Will the US accept diminishment as badly as France does?

[Illuminatus Primus]

I don't think America will fall behind technologically, because while political concerns may hold something back, once its out and we see that it works, we take it.

It's already starting. While the US still has arguably the best universities & research facilities in the world and the most money to throw at scientific endeavors, the piss-poor k-12 school system will drag things down in the long term and is already doing so. While there continue to be standout geniuses who will lead research onwards, the lack of basic science knowledge amongst the general population will put a brake on progress since the "support structure" if you will for those geniuses will not be there to help them with the gruntwork. America has started her slow decline.

We definitely need to get on this shit; and do whatever we can - if we have to shaft the inner cities, better than having shit ALL throughout the system.

[Master of Ossus]

We definitely need to get on this shit; and do whatever we can - if we have to shaft the inner cities, better than having shit ALL throughout the system.

Preach it, brother!

The US's unique ability to draw in the best and brightest from the rest of the world will keep us going for a little while, but since many of them return to their home countries we're eventually going to need to take care of the problem here.

[Tsyroc]

One thing I think that will be different when the US declines is that we won't be obsessing about how great our culture is and how everyone should bow down to it's greatness.

We already know that a lot of our "culture" is trash but then most of it has always targeted Americans so any time it did well, or went over well outside of the country was a bonus.

We're such consumers that unless there is a big cultural personality shift we'll be more likely to accept things from other countries more than France has been willing to do. Don't be surprised if we change the name though. It won't be because of the government telling someone to do it but because someone will think it will sell better.

We're still lagging behind a lot of the world on watching films from other countries without having to remake them or dub them but we're begining to see more foreign films in the regular theaters and a lot more stuff on video.

Future Americans traveling abroad just might not be able to count on the equivalent of McDonalds being in whatever country they are in so they'll actually have to try some of the native quisine.

[Tsyroc]

I think it will also make a difference that our culture has always been a melting pot anyway. Sure everyone always had a certain view of American culture from the 50's but really that was a fabrication of tv (or just plain delusion) that is finally being shown for the crap it is in even the most banjo playing town's in the US.

[Stuart Mackey]

Probably not, simply because the United States power is likely to be lost through attrition and neglect rather than conflict, which means it will be a general weakening over many decades.

Agreed; the same thing occured with England over the course of both World Wars.

It began earlier with Britian, bout the 1880's iirc

[Broomstick]

After WWII the US pulled out way ahead of the competition - well, yeah, we were the country that didn't have cities bombed and burned to the ground. We also didn't lose nearly as much of our population as many countries in Europe and Asia. They fell behind, we pulled ahead.

I don't think it's so much that America is declining as everyone else is finally starting to catch up.

This is freaking out some of the pessimists and the more paranoid patriots (there are elements in the goverment that believe others should be held back in order to keep us ahead). Right now the US might be "on top" in a given area, but it is foolish to assume that will continue indefinitely.

Barring some catastrophe along the line of the Yellowstone supervolcano blowing its stack (which would plunge the US into third world status very quickly), no, the US isn't going to go to the bottom of the stack. Much more likely is what happened to the British Empire, a gradual receding from prominence.

Personally, I wouldn't get my knickers in a knot over it - being king of the mountain isn't all it's cracked up to be.

It's also where the Bush crowd gets it wrong - first of all, we were NEVER in a position where we could dictate to everyone else what was to be what. There may be no single nation able to withstand us militarially at this point, but a large enough coalition certainly could take us on. It would be quite bloody, but the point is no, we can't rule the world, we're still outnumbered for one and for two most of the other guys have some decent weapons. Their best weapons may not be as good as our best weapons, but just having the best gun doesn't guarantee victory - you need numbers, strategy, and so forth to go with it.

Anyhow - I'd prefer the US worry more about the US and less about everyone else. I believe the other countries are run by grown-ups and can, by and large, handle their own affairs without our interference.

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And, as far as the whole stem cell issue -- the fundies here like to think that by banning government funding for something they can kill the research. I guess they assume all researchers are liberal democrats incapable of raising capital or something. Anyhow - it backfired with fertility research, which, since it is by and large privately funded it is also by and large a "wild west" atmosphere with very little regulation. They woke up a little late to realize that desparate parents were willing to fund the process and now the fundies have no say and no control over it. Same thing will happen with stem cells. Initially there will be a dip in research, then the highly motivated will find funding somewhere, and the research will be off and running with no government controls at all.

It's been one the strengths of the US culture... the tendency for someone to get disgusted with the "establishment" and run off into the desert to build spaceships or something. Metaphorically speaking.

Oh, wait, some folks actually did do that recently, didn't they?

Anyhow, those traits aren't limited to the US - other human beings are certainly capable of the same thing - but something in the US culture makes it more likely to happen than, say, in Japan.

[HemlockGrey]

I would imagine that the recipe for continued American dominance in the 21st century and beyond would involve revitalizing the education system, pursuing a *wise* foreign policy, major shakeups of the political parties and the breaking of the power of the fundementalists and corporations.

As for acceptance of an American decline....I would imagine America would handle it's decline more like Britain than like France.