holocaust resulting in a world government. Whatever the outcome, one thing is for certain:

We are fucked.

-Tommy Masterson