Yes it is entirely subjective and in my case probably age related. I shared your view for decades and couldn’t imagine living anywhere else but I got tired of the stress and expense of living in London.

An enjoyment of London is very much dependent upon where you live within it and income.

In certain circumstances it can be the best of places and in others the worst.

Globalisation leads to increasing segregation and balkanization for the majority. You may wish what has happened to London for yourself but the reality is most don't. The map of Brexit was a pretty strong indication of that.

It's not only Japan, it's large parts of East Asia like China and South Korea, which just happen to be the top of the IQ map. Indeed, what you are saying on globalisation only really holds true for Europe and the Anglosphere.

People have been predicating the demise of Japan since the sixties. Not only is its standard of living higher than us along with its GDP but it retains its social cohesion and heavily rejects what you seem to suggest is inevitable.

AI automation is due to take increasing numbers of blue and white collar jobs out of any requirement and so your view that millions of foreigners are required to live there seems to be a legacy one. They have done very well up to now. Indeed, the recent changes you refer to don't allow citizenship at all......I don't think that's a barrier they will allow crossing.

They can see what would be lost....You call them racist from here. Indeed if they did what the west have they would be getting victimization culture from minorities, which in turn create whole industries.

They simply don't want what the ideological mainly white left and the profit hungry rich right want.....and they don't need my advice because they are smart enough to know what to avoid.

Edited by Stirlingsays (25 Apr 2019 3.25pm)

I don't wish anything, really, I just can't see it going any other way. The AI point is valid, but also in my view simply accelerates the process rather than pushes it in the other direction. It simply increases the reliance on state aid and therefore more or less removes any possibility of agency to the mass population, if handled well. Power is then free to do as it pleases. Why waste money on diversifying capitalism to suit different cultures when you can push towards one? Optimised, simplified, more profitable.

Things will become even more homogenised than they already are, corporations will become massive global entities that are no longer defined by borders/nationality and will have ever increasing amounts of control. Cultures and nations will continue to become diluted. There will of course always be a few that resist, but as long as the majority and the powerful are all going one way it is simply a question of when not if for everyone else.

As for the east/west point, valid, but in my mind that could be one outcome. Literally 'The West' and 'The East' once everything's reached its zenith.

It's also not just about immigration. It's about perception, sense of place, isolationism – these things being warped and changed due to technology and singularity of approach (starting with advertising, branding, media, shaped behaviour etc.) being the one thing that heavily dilutes the idea of borders, nations. Globalisation is inevitable so long as massive social corporations continue to grow and have ever increasing influence over the 95% and the people who govern them (95% of people are morons).

I suppose also it's also a matter of whether what is then lost is a significant negative to the alternative. I have no answer to that as it is too subjective and requires more thought but emotion and nostalgia is not always a valid reason. Every generation always seems to say 'it was better in my day'. I always think it's a lazy statement.

I was listening to Raheem Kassam on a stream last night and I must admit he made a strong argument for voting Brexit party.....and he's pro Robinson.

We've gone massively off topic here, but this is worth a read, even if it is a little pessimistic and of course highly speculative. Most of it is 'well of course' stuff, especially in terms of motivation and outcome but it's the detail and specifics of those motivations from the horses mouth(s) that really grabs the attention.

[Link]