the news, continued

my response to a friend wondering if the global caliphate might not somehow be a possible stepping stone to a utopian future:

islamic rule is not a "it gets worse before it gets better" kind of thing, if you look at the death and destruction and erasure of history in the countries around israel, and in north africa, and in the rewriting of history that's taking place in the west, the only way forward for humanity is to either stop the advance of the anti-west bloc (islam + communism) or escape the planet entirely.

i don't believe any of the sci-fi visions of a united future are realistic, or plausible, or possible - every vision of utopia is by definition dystopia, because you can't have a perfectly cooperative and non-violent society without killing a few million people. humans just aren't like that. we thrive on competition, on drama, and on conflict. we need identities, morals and principles to defend, and we need armies and borders to defend them with.

if the west does lose to the red/green alliance, every single one of us who dreams of a better future is either going to be murdered or driven underground, pretending to cooperate while trying to hold on to fragments of knowledge and art and living in constant fear of discovery.

that's not the sci-fi dystopia *i* want. i'll take cyberpunk corporate rule over that any day.