The God of the Machine - Tranche #11
Chapter V, Excerpt 1 of 2
Society of Status and Society of Contract
The vital functions of a living creature do not wait upon permission; and unless a person is already able to act on his own motion, he cannot obey a command. The logic of status ignores physical fact. In the Society of Status, nobody has any rights. The individual is not recognized; a man is defined by his relation to the group and is presumed to exist only by permission. The system of status is privilege and subjection.
In the Society of Contract man is born free and comes into his inheritance with maturity. By this concept all rights belong to the individual. Society consists of individuals in voluntary association. The rights of any person are limited only by the equal rights of another person. The axiom of the Declaration of Independence, that all men are endowed by their Creator with the inalienable right to life . . . was laid down for the first time as the political principle of a nation.
The Roman republic was remarkable for an almost equal apportionment of contract and status. Politically, it included more of the contract basis than any previous or contemporary state. In the empire, the administration of law by a central authority, and the prerogative ceded to the emperor, tended toward status. The citizen ceased to participate actively in political thought. Men do not quite understand what they have no part in making or doing.
Society of Status and Society of Contract
The vital functions of a living creature do not wait upon permission; and unless a person is already able to act on his own motion, he cannot obey a command. The logic of status ignores physical fact. In the Society of Status, nobody has any rights. The individual is not recognized; a man is defined by his relation to the group and is presumed to exist only by permission. The system of status is privilege and subjection.
In the Society of Contract man is born free and comes into his inheritance with maturity. By this concept all rights belong to the individual. Society consists of individuals in voluntary association. The rights of any person are limited only by the equal rights of another person. The axiom of the Declaration of Independence, that all men are endowed by their Creator with the inalienable right to life . . . was laid down for the first time as the political principle of a nation.
The Roman republic was remarkable for an almost equal apportionment of contract and status. Politically, it included more of the contract basis than any previous or contemporary state. In the empire, the administration of law by a central authority, and the prerogative ceded to the emperor, tended toward status. The citizen ceased to participate actively in political thought. Men do not quite understand what they have no part in making or doing.
Sadly, in our society, the individual's rights are getting trampled by mob mentality. (cancel culture, looting etc)