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Social evolution


special j

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Yesterday, as i was sitting back, unwinding after a long day, i was burning bowls and listening to music when my mind strayed into the sad and evil place nations are entering into politically these days. A place where apathetic people allow virtual tyrants and tycoons to run their lives without a second thought. After a couple minutes i came to the conclusion that capitalistic democracy, like all political systems, is doomed to fail. The fact is, when you break it down, democracy is not about the greater good of the people, it's about politicians' enthusiastic motivation to compromise in order to earn the votes of the electorate. This, unto it self, isn't necessarily a bad thing since ideally these votes would belong singularly to the people and thus provide motivation to do good by the people, but coupled with capitalism's fostering of special interests and a society that pathologically assigns slothful and lazy ideals to children, institutionally, as something to strive towards -- the system is doomed to fail.

 

We are a species who have evolved socially through conflict and harshness over thousands upon thousands of years. In order to stir the human will, to entice strong emotional reactions producing wide spread activism and proactively there must be conflict, a spark to ignite the fire. The reins of a capitalistic democracy are not held this way though, they are held by the compensation, appealing to both the bank account and vanity, of political powers. In a fiscally and market driven society, where marketing and public relations are more important than content for the sale of a subject -- the corruption of the system was always inevitable. This in addition to a supreme social misunderstanding of nationalistic and tribal tendencies of Humanity seem to suggest only two conclusions.

 

Nations are fleeting. The tribal mentality of human beings are based on power in numbers, something we have evolved over several thousand years -- however we only have a inherent ability to assign this value to a localized group. National tribalism or nationalism is not a natural tendency for us. Nationalistic ideals are built into modern man through conditioning. Through education, marketing, celebratory days confronting us with a constant barrage of nationalistic propaganda allowing our growth towards the belief in the abstract ideals of nationalism. This method of land and economic control has been evolved in itself from man's first steps towards communal living.

 

The path we have taken as a spices as of now only seems to support two possible conclusions.

 

Self inhalation. With the proliferation of nationalistic ideals controlled by corrupt institutions it is merely a matter of time before conflict ensues and envelops all humanity. This isn't a pessimistic outlook but an application of Murphy's Law. In a time when global destruction can be assured by numerous nations of the world, all with different values and goals aimed at their self-interest, it is more than possible for humanity to self-destruct, and thus probable given the right conditions and time. The current mentality we live within is one of unreasonable reason. we have the ability to create weapons that we don't socially have the fortitude to control.

 

The there was communal unity for the greater good. There is another option open to humanity though -- evolution. We are a group terrifically adept at adaptation. Our ability to reason and grow beyond our limits are what have helped us become what we are today, and could conceivably help us further evolve given the right conditions and timeline. Even this though would involve conflict and struggle. As long as humanity is being driven by selfish ideals there will be no end to the danger we currently reside in. The necessity of peace is unity, and nations are themselves a barrier to global unity because of self interest. Nationalistic and tribal ideals must be cut away from our society to ensure our survival -- at which point humanity would be ushered into what would truly be an age of enli

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Special J, thats some profound stuff. I feel the same way. But I'm interested, do you have any alternative social structure that might overtake democratic capitilism? In any case, it has to be a sort of democracy of course. I believe public forums are going to be more popular as people become more educated and the world becomes "wired". Democratic capatilism has however brought many progression. However, it seem the speed at which this progress has come forth might and did caught us off guard. Human beings must learn that they aren't the supreme being and design of nature. We are a simple link in the big chain. Anyways, before I ramble on about nothing, I will continue this reply some other time, cuz I getting quite sleepy. But I want to hear more of what you guys think! Oh ya this site does blow your mind ;D.

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Hey man, good to see there is some interest in this issue. i don't know that i could even begin to adequately formulate a safe alternative to Capitalistic democracy really. I mean, there are a bunch of possibilities but all posses their own form of danger or potential for the abuse of power.

 

I cringe to say so, but Marxism would be one alternative. however, the obvious downfalls of a Marxist society have been magnified all to well by the corruption of communism. From the elimination of people's rights to worship their own gods (and their right to believe in their superiority/inferiority) to the denial of one's ability to progress beyond one's peers... there are non-tyranical issues of Marxism, or at least by-products of Marxism, that don't fit well with a united world.

 

One idea that might fly would be a city-state breakup of world nations.. i don't believe this could be accomplished without humanity first going through a catastrophic event and evolving past it. If, say there were a nuclear war, and nations were to fall -- this would be the obvious progression. Sure to instigate further warfare, the eventual emergence of society, from what would essentially be a new Dark Age, could bring on a new era of enlightenment and the unity of humanity.. or what is left of it.

 

Perhaps a unifying occurrence? The impact of a space-object maybe (well, we may have a few hundred thousand years to wait for that one..)? Catastrophic seismic or environmental activity? When the oceans rise, or continue to rise in the next decade, we could be facing famine never before seen by man. Perhaps a shedding of a third of our population would be enough to light that evolutionary fire? grim, but truth. Whatever it is that changes us, unites us, it's gonna have to be epic. Where we are now is in a purgatory of ignorance yet our hand rests on Jah's sword like we have the fortitude to wield it (my apologies for the religious overtone, heh). a computer glitch away from self annihilation isn't the best place to reside -- not even with all the free porn and cheap fast food you can shake a stick at.

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You should check out my post intitled "Can the world change." It pretty much speaks the same stuff. I guess I should of replied it here. But it's sorta of different. In anycase, do we trully need a catastrophy to cause the new renaissance? Would it even better our situation. I think not, for most acts of desperation do not fit in any relatively positive outcome. Or to put simply, desperate people don't save the world. Even though it is tempting to believe we can get slapped in the face and instantly realise the error in our ways. Just look at global warming. We have known about this for years and still goverments do not push the issue. Even if it wasn't caused by man or at least aided by man, who enjoys the smell or taste of gaseline fumes straight from the exhaust. I might seem hopeful, but I believe as the internet becomes more reacheable to all of the inhabitants of this tiny spec of blue, we will be able to achieve great things. Unless, some bright people get the idea to censor this enormous freedom. I will end this with a quote that always touches me: "Fear is the mind killer." - Cited from the book Dune by Frank Hebert. Lets not frighten ourselves away from a better tomorrow.

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it'd sure be nice to think we could avoid destroying ourselves before our enlightenment -- i just wouldn't bet on it myself. Not tryin to be a nay-sayer or anything my friend but i've been working on this "internet" you speak of since 95 and my faith in it isn't so hot. hah.. to say the least.

 

i agree, it's a great place for the exchange of ideas, but intellectuals rarely shape the path of our species. Decisions have always been left to warriors & schemers.. just need to glance at cnn to see that sad fact. That isn't great news for a world full of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons, terrorists & freedom fighters alike, leftist rebels who cut the hands from children for rocks, corrupt capitalist governments, police states and religious fundamentalists.. how well have the intellectuals of our time solved the Israel/Palestinian conflict that spreads throughout the world, or solved the tragedy of AIDs in Africa or the caging of men the world over for spiritual beliefs? anyway, just sayin, thanks for the replys and point of view -- i'll check that thread. peace.

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