The underlying theme of the story, world globalization, was a good place to end our reading of colonialism and gave me a lot to think about. In fact, what's still rumbling around in my pea-brain is the idea of philes / tribes replacing governments in the future. This led to me start thinking (yes critically) about how we're already well on our way towards that reality.
If you buy into the idea that companies have HUGE influence on the world's economy, and that companies have a HUGE influence on politics and government, is it really that much of stretch to think that they don't already control the world? While there might not be a country called "IBM" or "Oracle", how far are we from seeing such a reality?
This led to me imagining a time in the near future, when some huge conglomerate (let's say Futuretech, Inc.) buys out a large chunk of it's competitors and now becomes the leading manufacturer of nano technology. Futuretech, Inc. then decides that it would be in its best interests to buy up a large section of land in Africa (the size of a small country) by buying off leaders and making them ceremonial high ranking company officials, and place its headquarters and all manufacturing there. They relocate all of their research and manufacturing to this new Futuretech, Inc capital and begin terraforming the landscape to meet their agricultural and biotechnology needs. In doing so, towns are built for employees and other companies are allowed to setup shop to meet the service industry needs (Wal-Mart and KFC anyone?).
After this happens, it doesn't take Futuretech, Inc. long to realize that there needs to be laws in put into place (codes of conduct) with some kind of justice system. Police and judges are hired to enforce these codes of conduct and anyone wishing to live or work in Futuretech, Inc. will have to agree and abide by the codes of conduct. Protecting their interests and ensuring that warlords from other areas of Africa don't try and get any ideas, Futuretech, Inc. hires the French Foreign Legion as its military force. Futuretech, Inc. decides that it likes the idea so much, that it BUYS the French Foreign Legion and spawns a new division of the company called FutureTech Defense, Inc. with the goals of protecting themselves and contracting out these services to other similar companies or governments.
Currency would be an issue and so to make things easier, Futuretech, Inc. decides that it should conduct business using an already established monetary system called the EU. This would provide compatibility with the rest of world's markets and allow Futuretech, Inc. the ability to regulate its own economic environment.
I could go on and on, but I think that this may have been what Stephenson had envisioned as the prehistory of "The Diamond Age". Companies becoming so powerful that they in and of themselves take on their own global identity and adopt their own unique corporate culture. The citizens themselves, would be working for the common goal of protecting the interests of the company instead of a country.
Far fetched? Maybe not.
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