Bruce Sterling's State of the World 2019

Every year SF author and futurist Bruce Sterling moderates a discussion on the state of the world. It's free wheeling, wide ranging, and always worthwhile reading. This year's edition is up on The Well (yes, it's still around). He's currently living in Ibizia.

Here's part of his take on Brexit:

Since I do hang out in Belgrade, I have a pretty good idea of what economic sanctions can do to people and their societies.   And yeah, the lack of trade agreements will probably deal with that immigration free-movement problem they think they have.   That annoying flow of job-stealing migrants, and the free-spending tourists, are both gonna vanish like the dew, because there's no genuine difference: they're both human meat on  the hoof.  

       Sanctions against world trade are very effective, if you really, really want to carve a place like Yugoslavia into quarrelling micronational bits.  That this fate would happen, by choice, to a nuclear power that's a permanent member of the UN Security Council, well, that's pretty interesting.   Not the bureaucratic process, what is boring, but what it does to people inside: getting balkanized.

      I sure wouldn't wanna be trapped inside that situation -- because in 2018, the British were the gloomiest and doomiest that I've ever seen 'em.  They all know they're about to pound nails through their naked feet with big hammers.  I reckon that Ibiza will be an interesting ringside seat for that.