Interesting and thought-provoking! But, similar to how he mentions that the predominance of monogamy in the modern world might be a result of cultural evolution, this line from the end raises a question:
"Perhaps we should accept gracefully the inevitable sundering of ‘national’ cultures, and learn to operate within a truly multicultural world."
Well, maybe...or maybe those few national cultures that persist, will find that they can steamroll over the fragmented once-were-nations that cannot muster the joint effort to resist them. There's a reason large states arose in the first place, to displace hunter-gatherer tribes, and it is precisely this. If you don't maintain a national culture, you're not going to have anyone willing to fight to defend it. Which, if every single nation has that happen, maybe that's fine. But if even one persists, it will find itself an elephant in a world of mice, who wonder why no one else is willing to defend them when they are trampled on.
"Perhaps we should accept gracefully the inevitable sundering of ‘national’ cultures, and learn to operate within a truly multicultural world."
Well, maybe...or maybe those few national cultures that persist, will find that they can steamroll over the fragmented once-were-nations that cannot muster the joint effort to resist them. There's a reason large states arose in the first place, to displace hunter-gatherer tribes, and it is precisely this. If you don't maintain a national culture, you're not going to have anyone willing to fight to defend it. Which, if every single nation has that happen, maybe that's fine. But if even one persists, it will find itself an elephant in a world of mice, who wonder why no one else is willing to defend them when they are trampled on.