Tuesday, September 22, 2009
I believe that Asimov was in some ways a genius and a revolutionary. Any human being would be hard pressed to attempt to find a valid solution to the worlds problems, let alone actually plot out a course of action complete with concise reasoning, and Asimov in all his infinite wisom has actually managed to do so. Several of his points stick out in my mind, especially his idea about using the educational system to bolster womens' ambitions hereby making them only able to support a family of one or two children at a time, thus neutralizing the inevitable growth in the world population; It is a perfect example of what could be termed "genius thinking"; it puts forth a simple solution to a complex problem, and it also alleviates several other problems. However, he also mentions the idea of a "world government" that would work under the idea that everybody realizes "we are a world without war". As admirable as his intentions, I do no think that this is a valid solution. In order for a world government to exist, first the whole world needs to agree on what kind of government this would be, which would never happen, because there are only so many different political philosophy's as well as so many different people who disagree with them. Even if we managed to organize said government, getting anything accomplished would be almost impossible because the legal process would be tumultuously complicated, and every bill sent to pass would be met with opposition, and nothing would happen. Also, if there was a world government, there would undoubtedly be radical opposition to the world government, which would take any opportunity to take down the world goverment, which brings us to our second major point; with one large, important, goverment, all power and responsibility would be concentrated in one area, and if anything were to go wrong, like a depression or a rigged election, it would affect the whole world, and every person on earth would suffer from it to. Also, if some unsavory character were to corrupt and cheat and lie his way to the top of this global political ladder, 'world domination' would cease to be a cartoon hook so much as a grim reality. Bottom line is, even if through some magical twist of fate we were to put aside our differences, a world government would be too controversial, too vulnerable and too erratic to be effective for long. Asimov has brilliant idea's, and outstanding charisma, but his overwhelming faith in man's ability to agree on one thing is like the punchline to a long sad joke.
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I agree with you about the world government thing. Whether you realize it right now, what you said here were the same concerns that the US government had back after World War I- Wilson and his 14 points; the last of which was a World government. The idea was regected by Congree due to the reasons you mentioned: the corruption, the opposition, being brought into wars... They believed that the world govermnent would creat more problems than it would alleviate. And I think still to this day a world government will do just that.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the points you made regarding world government, I like how you pointed out the impossibility of bringing different minds together. But don't forget that to bring man toether all you have to do is show him how much danger he is in, how much he harms himself through others, for world government is not so much an actual organization but more an absence of any government at all, something that arises when there is no need for government.
ReplyDeleteI also agree, because if their was a world goverment it would led to demonation of one country over another, probally leading to doom and distruction of the world alowing one single group of people in charge of the whole world kinda makes it seem like a dictatorship in a snap. i like the point mentioned about women and them gong to school which most women already do wich really isnt going to stop the growth of the population at all it might put a little set back on it but wont effect it that much.
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