[extropy-chat] The existential threat of international law

[Russell Wallace]

It's been remarked that the world is too small; in a material sense this is
not so, for this planet is capable of supporting an order of magnitude more
people than currently inhabit it, if the available resources were used more
efficiently. The critical sense in which it _is_ too small, however, is the
ratio of force to space.

Why are we speaking English right now instead of Chinese? Because at the
time when the outcome was decided, Europe had the priceless gift of
political disunity. There was never a time when one man could order the
lights turned out in all of Europe simultaneously. In China, one man could
and therefore did. (Jared Diamond does a good job of describing this in
'Guns, Germs and Steel', in particular the end of the Qeng Ho fleets.) In
its desperation to put an end to internecine warfare (a good cause as far as
that goes), Europe has forsaken that gift; we haven't begun to see a
fraction of the resulting harm, but losing the potential of one continent
isn't an existential disaster by itself.

The terrible fact that needs addressing (by someone more charming and
persuasive than me, but nobody else is stepping up) is that, long before we
have the technology to colonize anywhere else, we have the technology - and
in many minds, the political will - to eliminate disunity everywhere on
Earth. Once that happens, there won't be any outside. No "we'd better
cooperate with each other or the other tribe will win" anymore. No Commodore
Perry to break open the shell. Nothing except who can gain power over his
neighbor, to turn the noose a notch tighter before being replaced by the
next candidate to do the same thing. One law everywhere, and the technology
to enforce it; only that which is within the law, permitted to occur; and
more laws written every year. In the worst case scenario, you might not be
permitted to die. Ever. (This is my biggest reservation about cryonics -
perhaps it will work, but how sure are you that you want it to? Once you're
in the freezer, it's too late to change your mind.)

If we end up screaming for a trillion years, we'll have plenty of
opportunity to say "maybe we could have done something about it back then".
Back then is right now, and politics is a slippery-slope game. Oppose
international law, the United Nations and anything that reduces world
political disunity.

- Russell
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