[CM30]

Pretty much this. And that's the issue with globalisation; it's great for those at the top, decent for those at the very bottom and often rather awful for those in the middle.

The votes for Brexit, Trump, various far left and right wing parties, etc are a way of saying "let's watch the elite's world and system collapse on itself". They've seen how little any of this is doing for them as workers, and how every system seems stacked in favour of the well off, and they just want to see it all burn to the ground.

[return0]

> are a way of saying "let's watch the elite's world and system collapse on itself"

I don't think people want to replace the elites with void. Maybe that's the case for nihilistic, fringe far-right or far-left parties. But when majorities or near majorities are voting for Trump or Brexit, they want to replace the elites with something else`.

It's funny to watch the elites suddenly renouncing democracy because she stopped serving their purposes (It was quite a relevation to watch reddit go full-on military-dictatorship this past week, but hey reddit is not reality).

Democracy is a very adaptive concept and there is a saying that there are no dead ends with it.

[CM30]

That's a depressing pattern in general. A lot of people like democracy... up until something or someone they don't like gets the majority of the vote.

It's especially interesting to see all the political figures against brexit talk about more referendums and reconsidering whether to leave the EU. Think it's time the Labour Party and the likes accepted the results and started thinking about how to make the best of it rather than trying to ignore the results of a major vote like this.

[pjc50]

Replacing the "elite" with an underspecified, possibly unachievable "something else" is begging for a void.

Come on, we're software engineers; we know how crazy it is to turn off a working system without having a viable plan for its replacement.

[return0]

> underspecified, possibly unachievable "something else"

I think it's pretty well outlined what is that "something else". The implementation is not there (obviously), but the API exists, for example anti-immigration, [edit]pro-protectionism etc. Most people dismiss it as non-existent though, due to liberal reflexes.

[pjc50]

Being anti-immigration is protectionism, though. Especially for the services sector. The two things are in direct contradiction to one another. The specific motivation for objecting to immigration (other than straight racism) is "protecting jobs".

[return0]

yep. sorry typo

[Nursie]

Software != Politics.

Revolutions and other acts that tear things down do often result in worse outcomes, yet sometimes the tearing down is necessary, regardless.

[flukus]

We also know that management will never approve a replacement until the working system burns down.

[AnonymousPlanet]

Globalisation is much more than that actually. It is basically a technological change, happening throughout the last couple of centuries, that enables people to operate at any point in the world. Of course, the ability is not evenly spread out. First it was the Europeans who could colonise the world. Then it was big corporations who could set up shop abroad and fly their managers in. Tourism from the first world was kind of a fallout of that too.

Today it is not just rich people but pretty much everyone. It is much more easy to migrate from a different culture and then stick your own via the internet. This makes migration much more bearable for the migrants, especially if they can tell themselves that it's just temporary. And a lot of people are migrating, because wealth is just not evenly spread.

This is all nice until you realise the difference of cultures. In the 80's it was no big deal if someone at the other end of the world was "wrong" (about how to lead your life, what to eat, etc.). If that someone moves into the house down the street that's suddenly a different matter. What if his "wrong" spreads?

On top of that, corporations have less of a need to play well with a regional population if they can move any place of the world. This has resulted in a power shift towards corporations with an impact on politicians (think revolving door politics).

The result is that many people feel abandoned, betrayed, and left helpless under a deluge of "wrong". And finally they want revenge. Let it all burn down and build something that's more like how it used to be.

But those times are gone. We cannot wind the time back to the 80's unless we roll back the internet. Because the root cause of it all is not betrayal or corruption, or a conspiracy to establish a new world order.

It is my belief that this century will be characterised by how humanity will deal with the issue of a globalised world, with contradicting cultures and beliefs. Are we going to raise fences everywhere, forming blocks protected by new iron curtains, hiding in our shells? Or are we going to form one all encompassing harmonised culture that you better not deviate from? My hope is that humanity learns that the world is not going to end just because someone is wrong on the internet or down the block.