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[Reelya]

Democracy functions best with small groups with a shared identity, shared intentions and aspirations, and shared attitudes and morals. The larger a democracy becomes the worse it would be off. The USA is a very good example of this.

Of course, you could make the case that a World Government wouldn't necessarily have to be democratic. But then you've pretty much answered the question of "why don't people like one world governments" themselves.

We can Nerve Staple you until you all have "a shared identity, shared intentions and aspirations, and shared attitudes and morals". Then we can have the first real True Democracy without any conflicts. The Borg were a democracy. No neuron is superior to any other.

[Neonivek]

Democracy functions best with small groups with a shared identity, shared intentions and aspirations, and shared attitudes and morals. The larger a democracy becomes the worse it would be off. The USA is a very good example of this.

Of course, you could make the case that a World Government wouldn't necessarily have to be democratic. But then you've pretty much answered the question of "why don't people like one world governments" themselves.

We can Nerve Staple you until you all have "a shared identity, shared intentions and aspirations, and shared attitudes and morals". Then we can have the first real True Democracy without any conflicts. The Borg were a democracy. No neuron is superior to any other.

You can have a single world government AND other smaller governments (for lack of the proper word).

In the same way that the USA has Federal and State governments.

----

Also MAN was 15 century China just a mix between having a strong government and having a weak one.

So many odd issues of the time...

Such as Rice Taxes simply being allowed to rot in spite there being food shortages.

[scriver]

You can have a single world government AND other smaller governments (for lack of the proper word).

In the same way that the USA has Federal and State governments.

All states have different levels of government. However, the dysfunctional state of use state-to-federal government is the exact reason I listed the US as an example of a democracy that suffers from being too big.

Edit: quote screwup

[Egan_BW]

How about ruling the world under a good old constitutional monarchy? The world is split up between mostly independant states, and the monarch acts as a patriotic figurehead to keep the states from warring.
Totally not a terrible idea.

[scriver]

I suffer no king but the King In the North whose name is IKEA.

[Egan_BW]

who says its a king

[Neonivek]

I find it weird when a system functions through its corruption.

Officers who basically don't earn enough for make a living actually HAVE to take bribes.

In fact... That is why Tipping in the USA came to be.

Yet this kind of corruption has a sort of side effect. In that it is nearly impossible to stop once it starts (though not helped that usually the reasons the corruption needed to exist often still persist) as it becomes standard practice.

[Egan_BW]

If a system only works when damaged, is it corrupt or functioning as intended?

If every government will eventually become corrupt, shouldn't the law be designed to accept corruption? Is corruption mandated by the state corruption at all?

[Neonivek]

If a system only works when damaged, is it corrupt or functioning as intended?

If every government will eventually become corrupt, shouldn't the law be designed to accept corruption? Is corruption mandated by the state corruption at all?

There is an old saying: "Give a man an inch, they'll take a mile"

Even if you want to allow corruption in order to fix your broken system... You cannot codify that as people will go above and beyond that.

[Egan_BW]

For, if you attempt to factor for corruption in the system, what you have factored for will not longer be corruption, and an even deeper corruption will appear in order to fill the area. What, then, prevents corruption from sinking ever deeper and deeper, creating infinite layers of increasingly corrupt practice?

[Neonivek]

A while ago I had someone describe to be exactly why the sentiment that people who stay at asylums end up feeling like they are the sane ones and the crazy people are the ones running the place. (I got this from their video... they weren't talking to me directly except maybe as their audience)

For one crazy people TEND not to be the gibbering kind even when it is severe... and if they are violent they are typically not allowed with the other inmates.

Yet he described in detail the amount of work the asylum goes through to just make a simple pot of tea (because Coffee would make them too anxious ) involving several steps, doors, and keys all for a simple task any of them would have made in a minute in their own homes.

They certainly make mental wards sound terrible though... and he didn't go to a terrible one.

[Neonivek]

It is weird what a show remembers or forgets as time goes on.

Watching "The flower from prison" and while I don't know exactly how currency translates basically anytime there is a large sum of money it is done in Yangs.
-The show takes place in 15th century China. So Yang is a real sum of currency.

A yang was a sizable amount of money yet I can only remember what they were.
1) 200 Yang was the entire sum of 15 years of someone's earnings (their expenses were paid for them).
2) 500 yang was the life savings of an entire merchant business.
3) 1000 yang was enough to get a small box of large gold nuggets.
5) 10,000 A Large Chest filled with Silver.

A yang or two SEEMS to be what a single peasant could live off of comfortably for a single month. Characters rarely carry a yang, usually preferring to hold less.

Heck a Sack of salt was worth about 5-7.5 yang reasonably.

It used to be that you could reasonably bribe someone or purchase their abilities for 1-2 yang. Yet as the show went on and they started to throw 100 yang left and right... Suddenly 100 yang is considered a "small amount" (In all fairness to the scene... They are only saying that to convince the person they are talking to, to pony up more money)

It is one of the few instances I can even think of where we have what I guess could be called... Financial Creep

The only other show I can think of that had this was Star Trek Deep Space 9 with Latinum where things just ended up costing more and more and more... But in their case its value was completely imaginary and they were horribly inconsistent with it and didn't think things through...

While Yangs are completely consistent... It is just that suddenly everyone is driving up their prices to corroborate.

[Egan_BW]

What, It's a high-level party, ok?

[Reelya]

Yang are just as fictional in relation to 15th century China as Latinum is. So the fact is, they are completely making it up as they go along.

China up until the introduction of western coins had a single denomination: the copper "Wen" which had a hole in it. These were then strung on strings in sections of 100 coins, and 1000 of these was determined to be worth a specific weight of silver, a tael (translated as liang in pinyin chinese), which was about 40 grams. That would be the most plausible thing that the Korean "Yang" is standing in for: 40 grams of silver, or about $25 worth of silver at current prices:

- "$1 a day" earnings works out to be about 1 tael/month, giving 300 tael for 15 years.
- 500 tael would be around $12500, which would seem reasonable as a small business profit
- 10000 tael of silver would weigh 400 Kilograms, plausible for a heavy chest

So it's reasonable that the Korean Yang is standing in for the Chinese Silver Tael, and that it represents about 40g of silver, worth $25, as long as you remember prices are generally at poverty-level. 100 yang would be $2500. Clearly big to a peasant, but small to a noble.

[Neonivek]

Yang are just as fictional in relation to 15th century China as Latinum is. So the fact is, they are completely making it up as they go along.

A "Yang" isn't a coin.

Basically it is a string of coins... In fact they are usually called "Strings".

Though a proper String was 1000 coins... They were usually split into 100 coins parts.

Basically a "Yang" is 100 coins of currency (and yes they do show a "yang" in the show. It is about 100 coins)

So outside a possibly translation difference/error. This is still real money.

Assuming "$1 a day" level poverty, 1 tael of silver would be a months wages. Rough estimate

So basically a person earns about 10 Yang a month. I dunno... hmmm.