[pmulcahy11b]

OK, Targan, I'm about to make you go stark, raving mad:

While the absolutely worst idea that mankind has ever come up with was religion, the second-worst idea we've ever come up with is the whole idea of countries and nation-states. Between those two, you can account for virtually every war in history, plus a lot of murders by nut-cases and fruitcakes.

A good, workable world government would one of the best ideas mankind could ever come up with. I'm not talking about the nutty UN/black helicopters/conspiracy theory government that various screwy folks believe is happening, but one, well-functioning, democratic government with a UN-type body to form a sort of Congress. Eventually, a whole lot of the crap in this world resulting from national competition would be exposed for what it truly is -- a massive collection of bullshit. And the human species could get on with trying to become better than what we are. As long as there are individual countries on this planet, we will remain bound to the Earth, and, like 99% of all the species that have ever existed on the Earth, become extinct.