Nationalism/Patriotism

[haz01]

If, as you suggest, the human race originated from a single point due to the "arrival of an alien visitor(s) that bred with or implanted its genetic material and educated our homo sapiens ancestors", so if as individuals we are all related to one another, then what is the relevance of Nationalism/Patriotism to the future of humankind?

[John Cowie]

Good question. I believe that the government inspired Nationalism/Patriotism we see today will decline significantly over the next few decades.

The development of groups, tribes, clans, etc., after the destruction of the ancient alien inspired civilisation was the natural solution to the survival of the human race. We may have alien ancestry, but we are also the product of life developed on Earth. In the animal kingdom we find large numbers of collective nouns associated with this phenomenon, e.g. pride, pack, herd, leap, skulk, band, gang, pod, shrewdness, etc., so, safety in numbers and the belonging to a group was important to our survival. However as time passes and we slowly return to the level of knowledge on Earth some 13,000 years ago, which exceeds what we know today, I hope our sense of Nationalism/Patriotism will become that of an individual member of planet Earth. I believe we are already seeing signs of this change.

The world wide web is, in my view, the most significant innovation of the twentieth century to drive this change. The key to the net is that it is a connection system between millions of computers and hence millions of human minds. The power of the net is that it lies beyond the control of its users, companies or nations – and you cannot switch it off! Like roads, railways and telephones, the net brings a hitherto inconceivable level of connectivity to the world. It has the potential to make the world a smaller place with a greater chance for the sharing of ideas with more people of all cultures. Internet is also responsible for the huge interest in Genealogy – often with astonishing results.

In sport, many clubs and countries are not representative of their town, city or country. For example participants who have been born in another country have been brought into a team because of ancestral links. There are examples of players having to learn the words of their ‘new’ national anthem before taking to the field, which diminishes the hype of the nationalistic fervour.

The economic history of the world teaches us that people, nations and businesses that open up to the world get richer, healthier, wiser and safer than those that try to live behind barriers of protection. Prosperous nations are those that are able to trade with a large number of other nations and share each others’ exports. We can get our movies from America, our software from India, our medicines from Switzerland, our financial services from Britain, our mangetouts from Kenya and our philosophy from France, just to give a few examples. The more efficient each is at supplying the other, the more countries can afford to spend on welfare, education and health. All the countries, which have tried to impose regimes that are hostile to those in other parts of the world, have suffered such as China, Russia and America in the 1930s. In recent times Burma and North Korea have tried to isolate themselves. This process of sharing plays an important part of our evolution.

Are we becoming less interested in dying for ‘Queen and Country’ and burning other peoples flags? Are we able to see through the propaganda and trickery of politicians? I certainly think so!

[sunshine]

Why can't people be nice to each other?