European Union came on top in the selection process for the organization that could have the best chance of mitigating existential risks. Let’s remind ourselves that the key question we have been trying to answer is which organisation is potentially the best one to control the risk stemming from AI, when it achieves the status of Superintelligence and ultimately becomes a Technological Singularity. But Superintelligence is only one of the existential risks that need to be mitigated. Therefore, any organisation that we choose to act on behalf of the whole Humanity must be capable of dealing with other risks too, including the Global Political and Social risks. The EU seems to fulfil these conditions best.
We will now look more closely at the EU’s capabilities, its strengths and weaknesses and the scope of reforming EU so that it could start acting as the World Government. In general, the EU has quite a few features that are important for that task such as:
- Nearly uniform human values and legal system
- A wide spectrum of activities comparable with the UN
- A lot of experience in large international projects, like the accession of 10 eastern and Central European countries on 1.5.2004.
- Significant financial and material resources
- A system extending beyond a typical confederation, with the president, the Government (the EU Commission), the prime-minister (the President of the EU) and the Parliament
- That may surprise some people and yet, there are very few other large organisations in the world that are as dynamic as the EU. Over the last 60 years the EU has been continuously adding new members, changing significantly the way it operates and continually distributing resources to poorer members on a very large scale.
- Ability to expand rapidly by integrating more countries, which are themselves significant global powers, such as Canada, Australia, and Japan, with which the EU has already signed wide-ranging treaties.
When in 2010 the European Commission asked people about the EU citizenship identity, 62 per cent of people said they already felt like EU citizens (Politico). In August 2017, 68 per cent of the population (33,000 people surveyed across the EU) felt “they are a citizen of the EU”. 56% of people across the continent were optimistic about the future of the EU in general – a rise in six points on the previous survey published in the autumn of 2016 (Stone, 2017).
So, why are people in the EU so optimistic barely a year after a bad experience with massive migration? Partially the sharp rise in optimism could be linked to the elections in the Netherlands and presidential elections in France, where Emmanuel Macron saw off a far-right challenger Marie Le Pen. The other factor could be the end of austerity in Portugal and the kick-start of the growth investment programme in the Southern European countries. But there are other less direct reasons to justify such a cautious optimism and they lie rather in the political than economic domain, like putting some structural reforms to managing the EU borders (Frontex agency) and moves towards closer integration sparked off by Brexit.
If life rejuvenation is successful, then most of the visitors to this site will see the first day of the 22nd century. But to arrive there, we need to go through a stage of transition. We need to begin the process of federalization of the Planet starting with the European Union.
Next: European Federation
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