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What do we need a state for? To know where the running world champion comes from? Or to be able to say that the Americans were the first to land on the Moon, not, say, the Germans? Or is it needed for statistics (e. g. which country has the biggest cereal crops)? Or maybe to know who to shoot at in case of another war? Oh, now I know! To provide work for custom officers! Doesn’t make sense? I hope you think so.

The Nation has only been a necessary evil. But it’s not necessary anymore.

In the Middle Ages when the chances of travelling outside one’s homeland were rather faint people lived their lives not even knowing how other nations look like. Obviously the meme flow was rather limited. Most differences between the nations that we see today stem from isolation. But it’s over. Pretending that these relic divisions are necessary (or even beneficial) is just a misconception. What’s more some people feel proud of their national affiliation and consider other nations worse. I think that saying It's better because it's ours is complete bullshit. Something is better when it is objectively more suitable and not when it has been produced in your country. Cultivating nationalistic stereotypes is pathetic as well as dangerous.

Everybody is lamenting that globalization is so bad because it entails dumping region specific customs, folklore, languages (and religious rituals, fairy tales and superstitions). They say that one has to be affiliated to some culture or else one is lost, cannot find himself. I think it's nonsense. I don't want to belong to so and so community only because I was born in this and not the other place.. I want to be able to choose where I want to belong, I don't want to have any way of living forced upon me, I don't need no roots (but you may differ here..). The only past that I want to have is that of my own, that I created with my friends, the people I choose. I don't feel that the past of any country is my past. I do not feel any pride because of any won wars or a shame for any lost ones, no matter how long ago it was. I do not want to be judged by my origin or the reputation that the society I happened to be born in has earned (no matter how good or bad it is). An average anti-globalizationist could now say that the world will always be divided into some regions and cultures. Yes, …I hope. But I also hope that you will be able to choose freely what society you want to live in, what views you want to have (you might be surprised that I wrote it but still in the country what priest and the majority says is truth and poorly educated people do not even have a chance to oppose it because they are overwhelmed by too powerful memes - I'm sure that there could be much more atheists in the country if the social pressure wasn't so strong, most people are too weak even to begin questioning some views).

People would be happier if they could live among similar minds.

Then there would be a lot less misunderstandings and conflicts. There are already some germs of ‘similarity zones’. What I like most about the internet is what others are most afraid of - it creates some virtual international societies contributing to neglecting local ones. But hey, is it really that bad? One could say: Don't sit so much in front of the computer, why don't you go to your aunt? But maybe I have nothing to say to my aunt! She has her friends and I have mine. I don’t like talking to her because neither I understand her nor she does me. She listens to "Radio Maria’, I am an atheist. There is no chance of any sincere conversation, because our views differ in almost every matter. And on the Net I can keep in touch with people who have interests like me.

I can see a good example based on educational system. In the primary school the class consisted of kids living in a given district. Zero compatibility. Some longer friendships were occasional, people did not understand each other very well, everyone had much different interests and views (some agreements occurred accidentally but generally it was a random assemblage). In secondary school things looked better. The people fitted at least roughly. All of them were interested in learning, were quite well-read and thought about some kind of higher education. And at the university it's actually ideal. There's a big probability in reaching an agreement between students even though they come from two different ends of the country. For example all students of biotechnology approach scientific novelties without any stereotype-based fear or prejudices, their thinking in terms of ethics is much more flexible than that of an average citizen and what follows they are very tolerant. I think that there should be more communities of choice like that. They should be comprised of people that want to be together, fit each other and not just were born in one place.

You could say that the unified world is going to become dull, that everybody is going to drink only Pepsi wear Adidas and listen to Eminem (of course it’s an example, you could as well use the combination: Coca Cola, Nike, Limp Bizkit ;-). But it’s just not going to happen.

Cultural richness is not endangered. It's just not possible for several billion people to like one style of artwork, music, type of furniture etc.

There will always be groups creating something unique. Countries and any artificial divisions are not necessary here. And I'm quite sure that there will also be people who will say: get stuffed with this commercial shit! when offered to buy the latest Wrangler jacket. So I think that the threat of everybody becoming too similar is really far-fetched.

Many people are also afraid that hypothetical lack of countries will restrain development. It's true that competition is a significant factor increasing development rate. But who said it needs to be international? Rivalry between companies is not any worse. And even without the struggle for being the best the man will always want to get everything done easier, faster, ....better. If there's only a chance of improving some technology or introducing something new someone will do it, sooner or later.

Language

Another thing globalization might do is the mixing of languages. I would not cry if someday all languages simply disappeared and only one was left. That would make things so much easier. And I do not think that some cultural richness would be lost in that process. I see languages only from the pragmatic point of view and so called richness is nothing but an unnecessary barrier. I just want to communicate as easily and efficiently as possible, I don't require anything more from languages.

Government

Another problem about unifying the world is handling the entire population by single government. I agree it's a tough one. But let's look closer into the matter. In the Ancient Athens the situation was actually ideal. All citizens could be assembled on one big enough square and partake in debates directly. But then (no matter when..) humans started to reproduce at expotential rate and now we have so many heads to vote that it's impossible to find a place even for envoys representating 10 000 people each.. But yet a century ago (more or less) there were as many people in the entire world as today only in China. And they still somehow manage to run the country. Why couldn't we do it as well? It's not impossible in the age of internet and cell phones. You could say that it might only work for high-developed countries, and I forget about places where people don't even have enough food (not to mention TVs or cars). But we are not talking about today's situation. The world will be unified (if ever) not sooner than in, say, a hundred years. Things will look much different then. It's hard to predict what will happen and in what direction the development will go but for sure communication and traveling will become even easier than now. And I think that we'll do something to improve the situation of the poor (esp. Africa) until then. But it's quite a separate story.
Apart from that I am no expert in politics or sociology and I won't attempt to create a world government project. I just hope that reading this article helped you look on some things from another point of view.

Michal

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