``But there's more; there's another reason for the agitated ennui - a contradiction, but so is this age. We look around at the flare-up of over-the-top religious expression, of empty speechifying, of people retreating into simplicity at the very moment we've achieved a global information grid...we rub our eyes and wonder where the hell the future went...'' .d.
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Well, I certainly confess to this almost staggering disbelief. Not only the communications systems, where it is completely feasible, in fact had to be de-engineered out---where satillite networks are capable of broadcasting virtually every media output on the planet to anywhere on the planet---with recievers and processors that could live feed or download from servers anything on film, video, radio, or recorded, or archived from not just ongoing broadcast systems, but the whole archives of every major library and museum in the world. And this doesn't include the vast array of medical, engineering, technical, and scientific journals and papers. With a comparitively simple set of standards you could come up with a codification system for basically the sum of current knowledge on just about any topic and make it available.
But let's go back to basics. There is enough food, clothing, shelter, and utilities to feed, cloth, house, and health service everybody on the planet, right now. Not in style, but in fundamental levels to insure health. What are we fucking doing? Inventing new ways to constrict, channel, and manufacture strategic scarcity for the sole benefit of the usual few---with the very same systems that could be distributing these necessities for everyone. Bloody fucking criminal.
In fact the above dream, got me to suspecting that there might have always been enough basics to go around. And worse. That much of the technological progress we celebrate in the west has been essentially motivated to prevent this distribution largess in new and different ways, just as some balance point occurred where the costs of supporting the race on the planet was in a statis with respect to the needs. Invention is the mother of necessity (Thorstein Veblen?), and certainly the ugly stepmother of poverty.
I am extremely sceptical that necessity is the mother of invention, that nasty, typically American stingey shit that comes out of the 19thC capital heros like Edison or Carnage, I mean Carnegie.
You mentioned the Egyptians, and there is a great history. Nicolas Grimal, History of Ancient Egypt. If you're interested or have the time, try it. It's long, but very detailed and ranges widely over political, social, cultural, and religious topics.
I brought up the Egyptians because they reached these statis points several times in their very long history. The socio-political hierarchies were linked with mass produced grain to yield bread, beer, and cattle. Bread, BBQ and beer. Sounds more American than you expect. This was something of a surprize to me, since I expected more emphasis on fish. But it takes a moment to realize that fish require nothing from large state organizations. Smaller but organized fishing villages on the river could probably produce enough for most local needs. On the other hand cattle do require that sort of large scale organization for feed, herding, breeding, slaughter, and processing. Everybody can fish, almost nobody can afford to raise their own beef.
I am not sure they had money. I don't remember ever seeing an Egyptian coin from the OK or NK---only later under Ptolemy(?).
I am not sure these were exactly socialistic organizations, but they were run by the state and distributed by its bureacracy. I don't think it is known how comprensive these distribution systems were. That is, whether or not they reached all the population in need of them, but suspect they did support a considerable artisan and trade caste, who were then free to devote decades to state projects.
Any way, I go nuts when I start thinking along these lines---that is how to use what we've already got.
CG