Thread by @wretchardthecat

Has it started a runaway train by provoking a backlash? Or is there some way of getting the locomotive back on track?

legalinsurrection.com/2019/04/victor…

The locomotive may get back on track but the probability is it will be a different track. Things will settle, not in the old equilibrium but a new one.

The events since 2016 -- Brexit, the new Cold War, the inability of Trump to become an 'old consensus' President -- suggests the old world has hit a fork where the old code base diverges to produce different tracks.

The four possible outcomes of a fork are determined by competition:

The death of the fork.
A re-merging of the fork
The death of the original branch
Successful branching, two systems emerge.

We are likely to be entering a period of competition both within countries and internationally. Trump's plan to release illegal aliens into sanctuary cities is likely to be the opening salvo of differentiation.

Two systems, in fact n-systems can coexist provided there's an interface that allows them to cooperate in nondestructive ways. We are likely to become members of subnational affinity groups separated from others by virtual walls.

We already know what that branching looks like. The homeless man and hipster live side by side in many Western cities. However they are separated by credentials. Ultimately all they will need is a palmprint or facial recognition.