What a day!

Arthur Noll

I am reminded of the adage that one is never prepared for death, even when it is expected, it can be a shock. I have expected something like this, as have many and yet it is a shock.  I feel the death of an age in this day.

Thinking on the recent events of destruction, when first I heard of it, my feelings were mixed.  What was destroyed of buildings and planes was  foreign to me.  I would not have built any of the structures involved, neither buildings or planes, and do not mourn their loss.  They were only a waste of resources, sources of pollution, from my perspective, and I am glad they are gone from that perspective.  A society with desires to live in harmony with nature and each other would have no need for them.  They were built on foundations of pride and greed and fear, with no concern for sustainability.  It is no surprise to me that such foundations do not hold up.

On the other hand, I am sorry about the people killed and hurt,  for they did not get a chance to hear the message I have and decide if it were true, and that the life they led in these structures was not based what was good for other people and nature.  If they had heard and rejected that message, I would have had to say that they were the walking dead, committed to their shaky foundations, and I could not feel too much sorrow.  Those who willingly reject truth, must deal with the consequences, and the common consequence is to die.  If only one of the many who died would have followed objective truth, I am grieved by this loss.

Yet I have no way to know who would have heard and who would not.  In the present situation, anyone can find themselves doing things that they don’t agree with at a deep level, and feel trapped, unable to go and do anything better, not seeing better paths, confused about what is true.  I would open the doors in speaking the truth, and let people come together and do better, in the strength of each other, in the strength of truth.  Then let reality test which foundations have strength, and let come what may.

Abstract of Principles, a Sustainable Foundation for Society.

1.  People are interdependent to the point that we die without each other.  We all have the naked body to test this observation.

2.  Since we must have a society, that society should be efficient and sustainable.  There are two basic patterns of society, that of fixed hierarchy, and that of partnership. Usually these patterns are combined to some degree.  The latter can be shown to be inherently more efficient than the former.  Voluntary behavior is more efficient than coerced behavior, and one person will seldom always be in charge without coercion.  Reason for voluntary behavior is shifting mastery of issues, one person is master of this issue, another person is master of a different issue.  Limited competition can set acceptance of mastery of different issues.

3. Efficiency should be measured in terms of energy, not money.  Using money mixes units of measure, since money is always measuring energy issues.  We pay for food, fuel, clothes, shelter, all energy issues, either directly or indirectly.  Money is also a flawed measure in that it measures scarcity, but encourages waste and discourages conservation by labeling abundant resources as cheap, and accumulates in ways that energy doesn´t.  Money also makes people into pseudo independent agents, and this makes society inefficient.  In a monetary society, those with the most money become masters even if they are not qualified in other respects, this is often very inefficient, and cannot be expected to be sustainable.

4. Sustainability should be measured by balance of resources.  People should not use resources faster than they renew, whether it is oil, soil, trees, etc. nor should they produce pollutants at greater than the rate at which pollutants break down.  Too much energy used taking resources tips the balance away from sustainability, i.e., resources are used faster than they renew.  Too little energy used will also not be sustainable, as people will not get enough to live on.

5.  As an interdependent species, reproduction of humans should not be the private decision of individuals or couples, but a consensus decision of society, based on collectively gathered information about the balance of resources.  It takes a village to raise a child, it should be a village decision about how many children are born.  When an organism overpopulates, the most efficient are favored for survival, and putting less energy into reproduction is one way to be more efficient at getting the more immediate necessities of living.  We see this in animal populations, where predators put much less energy into reproduction than do prey animals, the eagle has one chick a season, the chicken may hatch out twenty.  The lion may have a litter of cubs, but very few survive, the lioness doesn´t put enough energy into caring for them and most of them die.

6. Ignoring or being unaware of basic principles can bring weakness, instability, confusion, and death.  Survival in humans is of the fittest society, as no individual human or couple is fit to survive.  People have instincts that often instruct actions different from reason, but instinct is blind to changed conditions, and can cause extinction of species that cannot adapt.  A partial list of the instincts that cause us trouble:

7. People have instincts of a warm-blooded creature, to take more than is needed at the moment, and store it as fat or extra resources for the future.

People have predatory instinct, to not give up, they are often persistent about goals, whether the goal is rational or not.

People have instincts for deception, for lies.  Stalking an animal, setting traps, are exercises in deceptive behavior that has a very long successful history.  When people start acting as independent agents, such deceptive behavior comes very quickly to bear on each other and can be very bad for society.

People have instincts for status, to be in charge.  When combined with instincts for deception and predatory instinct and the desire to please everyone, this can cause great difficulty.

People have instincts for reproductive privacy, as well as generally strong reproductive instincts.  The instinct for privacy makes people reluctant to make objective  public decisions about population.

People instinctively practice eugenics, they look for the smartest and healthiest people they can attract, to have children with.  There is no trouble with this instinct, but in a society based on pseudo independence, individuals often do not have the ability to be objective about practicing eugenics in other areas, on how the sick and/or old are treated, and this causes large amounts of confusion and waste of resources.

People have instincts for energy efficiency, this can cause trouble when people work as independent agents, what is energy efficient for the individual doing as little as possible for the greatest return- may cause inefficiencies for society, as well as ignoring the balance of nature.

Related to this, we have instincts for technology, we are naked, and relatively slow and weak.  Technology gives us the ability to cope.  But it is often accepted too readily, without concern for sustainability or for the actual amount of work being saved by society.

People have instincts for their interdependence, too.  Stage fright is a good example.  Most people are terrified to be judged by a group of people, there is instinctive awareness of the power groups have over the individual, and the absolute need to be accepted somewhere.  People will often, ìgo with the group”, and not stand up for things that the group is ignoring.  Leaving the group is a terrifying prospect, banishment has always been functionally a death sentence.  Joining a new group, with new values, goes into the unknown, unknowns are very frightening to all organisms. If we can see ahead with logic, conquer the instinctive fears and attractions also driving us,  we will be able to leave present circumstances and form a new society, with new measures, new values.  It’s foundation will be solid.

If we do not use money, we must have other methods of measure.  We can measure in terms of energy efficiency for our actions, for the good of all of society, and we measure the sustainability of those actions.  Within the limits of these things, we freely give and take resources, with human society acting as a single body acts.  Evolution long ago chose this as the most efficient way for different parts to come together and cooperate, it will be chosen again.

 Write me Arthur Noll

Or read more at the link below.

https://synearth.net/trust-2015/Harmony.html