Not sure how upgrading our 18th century governance processes would do anything other than accelerate the great unmooring. These may be the only flow restrictors left which shield us from the full force of the firehose of technology.
I'm wondering about the sense of American history you describe in this post. Our history coincides with some significant technological changes: presses and pamphleteering, railroads, telegraph, the repeating rifle. And these must certainly have seemed weird to the peoples we killed, relocated, and enslaved.
Manifest destiny was a collateral and consequent belief of election as one of God's chosen. Perhaps as long as the country could feel the wielding of technological power was in support of righteous expansion, it didn't feel weird.
It's interesting that we established certain borders and those have remained pretty fixed. And now we fight to keep people out. Our manifest destiny these days appears to be posing as the exemplar of democracy and freedom, but behaving like a fortress.
It's odd how the promise of a universalizing technology like the Internet has seemingly resulted in a heightened fear of invasion and the need to defend borders. But obviously it's a fallacy to think that a technology that is employed worldwide actually increases knowledge and understanding of other people.
Great piece, well written!
Not sure how upgrading our 18th century governance processes would do anything other than accelerate the great unmooring. These may be the only flow restrictors left which shield us from the full force of the firehose of technology.
I'm wondering about the sense of American history you describe in this post. Our history coincides with some significant technological changes: presses and pamphleteering, railroads, telegraph, the repeating rifle. And these must certainly have seemed weird to the peoples we killed, relocated, and enslaved.
Manifest destiny was a collateral and consequent belief of election as one of God's chosen. Perhaps as long as the country could feel the wielding of technological power was in support of righteous expansion, it didn't feel weird.
It's interesting that we established certain borders and those have remained pretty fixed. And now we fight to keep people out. Our manifest destiny these days appears to be posing as the exemplar of democracy and freedom, but behaving like a fortress.
It's odd how the promise of a universalizing technology like the Internet has seemingly resulted in a heightened fear of invasion and the need to defend borders. But obviously it's a fallacy to think that a technology that is employed worldwide actually increases knowledge and understanding of other people.