Naked Science Forum
General Discussion & Feedback => Just Chat! => Topic started by: smart on 09/09/2017 10:50:02
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Globalization is fairly a new concept for me. How did we let that happen? I think the globalization of humanity is a serious threat to the freedom of human race to act independently of political games plotting to destroy the economy and the planet with man-made pollution, fake mental disorders, and climate change. We need to wake up and do something to inverse the unilateral globalization of humanity into the rank of domestic servants!
tkadm30
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Again with the conspiracy theories?
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Globalization is not a conspiracy theory...
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Globalization is not a conspiracy theory...
You make it appear to be by the way you describe it.
What exactly do you mean by globalisation?
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Globalization is not a conspiracy theory...
You make it appear to be by the way you describe it.
What exactly do you mean by globalisation?
- The death of free markets and fair trade
- The enslavement of humanity into poverty and cheap labor
- The rise of GMO foods and the death of substainable agriculture
- The dictatorship of climate change
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Globalization is not a conspiracy theory...
Maybe not globalization per se, but the consequences you propose for it sound like it.
- The death of free markets and fair trade
- The enslavement of humanity into poverty and cheap labor
- The rise of GMO foods and the death of substainable agriculture
- The dictatorship of climate change
If you are claiming that the "powers that be" are aware of these consequences and are trying to steer humanity in that direction while at the same time are trying to hide their agenda, that would indeed be a conspiracy theory.
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The way I see it, Globalization includes:
- Cheap, long-distance transport (eg railways, container ships and aeroplanes)
- Cheap, long-distance communication (eg the internet, communication satellites, undersea cables)
- Supported by laws and standards that operate in multiple countries (eg EU, SI, IEC, ISO, NATO)
- Supporting international communication, cooperation and trade (eg embassies, treaties, passports, currency exchange, UN, NAFTA)
- Supporting companies and Non-Government Organizations that operate in multiple countries; some large companies today have greater revenues than many small countries...
- Supporting international competition and warfare (eg iOS vs Android, Capitalism vs Communism, Pearl Harbour, international terrorism, ICBMs, manipulating elections in other countries, spying on citizens of other countries)
- Supporting companies that shift their operations around to get the lowest-cost products, and pay almost no tax in any country
- Which is all in addition to the pre-Globalization characteristics of gridlocked cities, poor public transport, a postal service (snail-mail), laws and standards which differ in every state, gang warfare, civil wars, spying on your own citizens, companies that operate across state borders and shift their operations around to minimise tax within the country. Multiple currencies and language barriers. Many of these limitations persist despite globalization.
How to end globalization?
Stop using long-distance transport like trucks, trains, ships and planes.
Go back to snail-mail, and newspapers and banks that operate within a single city. (Maybe keep Morse-code, using human operators only...)
A Globalised World War 3 would do it.
What would be the results of ending Globalization?
- A great increase in the cost of manufactured goods, since markets will be more fragmented, and production must be done with local resources and labour (consumers in rich countries must pay the high wages expected by laborers in rich countries).
- You will no longer be able to buy strawberries or flowers out of season; or even non-local products like mangoes & avocados.
- Individuals will no longer be able to buy complex products like computers, dishwashers, modern cars and petrol, because these require world-wide resources to produce. Local electricity grids would still be possible (but expensive & unstable).
- Most of the "third world" will be stuck there, without the inflow of revenue and technologies from richer countries making use of their resources and low-cost labor.
- Society will become much more fragile, as each area will stand or fall on its own, instead of sharing resources
- Numerous local wars (the American Civil War was the bloodiest war that the USA has ever engaged in)
- I expect a severe crash in human population
Globalization as a Trend?
Globalization is something of a continuation of the trend in previous centuries to combine towns into states and states into nations, eg USA, UK & UAE (where the U stands for United)
- Even combining different languages and dialects into a single entity, eg China, Italy, Spain, UK, Canada, USA, EU
- And combine nations into Empires, as has been attempted by Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Attila the Hun, Napoleon and Hitler. (These all fell apart because of the lack of long-distance transport and communication; Hitler probably came closest to making it work).
- People really don't like globalization being enforced from the outside - especially if the outsiders are readily distinguishable by their language, clothes or color.
Voluntary Globalization?
The question in my mind is whether this trend will voluntarily reverse, with states and languages seceding from their current national/empire identities to voluntarily join a larger global entity (eg most of the previous British Empire joined the UN, the Philippines joined the UN, Eire joined the EU; Scotland, Quebec, Kurds, Basques, Catalans, etc (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lists_of_active_separatist_movements) are all thinking about doing something).
Part of this has to be introduction of a global tax regime for global companies, where countries no longer compete with each other to offer the lowest tax rates to companies, thus starving all countries of revenue needed to develop and maintain their own infrastructure (the recent EU ruling against Luxembourg & Amazon is an example).
- A stepping-stone to this may be a scheme where companies pay country-specific taxes in each country on revenue in that country
- I expect that this will prove so painful that companies and countries will all push to move to a global tax regime (eventually)
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Very nice post, evan. :)
Thanks for writing!
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Globalisation is a rude word for success.
If I produce a good product with a wide appeal, say Coca-Cola, is there any reason why it should not be available outside the country of origin?
If my business model is better than yours, it can be mutually beneficial for me to buy your business. Is there any reason why I shouldn't buy it just because your headquarters is in a different state?
If I want to set up a factory and employ people who currently have no income or prospects, why can't I do it in a poorer country than my own?
If you get on a Qantas flight in Sydney, is there any reason why you should return from Bombay on Air India? Or should they repaint the plane and transfer ownership for each flight? How will that benefit the passengers?
If Country B offers me a more favorable tax regime then Country A, why should I not move myself, my employees and my headquarters to B?
If you think freedom and competition are good, you have to allow that some people will win - there's no point in innovating and competing otherwise!
I share a concern about GMOs leading to a potential monopoly on basic foodstuffs. But the dependence of world agriculture on fossil fuels is probably a greater threat that cannot be countered by trade legislation.
Climate change has nothing to to with economics. It is an inevitable consequence of being on a planet that can sustain life.
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- The death of free markets and fair trade
- The enslavement of humanity into poverty and cheap labor
- The rise of GMO foods and the death of substainable agriculture
- The dictatorship of climate change
The first 3 of these have been problems for a very long time.
Many free markets only exist because of anti-monopoly laws. Look at the history of the East India Company and others.
A substantial war was fought in US because of the 2nd
Selective breeding of plant and animal species (and sometimes human) have been around for a very, very long time.