Throughout history, there have been the warrior class rulers that lorded over their peasant farmers that tended their land. Kept in ignorance through lack of education and kept in servitude to serve their lord, peasants were basically slaves. Today, we are under the illusion that things have evolved beyond this scenario. But don't most people toil their lives away so that some wealthy land owner can enjoy the millions of dollars produced on the backs of his workers? The wealthy lord is seen as the conqueror that deserves his position in life. The wealthy boss is respected by his workers just as the feudal lord is respected and admired by the peasants he rules.
Today there is an illusion that you too can achieve a level of greatness but how much does that actually happen? How many people really advance to a higher station in life beyond the one in which they were born? Most people are born into the working class and that is where they stay. The quality of life has increased for the working class but the quality of life has also increased for the wealthy. The level of the working class is as far away from the wealthy as it has ever been, the scale has just been shifted and everyone has it better than it was.
Wednesday, October 01, 2003
Larger and larger political states are required to support the creation of larger and more advanced war machines. When spears ruled the battlefield, a relatively small infrastructure was needed to mass produce the weapons of war. More advanced weapons such as crossbows, chariots, catapults, and armor require a more advanced infrastructure to develop and mass produce.
Borders of nations expand until there is no more room for expansion either due to a natural boundary or another nation's boundary. If the other nation is drastically weaker as well as filled with valuable resources, it will be consumed by its neighbor. When nations achieve an extremely large size, it is not worth trying to conquer one another. In the animal world, intimidating threats serve as a deterrent for combat because even if you are clearly bigger and stronger the little guy still has sharp teeth and claws and might get lucky enough to severely wound you. With substantially sized and well resourced nations, it is to the point where even if you conquer them, you will be severely hurt by it and so it is not worth it.
Borders of nations expand until there is no more room for expansion either due to a natural boundary or another nation's boundary. If the other nation is drastically weaker as well as filled with valuable resources, it will be consumed by its neighbor. When nations achieve an extremely large size, it is not worth trying to conquer one another. In the animal world, intimidating threats serve as a deterrent for combat because even if you are clearly bigger and stronger the little guy still has sharp teeth and claws and might get lucky enough to severely wound you. With substantially sized and well resourced nations, it is to the point where even if you conquer them, you will be severely hurt by it and so it is not worth it.
Surviving through each and every day of your life used to be something that you had to worry about as a human. Some humans still have this worry today, but for those of us with computers and other modern luxuries, we pretty much take surviving into old age for granted.
Even today we can not survive without a group of other humans helping us out. A naked infant left in the wild won't survive. Some species on earth are born and never see their mothers again but we as humans survive by being in a group. Maintaining that group is critical to the survival of each member. Without elderly members to pass on a lifetimes worth of life-saving information, the young would die. For example, during a famine an elderly member can remember back to when they were just a child and point out a root that is not eaten by current members but is abundant and was what his/her tribe ate when they went through a similar famine. Without young members to hunt and gather food, the old would die.
As an aside, the reason elderly are no longer respected could be due to the ability of recording history in books. We no longer have to rely on the elderly to tell us what to do in a situation that we are unfamiliar with and which they already lived through. Elderly are no longer valuable resources since the information they contain is available in books. This is not entirely correct though, due to their longer existence the elderly have the potential to have learnt more and processed more data. This could give them a broader outlook and provide them with more informed opinions. It does not always turn out that way but the potential is there.
Without cooperation, the group would die. Due to the critical nature of maintaining the group, those humans that did not exhibit cohesive group dynamics ceased to exist. Natural selection produced humans that were successful in groups. Our behaviors and decisions reflect this group living. In teenagers for example, being part of a group is what drives their behavior. They base their self-worth on how they are valued by their group. They act in accordance with their group whether rational or not since it is about trying to conform as much as possible so that they are considered a successful member of the group.
Even today we can not survive without a group of other humans helping us out. A naked infant left in the wild won't survive. Some species on earth are born and never see their mothers again but we as humans survive by being in a group. Maintaining that group is critical to the survival of each member. Without elderly members to pass on a lifetimes worth of life-saving information, the young would die. For example, during a famine an elderly member can remember back to when they were just a child and point out a root that is not eaten by current members but is abundant and was what his/her tribe ate when they went through a similar famine. Without young members to hunt and gather food, the old would die.
As an aside, the reason elderly are no longer respected could be due to the ability of recording history in books. We no longer have to rely on the elderly to tell us what to do in a situation that we are unfamiliar with and which they already lived through. Elderly are no longer valuable resources since the information they contain is available in books. This is not entirely correct though, due to their longer existence the elderly have the potential to have learnt more and processed more data. This could give them a broader outlook and provide them with more informed opinions. It does not always turn out that way but the potential is there.
Without cooperation, the group would die. Due to the critical nature of maintaining the group, those humans that did not exhibit cohesive group dynamics ceased to exist. Natural selection produced humans that were successful in groups. Our behaviors and decisions reflect this group living. In teenagers for example, being part of a group is what drives their behavior. They base their self-worth on how they are valued by their group. They act in accordance with their group whether rational or not since it is about trying to conform as much as possible so that they are considered a successful member of the group.
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