Science Forums 2

[alxian]

By that time will there be a humanity as such.

First you have to expect that humanity can prosper under one banner. Otherwise we'd have to see colonies with samplings of established human cultures which would be prey to large empirialistic states.

As we can see economics can work as a focal point to international, interplanetary, and even eventually intersolar trade. But the core of the matter is without trade there is nothing to tie to separate cultures.

I have a hard time trying to think of any two cultures that don't trade, one is visibly better off than the other, but they still get along. At some point corruption will cause one nation of the other to try to subsume any and every other.

It's the fight that matters.. and avoiding it by having a functioning prosperous economy. Which is an ever ongoing pursuit since the economy would balance itself out somehow.

You can't want for something for ever without getting it yourself. As far as things like nations.. there shouldn't really be international trade among all of them, most have to be self sufficient to a point. After that they are just exploiting. While you aren't subsumming the nation you're exploiting.. you're not doing anything to make their situation better either.

Take that to an intersolar level and assuming transport of goods enabling any kind of trade economy.. still doesn't justify any relationships between planets in different systems. Import the knowledge to set whatever you're missing locally. Stupid would be setting yourself anywhere you can expect to be self sufficient. Yet having said that if you are self sufficient and your needs are minimal.. maybe you can be part of a greater commonwealth.. you're not exploiting it.