Throughout the 'goo prophylaxis' thread, you seem to completely ignore the
possibility that trade may be more profitable than conquest, that employment
may be more profitable than enslavement, and that symbiosis may be more
profitable than extermination. I don't see why the principle of comparative
advantage should not continue to apply even in a world with vast disparities
in material power between different actors.
This point does not, of course, imply that all or even most of the human
race will make it into the Diamond Age, but I think that it at least allows
the possibility of a more diverse and comitous world than you believe possible.
--CarlF
PS. What a great thread!