Pulling into Aldi's parking lot today, I was captivated by the exceedingly intelligent (but contextually absurd) debate taking place on NPR's weekly program, "Open To Debate."
Far too often, losing sight of the forest for the trees seems to be the operating principle.
Let's not forget that "the fullness of truth is routinely found in rich contextualization.
The riveting debate was laser-focused on whether "export controls" could prevent China from rapidly becoming the dominant (and, presumably, everlasting) AI technology player in the world.
I was spellbound by the repartee -- thoroughly engaged by the smart "contestants" who clearly eat and drink AI from dawn to dusk.
Their positions -- no matter what the question -- were already well thought out, and there was no hmmming or hawing, no tentative or balky answers.
Clearly, it's not over till it's over.
But, it is a fact that China has 1.5 trillion inhabitants, whereas the U.S. population is about 340 million, or 23% the population of China.
Markets are moved by population.
The more citizens in a given nation, the larger the pool of prospective buyers.
Friend Arthur Clark, a retired Air Force general who died last year at age 100 after spending his entire career in "military intelligence," would remind me: "China has more honors students Alan than we have students."
And this stunning advantage is apart from the purchasing power of 1.5 billion citizens.
'But the most important lack of contextualization was that nobody - not one of these brilliant people - proclaimed: If the United States is not to be overtaken by China, it will need to collaborate in a worldwide effort to devise a global Federation.
If joined by Canada, Latin American, the European Union (a worthy model for Federation), Great Britain, Japan, Indonesia, the Arab World and other willing partners in Africa and Asia, the population of the new Federation would approach (or exceed 2 billion people, bringing in tow an immeasurably increased talent base.
Meanwhile Trump builds on the United States' perennial contempt for intellectual accomplishment with the result that a brain drain hemorrhage is already underway with untold numbers of America's best and brightest leaving the United States for Europe and China where their skills are welcome and their research financing is covered in perpetuity.
Trump is China's most trustworthy ally, and by virtue of his politics and policies has already ensured that China's path to Global Hegemon is faster than ever, and increasing at ever-increasing speed.
With more than 3 and a half years of havoc yet to be wreaked in Trump's remaining years, it is unimaginable that ANYTHING -- much less the trivial stop-gap measure of "export controls" -- will stop China whose GDP is now two-thirds of the United States and rising fast.
But there was no sense among "the experts" that AI warfare cannot be fought with porous, ineffectual measures like "export controls" where what's needed is numerical clout.
It's hard to do an end run around "China having more honors students than we have students.)
And let's not forget that Mao Tse Tung said - casually - that he was prepared for China to lose several hundred million people in armed conflict, reminding us that "One death is a tragedy: a million deaths is a statistic.
I have tentatively decided that if Trump ongoing dumpster fire is to be extinguished before his incendiary tactics have torched it all, China (rather like the allies alliance with the Soviet Union in World War II) is the power -- the only power short of widespread Federation across the world -- that can topple Trump.
And so, to incentivize Trump to stop being The Shit Storm that he is, I am going to spread the word that the most realistic salvation on America's horizon is - in a rocket burst of paradox - the nation we currently consider our only existential threat.
Until America undertakes the creation of a global federation with the same passion the vulgarian barbarian had for grabbing pussy, I will point out that Trump is a sedionist and a traitor whose intent, as David Brooks put it is to "make the world safe for gangsters, where ruthless people thrive."
I made the following proposal ten years ago.
To Compete With China, The United States Should Promote A "Hemispheric Federation"
- Pope John XXIII's encyclical, "Pacem in Terris," was a major statement on the need for peace and international order. It argued that the existing international system was insufficient and that a more robust global authority was needed.
- He envisioned a reformed United Nations as the starting point for this stronger international authority. He believed the UN could be strengthened to better fulfill its role in promoting peace and justice.
- The pope called for a global public authority that would respect the rights of individual nations and their citizens. This authority should be based on principles of justice and the common good, ensuring that all nations are treated equally and that human rights are protected.
- Pope John XXIII's ideas in "Pacem in Terris" were rooted in Thomistic natural law thinking, which emphasized the importance of natural rights and the common good.
- Pope John XXIII's advocacy for a stronger international authority continues to influence contemporary discussions about global governance and the role of international organizations. His encyclical is still seen as a significant contribution to the development of Catholic social teaching on international relations.
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