Ideas don't necessarily take shocks.
I didn't say they did.
But very large scale implementation of ideas usually takes either shocks or time.
Tamagochi pets spread like wildfire without shock.
That's a fad, not a large scale structural change. No agreement was needed, people made their own decisions. You can't get a "NUN" from the same sort of spontaneous purchasing decisions.
There was no shock that made people around the world cut their baby output.
But there was time, it didn't happen suddenly. Also there was a change in the patterns of economies and economic incentives. It wasn't a big idea that people swarmed to quickly.
On item 2, the powerful forcing it on the weak, on the contrary, I think the poweful [the USA] has been going in the opposite direction.
I didn't say the US was forcing any particular change on the world at the moment. I said the powerful forcing change is one way to make it happen much quicker. Many changes happen for other reasons, its just one way that change happens.
An interesting thing about humans and "inertia" is that there really isn't "momentum" in minds. They are more like states and they can change state at the drop of a hat.
They can change at the drop of a hat, but they aren't likely to. And while some will, getting a critical mass behind major changes usually takes time. Individual decisions may follow a fad, but major, durable, institutional changes require wide spread prior agreement, or someone with the power to force changes on the reluctant.
Now, the USA is bleating about how they need help to stabilize things in Iraq. Well, if they, or Saddam, had listened to your resident geopolitical soothsayer international analyst, the whole mess could have been sorted out 3 years ago and actually prevented.
I suppose if the US had listened to and agreed with you the invasion wouldn't have happened, but that doesn't mean that everything would be fine. If Saddam had figured that the US really would invade and remove him from power, then he would have made some concessions to avoid it happening, but none of those concessions would have done much to create a meaningful "NUN".
The USA is powerful, but can't seem to deal with a few "dead-enders".
Power is only part of what's needed to force changes. Power, plus determination, plus the appropriate strategy and tactics and probably other things are needed. Also even the powerful are not omnipowerful. Having a lot of power doesn't mean you can get anything you want whenever you want it. |
