Re: What if.....?



Des Small wrote:

> Glurp!
>
> If and when you get back from lunch, Franz, you may like to ponder the
> fact that I am British citizen, a long-time enthusiast for the EU, and
> currently enrolled in a degree on Yoorpean Studies.
>
> Des
> 's spelling is a poor guide to ideology. (And spelling.)

Word wit is rather "Yoopean," so I guess I should have guessed
you are not an American, but your verve made me assume so.
Thanks for having clarified that point.

As for the EU: I believe only a flexible union got a chance,
whereas a centralistic EU would be bound to break apart sooner
or later, for "Yoorp" is no longer placed in the center of the
wheel, so to speak. That place has been taken over by the USA.
They are the new "hub" of scientific, technological and cultural
evolution. "Yoorp" won't get back to that position, for we are
stuck in the old ways, new ideas hardly get a chance here, which
is why bright young people leave our continent for the USA
by millions (I for one am an electronical emigrant, as new
ideas get absolutely no chance in Switzerland, the Swiss believe
the international River of Money will always flow through our
small country and irrigate our fields, so why bother about new
ideas anyway?). The combined market of China and India will reach
a volume of five times the one of the combined "Yoopean" and
American market withing 30 years or so, nevertheless, Asia won't
become the new global leader, for the simple fact that Asia is
overcrowded: when you got so many people to do all kind of work
there is no real motivation to invent new methods, and so the
scientific process will be punctual, not unversal as in America,
where they know about the true extent of the upcoming global
challenges, and where they have and develop the knowledge
required to meet those challenges (neither Europe nor Asia do),
and scientific advance turns into technological adcanve turns
into cultural advance turns into leadership.

As for a European lingua franca: we are not in the position
of chosing one, the lingua franca has always been the language
of the leading power. The leading power of our time, and for
a long time to come, are the USA, and their (main) language
is English. Not bad a choice for a "Yoopean" lingua franca,
since English is the best available amalgam of the prevailing
Germanic and Romance languages. Or, to use a more appropriate
metaphor: English is deeply and firmly rooted in Magdalenian
(see my experimental reconstruction of Magdalenian in the
thread "Lascaux, a lunisolar calendar"), and this enabled
English to absorb a good deal of French without becoming
a pidgin.

Wondering whether you can top your "Glurp!" in a reply to
this message of mine ;-) Franz Gnaedinger www.seshat.ch

.

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