Reading the "end of history" arguments, I keep getting an image of a middle-aged guy sitting in a recliner, watching football, eating junk food, drinking a Bud and patting his beer belly, saying, "It just doesn't get any better than this." In other words, someone who is going to get a serious wake-up call one of these days.
Fukuyama's arguments, especially in this editorial, only support the idea that our system is the best that humanity has come up with, not that it is the best we will *ever* come up with. Only someone who can see throughout all of time really knows what the future will hold. Arguing about whether a better system is possible or not is useless; until something is demonstrated to be better, which only history will tell, there will be no proof. The fact that Western civilization has triumphed doesn't mean it is the best that humanity will ever come up with. Such an argument is not even remotely logical; it is very self-serving to those who benefit the most from Western civilization. Lest anyone drag out "blame America first" or another accusation that there's anti-Americanism in what I'm saying -- I do, absolutely, believe that the core values of democratic capitalism are the *best* that humanity has come up with, the best available in the world today, despite serious flaws. At the same time, I strongly believe that we need a theoretical underpinning of collaboration and self-organization, which is emerging from game theory and related fields, to be as strong as our theories of competition and feedback. When we figure that out, I think we'll have a system that is as different from the present one as ours is from medieval authoritarianism, with a degree of liberty we can hardly imagine. I offer that only as a vision, not as proof. Nick > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On > Behalf Of J.D. Giorgis > Sent: Friday, October 05, 2001 6:49 AM > To: Brin-L > Subject: Western Civilization Has Still Triumphed > > > Mr. Fukuyama responded to his critics with a defense > of his position on the triumph of Western Civilization > in today's Wall St. Journal editorial page. > > http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=95001277 > > ===== > ---------------------------------------------------------- > John D. Giorgis [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Taliban delenda est! - Freedom is Not Free > > __________________________________________________ > Do You Yahoo!? > NEW from Yahoo! GeoCities - quick and easy web site hosting, just > $8.95/month. > http://geocities.yahoo.com/ps/info1 >
