On 5/2/2014 12:34 PM, Phil Pugliese (via tml list) wrote:

> I recall reading one of Asimov's 'later' books about his Galactic Empire (it was the one where he describes the capital, Trantor.
>
> It was set in the time where Hari Seldon first came to Trantor & the planet seemed to me to be highly 'balkanized'.
>
> Since then I've always leaned towards the idea that hi-pop worlds in the TU were effectively 'balkanized' w/ various federative, autonomous, etc, regions, similar to the way a lot of nations here on earth have 'reservations', 'preserves' or other areas where one could easily feel as if he were in a different country altogether.

Human society has at least two opposite (but not always equal)
pressures:  expansion, to form larger communities (nations, empires,
etc) to increase (perceived) security and influence and take advantage
of economies of scale; and subdivision, to keep the communities that one
personally interacts with small and comprehensible (see Dunbar's number,
aka the monkeysphere) and to ensure that one's cohort is as
"like-minded" as possible in all respects.  Technology empowers and/or
encourages both of these urges - when your rivals have warbands, armies
and/or nukes, you want to belong to a group capable of producing the
same, while advancing communications tech allows people with similar
interests and beliefs to form communities with increasing disregard for
geographical distribution.

Add to this the tendency of outsiders to grab eagerly and thoughtlessly
onto the simplest and broadest generalization possible - assuming that
all _______s are completely identical is often wildly inaccurate, but
requires the minimum cognitive load - compared to the insider's struggle
for identity in the crowd, often focusing on the smallest points of
distinction to separate "us" from "them", and you can see why many
populations that appear nearly homogeneous from a quick glance can (and
probably will) be positively *fractal* when you look closer.

--
---------------
Kelly St. Clair
xxxxxx@efn.org