There are pros and cons to division versus unity.
Divided, I believe, is less fragile, less "efficient", and more robust.
For example, currency exchanges fix regional differences in the real value of money. The value of the dollar in Arkansas, for instance, is much greater than a dollar in New York city. Before the Euro, differences in the value of currency between Germany and Greece were negotiated on the exchange market. Pretending like a Euro is a Euro distorts the economy.
If we had a global currency and the confidence in the currency suddenly collapsed, the whole world would suffer. If a local currency faltered, the effects would be minor and localized.
Similarly, if we have one species of corn all across the world and one particularly virulent virus found its' calling, then corn and the huge corn-industrial-complex, would be in serious trouble.
Sexual reproduction is more trouble than asexual reproduction, but nature favors it as a strategy because it provides more protection through variation.
Variation is good.
On the other hand, divided and un-unified means a bunch of small-minded, xenophobic, ignorant, inefficient, warring tribes.
*
This is a quote from Nassim Taleb:
Globalization creates interlocking fragility, while reducing volatility and giving the appearance of stability. In other words it creates devastating Black Swans. We have never lived before under the threat of a global collapse. Financial Institutions have been merging into a smaller number of very large banks. Almost all banks are interrelated. So the financial ecology is swelling into gigantic, incestuous, bureaucratic banks — when one fails, they all fall. The increased concentration among banks seems to have the effect of making financial crisis less likely, but when they happen they are more global in scale and hit us very hard. We have moved from a diversified ecology of small banks, with varied lending policies, to a more homogeneous framework of firms that all resemble one another. True, we now have fewer failures, but when they occur... I shiver at the thought.
pp. 225-226 of Black Swan
Divided, I believe, is less fragile, less "efficient", and more robust.
For example, currency exchanges fix regional differences in the real value of money. The value of the dollar in Arkansas, for instance, is much greater than a dollar in New York city. Before the Euro, differences in the value of currency between Germany and Greece were negotiated on the exchange market. Pretending like a Euro is a Euro distorts the economy.
If we had a global currency and the confidence in the currency suddenly collapsed, the whole world would suffer. If a local currency faltered, the effects would be minor and localized.
Similarly, if we have one species of corn all across the world and one particularly virulent virus found its' calling, then corn and the huge corn-industrial-complex, would be in serious trouble.
Sexual reproduction is more trouble than asexual reproduction, but nature favors it as a strategy because it provides more protection through variation.
Variation is good.
On the other hand, divided and un-unified means a bunch of small-minded, xenophobic, ignorant, inefficient, warring tribes.
*
This is a quote from Nassim Taleb:
Globalization creates interlocking fragility, while reducing volatility and giving the appearance of stability. In other words it creates devastating Black Swans. We have never lived before under the threat of a global collapse. Financial Institutions have been merging into a smaller number of very large banks. Almost all banks are interrelated. So the financial ecology is swelling into gigantic, incestuous, bureaucratic banks — when one fails, they all fall. The increased concentration among banks seems to have the effect of making financial crisis less likely, but when they happen they are more global in scale and hit us very hard. We have moved from a diversified ecology of small banks, with varied lending policies, to a more homogeneous framework of firms that all resemble one another. True, we now have fewer failures, but when they occur... I shiver at the thought.
pp. 225-226 of Black Swan
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