I would not want the youtube crowd voting their 'LIKES'.... There were strong basis for aristocracies in the 1800's because the rabble couldn't be trusted to make the right decisions. Americans didn't even get to vote in Senators the first run and we still can't directly vote for the Prez. It just seems to me that a Skynet or Heavenly Father (I didn't think you were the religious type) would be similar to that Simpsons Halloween episode where Homer changes the timestream enough for Flanders to become an Orwellian ruler that can see and scan everything. cultural references +1
I think a test is not a bad idea, maybe something to just check that the voter knows a little bit about the political process and a little bit about all the candidates. Not a literacy test though.
Nationalism is still too strong for it to happen anytime soon. Jeez, just watch the World Cup. Those people are nuts and it's only about a stupid game where you can't even pick up the ball. I've got ideas though... maybe I could make it work if I didn't keep dicking around on the web. I guess I could start becoming the main Hegemon after I retire in a few years. I trust all of you will be my inner circle of supporters.
Careful. If you start asking questions of everyone about those topics, FoxNews viewers would be more disenfranchised than any other group.
The most simplified it will get is 2 super-governments. Humanity shows that there is no way to have coexistance. You NEED the polar opposite, the arch-rival, an enemy to have a goal, an aim. To have technology and society to progress. And as silly as it sounds, the only way that Humanity would unite is if we have another intelligent species in the picture (i.e. aliens) as someone already mentioned.
The AI will just assume control of 'things'. And we will let it because we want something smarter than us to be in control. It won't be like storm troopers, you just won't be able to do things beyond the program rules, like you can't go out of bounds and come back in Halo. Subtle but pervasive, more and more, like a frog in a warming pot, you won't even notice; more digitized information, more algorithms, more interconnected server farms, reality and virtual reality will be indistinguishable, privacy will be a thing of the past when everyone is wired in directly Read this: http://www.singularity.com/KurzweilFuturist.pdf
A world government is unlikely, but a global economy that has the power and control to govern world government policies and people is very likely... You don't need a world government to control world governments, just control of the money and the best military.
