Human nature, part two

Self-determination, it has been said, is the route to insularity, prejudice and conservatism. And it’s certainly difficult to argue that a village of Daily Mail readers will become more liberal, progressive or anarchist. But I’ll try.

This is the issue of whether cultures that are already closed-minded can flourish when they are allowed to close themselves off from the rest of the world. Surely it is isolation, if only information-isolation and the isolation of the poverty divide, that has created enclaves of bigotry; self-determination would simply allow them to pull up the drawbridge.

In stating the problem, I’ve had to use some of the common misconceptions about self-determination, most common of which being that self-determination implies isolation. The assumption is based on the concept of communities that no longer share information because they share very few of their resources.

It’s certainly true that early human history was mapped out as knowledge and limited cultural understanding followed trade and migration routes. Even in the early-to-mid Twentieth Century, ordinary people got their glimpse of distant peoples in the tea, spices, fruit, fabrics, plates and other goods that made it around the world.

But we have moved on to an information age. Our global trade in bulk goods is destroying the planet but there is no reason why the internet shouldn’t be sustainable—an information resource that will be almost unlimited by human standards.

So, if we draw back our commitment to long-distance trade, that does not mean we will stop talking.

Communication includes the sharing of best practice—examples of what works and what does not. The examples of communities that spearhead sustainability could lead to initial fragmentation of nations and regions. The continued flow of information would not only encourage further devolution, but it could encourage individuals and communities to self-organise in more open, more inclusive and less oppressive ways.

The village of Daily Mail readers, slowly let go from their commuter-based incomes might initially think that the world was falling apart with the nation they felt rooted to. But kinship with other villages with similar cultures would not vanish. Large gardens and the surrounding farms would make it relatively easy to feed the populace. Inter-community support networks would mean that disasters such as floods did not mean devastation.

In other words, the rise of self-determination should actually mean a decline in isolationism.

Another argument in support of this assertion is that greater self-determination should erode centralised media. So, the Daily Mail would wither and die anyway.