Photo: 2015; street art in Washington, DC; Greg Kerr
The modern roadmap to global peace and prosperity is to provide good-enough sub-national governance systems that in turn, legitimize a central capital. This national capital then protects the collective with a large military and cuts binding international trade deals with other capitals making war too economic costly to wage. If you look at the math this strategy has really, really, really worked! The capital centered nation-state solution reduced the inefficiencies of the near continuous warfare of the feudal system. The nation-state has reduced the number of conflicts, however, advances in weaponry increased the death toll. As a young participant in the 2003 US invasion of Iraq, I am an unfortunately unique type of modern veteran that has fought in a state-on-state war; and I hope to be the last to ever have that inglorious title. Counterinsurgencies, and proxy wars are stepping-stones away from high-intensity state-on-state wars of the past. Leading to the next iteration of urban guerilla warfare that will be best handled best by police, gendarmerie and improved public policy.
The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan can best be understood if viewed through this nation-state focused idea. These wars are an attempt to strengthen Baghdad and Kabul as legitimate capitals that set and collect taxes throughout their territories and are sympathetic to Western democracies. Algorithm’s path The Blockchain will be a baseball bat to the face of urban grievances and poverty — hedging-off the causus-belli, or justification for war, of violent movements. The Blockchain’s ability to create economies and value systems aligned with resources readily accessible to the masses will solve many problems before they become problems. First-time injections of algorithms into the lives of the impoverished will usher a new way of satisfying the needs of the human condition. Blockchains will dramatically impact the management of renewable energy, clean water, waste, and clean air. With life’s basic necessities cared for at the local levels, trade will be fundamentally changed. The goal is to never have to trade for life’s essentials, leaving trade to relative-luxury. Reducing vulnerabilities in the supply chain of life’s essentials will change the calculations of violence of warring parties at all levels.
Photo: 2015; street art in Washington, DC; Greg Kerr