Doom and gloom Part II; or, why it's a pity we aren't all Chinese

(Continued from previous post)

One of the biggest problems is the basic core dynamic of our civilisation.  Some people are inclined to blame democracy,  but the problem goes much deeper than that.  Even if every country in the world today were a dictatorship,  they would still be struggling against one another for the biggest possible piece of the pie.  Because the core dynamic of this civilisation is competition:  competition between individuals,  between groups,  between nations,  all striving continuously for as much prosperity and/or power as possible;  all intent on bolstering and protecting their own position,  at the expense of others if necessary.  This dynamic has powered our civilisation ever since it first emerged in the cut-throat world of the dying Roman Empire,  and it is what has taken it to the height and breadth we see today.  It is also what makes our civilisation quite unable to deal with the challenges it now faces.

Contrast this with Chinese civilisation,  in which one central authority commanded near-total obedience across more or less the entire civilisation.  If it had been China's civilisation and not Europe's which had spread to encompass the entire world,  the challenges of global warming and an unsustainable economic system would surely be easier to deal with:  a competent emperor,  advised by even more competent mandarins,  would issue a series of decrees to remedy the situation,  and those decrees would be by and large obeyed,  even if the result was increased hardship for most.  Even today,  China preserves much of this culture;  the people of China still demonstrate a willing obedience to and faith in their government which must surely be the envy of rulers everywhere else.  If the Chinese government seriously wanted to reduce its country's greenhouse emissions,  I dare say it could do so very effectively and with relatively little difficulty.  Unfortunately,  China is now well and truly part of our global civilisation and is consequently just another part of the problem,  not the solution.  China is not likely to try to reduce its emissions with anything like the speed or effectiveness of which it is capable,  because that would put it at a disastrous disadvantage against the rest of the world.

Of course,  if Chinese civilisation had been the one to swallow up the rest of the world,  we wouldn't be in this situation anyway,  because we would probably never have reached the stage of industrialisation...  but that's another story.