Yes, there always is the possibility of "full fail", but look at how difficult it is for autocratic regimes of the world today to suppress human curiosity. My faith is in the endless reaching and searching embedded in the human DNA, though one worry is that we could reach a future state which may not be obviously dystopian but still represents a far from optimal resource configuration. We may in fact we approaching that now. One trump card humans have always held is violent revolution, but the TV shows keep getting better and better, and as long as they aren't murdering union members and forcing children to work in dangerous factories, our corporate overlords may be able to escape a new round of safe guards.
but look at how difficult it is for autocratic regimes of the world today to suppress human curiosity.
Westerners say that, as if the Reganesque march of progress will destroy any and all nation-states not ideologically subservient to the US of A, but in reality, China is never going to fall; Iran is never going to have free elections; not even Myanmar or even North Korea are going to shift.
The greatest and most heralded revolt of the 21st century replaced an autocratic president with a military dictatorship. But we pretend that Twitter can solve the dire social problems we face; that autocratic regimes can never suppress human curiosity; that one day, maybe not this day, maybe not the next day, but one day, freedom will ring.
But again, life is not a movie; you are not Mel Gibson; you live in reality, and in reality sometimes you lose.
I wasn't making a jingoistic point, but you can take the opposite side of 'never' quite easily. China already has fallen, the communist revolution took place in 1949. Iran recently (from a historic perspective) had free elections in 1951, see Mohammad Mosaddegh. Ideas really are the most powerful things in the world.
The Soviet Union did actually fall, as well; that was before globalization. Iran will never fall while the world buys its oil. China will never fall while it makes your computer.
But this point is too far afield to be useful here.
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Yes, there always is the possibility of "full fail", but look at how difficult it is for autocratic regimes of the world today to suppress human curiosity. My faith is in the endless reaching and searching embedded in the human DNA, though one worry is that we could reach a future state which may not be obviously dystopian but still represents a far from optimal resource configuration. We may in fact we approaching that now. One trump card humans have always held is violent revolution, but the TV shows keep getting better and better, and as long as they aren't murdering union members and forcing children to work in dangerous factories, our corporate overlords may be able to escape a new round of safe guards.
Westerners say that, as if the Reganesque march of progress will destroy any and all nation-states not ideologically subservient to the US of A, but in reality, China is never going to fall; Iran is never going to have free elections; not even Myanmar or even North Korea are going to shift.
The greatest and most heralded revolt of the 21st century replaced an autocratic president with a military dictatorship. But we pretend that Twitter can solve the dire social problems we face; that autocratic regimes can never suppress human curiosity; that one day, maybe not this day, maybe not the next day, but one day, freedom will ring.
But again, life is not a movie; you are not Mel Gibson; you live in reality, and in reality sometimes you lose.
I wasn't making a jingoistic point, but you can take the opposite side of 'never' quite easily. China already has fallen, the communist revolution took place in 1949. Iran recently (from a historic perspective) had free elections in 1951, see Mohammad Mosaddegh. Ideas really are the most powerful things in the world.
The Soviet Union did actually fall, as well; that was before globalization. Iran will never fall while the world buys its oil. China will never fall while it makes your computer.
But this point is too far afield to be useful here.