> Colonization has usually moved the larger human society forward a little, with new forms of governance, new materials, new technologies or techniques for daily life.
I would really like to see the historical data that bears out this broad claim. I'd like to see a more or less representative sample of "colonization" events that "moved society forward," for example. Also, I'd like to see an accounting of the counterfactuals regarding progress that wouldn't have happened. To cite one example, the "new [if that can be alleged] form of governance" that resulted (if that much can be alleged) in the U.S. from the colonization of the New World took a quarter of a millennium. How much longer for the cotton gin?
Ironically, it's been 50 years since we landed on the Moon, and we can't even rid ourselves of the Space Race / World Of Tomorrow propaganda that drives the public's impression of space exploration. I think we need to look elsewhere than colonization to explain progress.
(Where was colonialism in the discovery of integral calculus? In chaos theory? In...? I'll stop.)
Quite off-topic, but sometimes I even wonder if we should not "de-colonize" Earth. I first thought of that when I learnt that if all human population was living in one place with the same population density as in Tokyo, this megacity would fit in the state of California or something.
That sounds extreme, but I somehow am attracted by the idea of leaving entire continents completely void of humans.
E.O. Wilson has proposed setting aside half the earth for nature. That would be achievable by protecting existing wilderness areas and connecting them together into corridors.
well realistically you only need to get the governments of the UN to agree which is a little less daunting. I can easily imaging taking the Sahara, Siberia, the interior of Australia, and the steppe would get us a good chunk of the way there. Adding on the amazon might be possible with effort.
Of course, these areas have substantial mineral/oil deposits that make the current political situtation difficult. But it's not outside of the realms of possibility that this may eventually stop being the case, such as how Britain's one ubiquitous coal mines are all closed now.
The thought experiment usually goes that the world's population could all fit into the state of Texas, at New York City density.
That always ignores the space required for agriculture, roads and transportation, waste management, power, manufacturing, and of course the natural resources that modern society depends on.
Also, I'd risk arrest or worse just to get out of that area and get some damn peace and quiet. I just spent a week in Chicago. It was fantastic. I'm really glad I'm not still there.
(And no, we shouldn't de-colonize Earth, we should get better at living in it.)
I don't have any other citations or references at hand, sorry.
But, you're attempting to rebut me using a rather deeply-nested stack of science and technology developed in some former colonies.
You might also give my earlier comment a more careful reading. I didn't imply that progress is limited to colonization, only that it contributes to it.
I would really like to see the historical data that bears out this broad claim. I'd like to see a more or less representative sample of "colonization" events that "moved society forward," for example. Also, I'd like to see an accounting of the counterfactuals regarding progress that wouldn't have happened. To cite one example, the "new [if that can be alleged] form of governance" that resulted (if that much can be alleged) in the U.S. from the colonization of the New World took a quarter of a millennium. How much longer for the cotton gin?
Ironically, it's been 50 years since we landed on the Moon, and we can't even rid ourselves of the Space Race / World Of Tomorrow propaganda that drives the public's impression of space exploration. I think we need to look elsewhere than colonization to explain progress.
(Where was colonialism in the discovery of integral calculus? In chaos theory? In...? I'll stop.)