Quite a few years ago now the visionary and engineer, Bucky Fuller, suggested that if we shared Spaceship Earth (as seen from space) like a unified crew, then we could most effectively use the energy available to us to advantage everyone:
"How do we make the world work for 100% of humanity in the shortest possible time through spontaneous cooperation without ecological damage or disadvantage to anyone?"
He got dismissed as politically naive and optimistic to assume we could shed the artificial boundaries of nation states, and conflicts of interest, but he always pointed out that once it became economically evident that it would prove useful and efficient, the idea would start to look good. He even calculated time periods for how long it took for new ideas to get adopted in different aspects of human life.
One of the grand unifying ideas that impressed me involved
linking the electrical networks of the USSR (as was) with that of the USA. Surplus energy generated in the day side of the planet would heat and light the night side of the planet, indefinitely.
Of course, the illusion of separation and distance of 'East' and 'West' created by the Greenwich-centred Mercator and Peters projection maps in use made it seem unfeasible to many
but looking at it another way, it turns out the US/Canadian continent, and the Russian/Asian continent almost touch (something like 30 miles apart) so the engineering aspect of the plan has much going for it.
Any spherical globe can demonstrate this, but Bucky's Dymaxion maps make the idea more vividly realistic (to my eyes).
Global Energy Network Institute
I have no idea what timescale Bucky put on the adoption of this idea, but perhaps recent news could prove a sign that the change has started to look inevitable, essential...
Iran, Iraq, Pakistan Interconnecting Their Electric Grids
Hell, if you don't like Bucky's map, even a Mercator projection centred on the USA (with Russia to the West) can show how easily the continental gap could be bridged...
