Live data from Hacker News

“The more reliant we are on others, the less resilient we are as a nation”

committees.parliament.uk

1–10 of 87 posts

Re: “The more reliant we are on others, the less resilient we are as a nation”

#3
At the international level, it is debate-able. It depends on the goodwill nations have towards one another. At the individual and family level though, atomization is incredibly destructive to culture and community. Reliance on others is needed more than ever. To be absolutely independent, is to be without love (given or received). Family, community, and nation cannot exist without love — it is the vital glue that holds it all together and makes it worth holding together. Arguably if this was healthy at the local and national level, it makes sense then to extend it internationally as well.

Re: “The more reliant we are on others, the less resilient we are as a nation”

#5
post #3

At the international level, it is debate-able. It depends on the goodwill nations have towards one another. At the individual and family level though, atomization is incredibly destructive to culture and community. Reliance on others is needed more than ever. To be absolutely independent, is to be without love (given or received). Family, community, and nation cannot exist without love — it is the vital glue that hol…

I'd argue that inter-reliance is what brings a framework for peace and mutual respect, at all levels from family up to global politics.

Less personally, in Accidental Superpower, the case is made that the west's insistence on free and safe trade over international waters has helped to broker a long stretch of mostly peaceful time - precisely because it creates these interrelations that become important.

Re: “The more reliant we are on others, the less resilient we are as a nation”

#6
post #3

At the international level, it is debate-able. It depends on the goodwill nations have towards one another. At the individual and family level though, atomization is incredibly destructive to culture and community. Reliance on others is needed more than ever. To be absolutely independent, is to be without love (given or received). Family, community, and nation cannot exist without love — it is the vital glue that hol…

Being self-reliant is a pre-requisite of being able to effectively help others. The self-reliant can still experience love and community, they just can't be trapped by dysfunctional relationships.

Edit: I guess if everyone was born radically self-reliant we might not learn to care. But no one starts out that way.

Re: “The more reliant we are on others, the less resilient we are as a nation”

#7
While there is certainly some truth and wisdom to this view, it also worries me. I see the increasing globalization and interdependence of the modern world as one of the major reasons for the decrease in armed conflicts. You are a lot less likely to attack someone who is a trade partner.

There is a saying that “there has never been an armed conflict between two nations that both had a McDonald’s”. Russia has broken that, but that is case where the exception proves the rule. Russia has been devastated by the repercussions of their choice to invade Ukraine. And Europe is suffering due to the lack of oil and natural gas.

I fear a world where nations are not reliant on each other is going to be less peaceful. That being said, the memo specifically calls out relations with China, which is a country that is dangerous to have too much reliance on, due to also being run by an absolute dictatorship.

Re: “The more reliant we are on others, the less resilient we are as a nation”

#8
post #3

At the international level, it is debate-able. It depends on the goodwill nations have towards one another. At the individual and family level though, atomization is incredibly destructive to culture and community. Reliance on others is needed more than ever. To be absolutely independent, is to be without love (given or received). Family, community, and nation cannot exist without love — it is the vital glue that hol…

I'd argue that inter-reliance is what brings a framework for peace and mutual respect, at all levels from family up to global politics. Less personally, in Accidental Superpower, the case is made that the west's insistence on free and safe trade over international waters has helped to broker a long stretch of mostly peaceful time - precisely because it creates these interrelations that become important.

Europe has been war torn for thousands of years, then post ww2 we got a long lasting peace. Turns out a side effect of the union is that you are less likely to want to shoot someone who is buying your goods!

Re: “The more reliant we are on others, the less resilient we are as a nation”

#9
Reads like a slogan for anti-globalization and nationalism.

As with all slogans, it ignores important details that contradict it.

Over the past four decades, our current global economic system, promoting economic integration and interdependence between countries, has lifted billions out of poverty.[a][b] Billions. No sensible discussion of globalization can ignore that.

The current backlash is not against globalization per se, but against:

* greater concentration of economic power (e.g., more markets dominated by global mega corporations),

* greater concentration of political and military power in authoritarian regimes who play by different rules (e.g., China), and

* greater concentration of income and wealth (e.g., the hollowing out of the middle class in the US).

We shouldn't throw the baby out with the bathwater!

--

[a] https://ourworldindata.org/poverty

[b] https://ourworldindata.org/extreme-poverty-in-brief

Re: “The more reliant we are on others, the less resilient we are as a nation”

#10
I’m going to have to disagree with the core premise here.

At face value, this article implies that if we all just live alone in the woods and hunt and grow our own food, that somehow we will be stronger as a people.

The irony here is that this is coming from a post made on the internet. The internet is comprised of a large network of servers and infrastructure that isn’t possible without relying heavily on the labour and creativity of lots of other people. Yes, that includes the work of people from other nations. We’re talking international, here. Imagine you couldn’t see a website hosted in Australia because some right wing politician arbitrarily decided that invisible borders should define our evolution as a species.

This post is literally self defeating by virtue of the mechanism in which it was messaged.

Post reply on HN