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Comment by ekianjo | Hacker News Reader

Well, nobody should be considered "American" in the first place since it's a country made by immigration (apart from native indians). And the principle behind America is that you can be born "American" without being born in the country. But I know what you mean, there's the principles on one hand and the reality on the other.

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"Nationalism is the biggest disease on the planet. Nations have the wrong granularity. They’re too small to be global and too big to be local, and all they can think about is competing." - Nicholas Negroponte

Yea but nation states have done wonders for the advancement of humanity. The conundrum...

So did the steam engine, but its pretty much redundant now.

Steam engines were replaced only after the invention of a much more efficient engine (internal combustion).

What is the much more efficient boundary of government that is not a nationstate ?

The polis; an autonomous, self-governing form of city state, invented around 800 BC.

Which wasn't shy about competition or large-scale conflict (like the Peloponnesian War).

The equations of power have changed. Two contradictory things are happening inequality grows while information asymmetry reduces.

Something is going to break. And we generally wake up and fix thing only after things break.

I say another 5-10 manning/snowden type events before we transition from the united states of america to the the united states of earth.

well, I think if we are talking strictly about efficiency, the intuitive answer would be: either a single government, or at least a government whose boundaries are set based on more practical and real rather than artificial foundations.

National identities, as complex as they are and as huge an improvement over religions as they are to serve for the above purpose, are still artificial constructs that in many ways create arbitrary boundaries, introduce and perpetuate differences that are not necessary to exist between people and in some cases have even been manipulated and used by governments for political reasons.

"American" is the religion immigrants have signed up to since the Mayflower.

(apart from native indians)

Last I checked they immigrated too.

A person born in the USA (or elsewhere) to US Citizen parents is "American in the first place". That's how US citizenship at birth works.

Americans are also the people above and below the map of USA.

If you want to be pedantic about it, yes, the continent of North America is made up of three countries.

But if a person says the phrase "I'm American", what's your first guess - that he is referring to the USA, to Canada or to Mexico?

Speaking as a Canadian, I do not call myself an 'American', even though my country is certainly part of North America.

America is the term to the whole continent. Central and south too (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Americas).

I understand that "Americans" is a shorthand for "USA Habitant", in the minds of a lot of people, mainly because USA is the dominant culture in this side.

But is like ask: "I'm Asian" and asume is about a chinese.

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