Comments on: FDL Book Salon Welcomes Paul Starobin, After America: Narratives for the Next Global Age

By: Paul Starobin

Paul Starobin — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 15:46:13 +0000

When you say, today, do you mean you think it is not so unhappy? I agree, as I write at the book’s end, that a post-imperial Washington will experience a funk. But it does not have to be a permanent one, and in the case of cities like New York and LA, I am not sure there need be any real funk….

By: gundersonrogers

gundersonrogers — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 10:11:54 +0000

I taught at a small university just outside London in 19980 -during the onset of the first gulf war and the Shah’s flight. The national mood was dreary! –17 straight years of economic downturn. Numbers of layoffs were shown nightly on a map, much like a weather map, with totals on the weekend. Sure, that was thirty years ago, but the working class was taking it hard. Big money absorbed the well-educated into the corporate scene… Today?

By: karenjj2

karenjj2 — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 04:02:25 +0000

707, AngelsAwake

By: AngelsAwake

AngelsAwake — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 23:13:34 +0000

I posted at the exact wrong time. (slaps forehead)

By: AngelsAwake

AngelsAwake — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 23:09:28 +0000

What intrigues me is that, as somebody who loves Ancient Greek history, it’s easy to see that some civilizations really focused on this- Ancient Greece was just a series of city-states that more or less functioned autonomously. I’m wondering if, with this historical precedent, future city-states will function much like this?

In fact, if you’ll allow me to ramble, perhaps that was the basis for the nation-state to begin with. Cities couldn’t compete with nations because a nation could spread out over more territory to gather more resources, something a city couldn’t do because of its centralized nature. Nations won because they had more resources and power due to their larger nature.

Now, however, with increased globalization and transport, it’s easier to stay in one place and get everything you need, creating a sort of backwards march through history that results in the city state becoming viable again.

What do you think, Mr. Starobin?

By: Paul Starobin

Paul Starobin — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 23:04:00 +0000

Thanks, Bev. And let me join everyone in thanking Christian for graciously and with so much finesse stepping in as moderator

By: Paul Starobin

Paul Starobin — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 23:02:50 +0000

Yes, I see the city-state phenomenon in just those terms. Richard Florida, among others, is a source on these mega regions and how they matter. Part of what intrigues me is how the mega regions are developing their own global connections–for example, the greater San Diego region, including the Mexican chunk of Northern Baja California, is doing this, quite deliberately. I neglected the cities thread at the start of my effort to gather material for the book–but I found myself quite drawn to it as time went on.

By: DWBartoo

DWBartoo — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 23:01:33 +0000

Great salon!!

Thanks all!

By: DWBartoo

DWBartoo — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 23:00:46 +0000

These were “reactive” behaviors, in response to perceived (and real) behaviors on our part. The nature of “organizations” in future will be of fundamentally different purpose, unless they are “berserkers” or “pirates”, one imagines.

Or hopes, Christian, however audaciously.

By: TheLurkingMod

TheLurkingMod — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 23:00:24 +0000

Blue Texan is upstairs!
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