evacideOct 20
For those of you who are wondering, the most important opsec lesson to take from the First Wap story is that if your threat model includes a government, do not take your cell phone with you to locations or meetings you don't want them to know about.
Show threadtuban_muzuru

@evacide

I have this theory: the nation-state was never a particularly good model for government, mostly because stupid people are allowed to vote. And look at all the trouble they've caused in the last two centuries.

Our leaders have come to fear and hate us, hence all this Think of the Children rhetoric. As they fall further into the orbit of Big Money, they lapse in tyranny.

Big Brother is not only watching us, but testing the limits of our tolerance.

Oct 20 at 9:13pmWeb
Show threadD IngramOct 20
@tuban_muzuru @evacide In Australia the stupid people are required to vote. It makes for some interesting political campaigning when getting people to the booth isn't an issue. Soooo much pork barrelling to buy influencer with our own money
Show threadRiverOct 20

@tuban_muzuru @evacide I guess I'm struggling to understand what your definition of 'Nation State' here is? In practical terms, what would a government that isn't a nation state look like, exactly?

I always find the "there are stupid people voting" rhetoric to be slightly concerning, because you never know when somebody's going to decide to try to Do Something About It, which often has less than democratic implications.

Show threadtuban_muzuruOct 21

@riverpunk @evacide

1/ Okay, this is short enough to be somewhat wrong -- and long enough to be TL;DR.

The "state" (a sovereign territory) was born from the Peace of Westphalia in 1648.

The "nation" (a unified people with popular sovereignty) was added by the American & French Revolutions and 19th-century nationalism.

The US Civil War wasn't a triumph of federalism, but of federal supremacy. Then, technology changed sovereignty.

Show threadtuban_muzuruOct 21

@riverpunk @evacide

2/ Long-range bombers made borders porous, and ICBMs made them irrelevant, shifting state power from physical defense to nuclear deterrence (MAD).

This led to new models like the EU, which is a unique sui generis (one-of-a-kind) entity. Member states "pool sovereignty"—voluntarily giving up some control (like currency) to gain greater, shared collective power. This is a post-Westphalian survival strategy.

Show threadtuban_muzuruOct 21

@riverpunk @evacide

3/ With 8+ billion people, we now face "transnational challenges" (e.g., climate, pandemics, digital information) that individual states cannot solve alone. This requires a "harmonization" of national frameworks, or "global governance," to manage problems that ignore borders.

Show threadtuban_muzuruOct 21

@riverpunk @evacide

4/4 The "nation" (a cultural identity) and the "state" (a political territory) rarely match. This mismatch—such as nations without states (like the Kurds) or states with multiple nations—is a primary driver of modern political conflict.

TL;DR: Nation-states are become more trouble than they're worth imho.