Is Brodersen unrealistic with his prediction that the balance of economic power will shift to "'...small outfits and individuals..."?
Let us project:
many planetary systems are easily accessible via T machines;
human beings will colonize planets in many such systems and will also build bases on moons and asteroids and in space;
planetary populations will grow;
each planetary economy will require a state or states to provide an infrastructure and to protect property;
competition leads to bigger corporations and then to monopolies;
finance capital will become more important;
monopolies merge with financial institutions and with states;
there are armed clashes between armed states.
Will the interstellar economy merely repeat on a larger scale the history of the planetary economy?
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
Yes, I will expect the same pattern of behavior, broadly speaking, to be seen on an interstellar scale, that we have and will see on this one planet we still have. Human beings will remain QUARRELSOME and perfectly ready to fight if that's what it took to achieve their ambitions. And in economics the insights of Adam Smith and the Austrian school will remain valid: division of labor, demand and supply, marginal utility (how people will value things), etc.
I know you would rather that would not be the case, that human beings will somehow transcend what we are now. But, I see no reason to think that will ever happen.
Sean
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