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On 2016-06-05 00:03, William Flynn Wallace wrote:<br>
<blockquote
cite="mid:CAO+xQEZOvG0BL--wkH696R0Ly-86KK7GCekec5aK2jqum0H5xA@mail.gmail.com"
type="cite">
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<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:'comic sans
ms',sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span
style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.8px">Still,
trying to steer towards extropian themes: the way of
handling disasters is to (1) avoid them happening, (2) make
actions during the event to mitigate damage, and (3) have
good recovery options. It might be interesting to analyse
the problem of political systems going into headspins this
way. anders</span><br
style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.8px">
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<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:'comic sans
ms',sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span
style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.8px"><br>
</span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:'comic sans
ms',sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span
style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.8px">Russia
has been dysfunctional for nearly 100 years. Surely they
have tried to tweak the system many times, to no avail. Why
don't they change? Why don't Cuba and North Korea, seeing
as how these countries are in permanent disaster? Is it
just that they are ruled by strongmen who control the
military?</span></div>
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</blockquote>
<br>
Blaming political ideology does not work as an explanation, since
they were not exactly in a great state before shifting to socialism
(Russia a collapsing monarchy, Cuba an authoritarian dictatorship,
North Korea occupied by the Japanese and Soviet Union). Plus, other
basket cases like Haiti has never been socialist. <br>
<br>
Now, I know political science has a fair bit of knowledge and theory
about why dysfunction tends to run deep. One clear issue is that
institutions tend to be weak and untrustworthy, the incentives for
rulers and ruled are such that corruption and distrust (or even
outright theft) becomes rational. Some failure modes involve
tribalist politics, making joint government hard. <br>
<br>
To an outsider it is obvious that the US should update its
constitution. But I guess that is not likely, is it?<br>
<br>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
Dr Anders Sandberg
Future of Humanity Institute
Oxford Martin School
Oxford University</pre>
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