Tuesday, September 29, 2015

America 4.0

Some months ago I ran across the concept of "America 3.0," but didn't comment on it until recently. It was about the next version of America once this one is gone.

I'd say, though, that we are looking instead at America 4.0.

It was the political scientist Kevin Phillips (among others) who observed that countries go through three phases: agricultural, industrial, then financial (and empire) then the government collapses.

We're in the last phase, which is why it is America 3.0.

First the United States was an agricultural nation, followed by industrial, then right around WWII we entered the financial/empire phase - which is now in collapse.

Each phase overlapped the other. Right now we are in America 3.0 - the financial/empire phase - but what are we overlapping in the coming America 4.0?

It looks to be three things: computers and software, nanotechnology and designer drugs. As America 3.0 collapses, America 4.0, like a phoenix, rises from the ashes.

Of course there is going to be a lot of dislocation during this transition. But then, there is always a lot of dislocation during major transitions.

You can what the problems are by people's complaints. During the industrial phase many farmers were wiped out - and there were many complaints. Now, in the financial/empire/collapse phase, our industrial base is not wiped out, but close to it.

So what's next? That, as always, is the problem. If you could tell what's coming, many of the problems could be avoided. You can't trust the government's predictions, of course.

When I was 12 or 13 years old, I read a story by the late Philip Jose' Farmer called "Riders of the Purple Wage." Farmer wrote that the story was based on the Triple Revolution Document (which is now online). In those days there was no internet, so I wrote a letter and ordered a copy (which disappeared decades ago).

The TRD was an attempt to predict what was coming. And this was in 1964.

What is discussed, more than anything else, was what is termed "the cybernation revolution. In other words, computers and software. "The committee claimed that machines would continue to reduce the number of manual laborers needed, while increasing the skill needed to work, thereby producing greater unemployment," says Wikipedia.

That was not a bad prediction at all, although their prescriptions - pure liberalism - were ridiculous and didn't work.

Yes, computers, software and robots have wiped out a lot of jobs. My last car, I got 488,000 miles out of it before it expired. I expect to get a least 500,000 out of my current one. Both of the were designed on computers and built in large part by robotics. Good for the public, not so good for all the auto workers who lost their jobs.

The only thing I can say is that we are looking at more advances in computers, software, robotics, designer drugs and nanotechnology. I suspect 3-D printing, which advances every day, will return power to the people and decentralize things.

Now we move to the basis of any society - the family.

The family in America 3.0 is in trouble - divorce, fatherless children, single mothers. This won't stand.

So, we're going to have to "evolve" a different family in 4.0 - which means going back to the original family - the nuclear family.

The authors of America 3.0 understand this. “The continuous core of our distinct American culture is the American nuclear family," they write. Because if you don't have a stable family, then everything is in trouble.

There have been a lot of changes in the relationships between men and women, all of which, in my opinion, have been driven by technology. Write the authors: “The liberation of women from backbreaking domestic work...the move of many women out of the house and into the cash economy, the dissolution of traditional family life, the legality and widespread use of abortion, the sweeping impact of no-fault divorce, the effect of fragmented families on several generations of American children, the social acceptance of single motherhood, the appearance of a political and cultural movement demanding civil rights and marriage for gay people, and the rise of ubiquitous pornography on the Internet.”

And don't forget effective birth control.

As far as I'm concerned, America's impressive accomplishments have been based on the fact we have stable nuclear families. But not so much anymore. But the more destruction of the nuclear families, the more destruction to society (which is why I consider leftists insane - they want to destroy the nuclear family). What we get instead are murderous "tribes" combating each other.

The Manosphere understands there are big problems between men and women, although some of the prescriptions (such as those of "Roissy" and "Roosh") will only exacerbate the problems.

Too bad I cannot specifically predict the future. It would save a lot of problems for everyone.

I will say our government is its own Doomsday Machine.

"Anyone who regularly navigates between the private marketplace and the world of government and politics is bound to notice the flexibility, choice, and efficiency offered by the first and the corruption, stagnation, and inefficiency on display in the second." - James Piereson

1 comment:

Glen Filthie said...

America 4.0, rising from the ashes?

That is a very dangerous assumption, Bob. A better, kindlier civilization is not assured. Rome rose and fell a number of times before plunging into centuries darkness and ignorance. The same could very easily happen here; the Law Of The Jungle already holds in most ghettoes and slums like Detroit. The only thing Detroit is good for now - is as a backdrop for dystopian films such as Planet Of The Apes.