The God of the Machine - Tranche 15

Posted by mshupe 1 year, 5 months ago to Government
10 comments | Share | Best of... | Flag

Chapter VII, Excerpt 1 of 1
The Noble Savage

It was a profound shock to discover that crime was rather less prevalent among savages than in a society with authoritarian government. The savages practiced most of the lay virtues: courage, hospitality, truthfulness, loyalty; true that they made war and were sometimes cruel, but Europeans made war and legalized torture. Being acquainted firsthand with the limitations of a primitive culture, men of intellect had no desire to revert to savagery in quest of a sentimental illusion.

If government did not prevent crime and enforce virtue, what did it do? Contract had become the prevailing relation, but the theory of status had not been explicitly repudiated by limitation of the scope of government. To talk of several ‘freedoms’ is to use the language of Europe. So, the whole course of history was repeated, run off again, before the eyes of Americans. Freedom was indivisible, a precondition. Since volition is a function of the individual, the individual has the precedent right.

The Noble Savage was a syllogism, a logical construction from the premises of the European theory of government. Secular authority resided in society, which was an entity; and men were born in subjection to it. This sounds so admirable that of late attempts have been made to reinstate unbreakable tenure, such as seniority in jobs (beginning with civil service), and government endowed “subsistence colonies.” These are accepted without recognition of the inevitable corollary; it is the return of serfdom.


Add Comment

FORMATTING HELP

All Comments Hide marked as read Mark all as read

  • Posted by j_IR1776wg 1 year, 5 months ago
    "These are accepted without recognition of the inevitable corollary; it is the return of serfdom."

    The desire of some for world domination probably began in the cave dwellings of our hunter-gatherer ancestors. It has taken them maybe 10,000 to 15,000 years, but now they stand at the precipice of the achievement viz. One Society, One Planet, One Government ruled by the Elite. “We are the ones we’ve been waiting for…” Barack Obama circa 2009 to an assembled group of elites. He echoed Attorney Johnnie Cochran’s “If not us, who? If not now. When?”
    They know how close they are to realizing their dream. The only impediment to success is the egomania of the ruling participants; Xi wants the One World to be Chinese, Putin-Russian, Biden-who knows?

    My only hope lies in the quote “If your belief conflicts with empirically confirmed knowledge, then you are not seeking meaning; you are delusional…” Sabine Hossenfelder Existential Physics. The hope that the delusions of the Elites will cause them to self-destruct and not destroy all life on Earth at the same time. Else wise, those, not Elite, who survive, will be the new serfs.
    Reply | Mark as read | Best of... | Permalink  
  • Comment hidden by post owner or admin, or due to low comment or member score. View Comment
  • Posted by 1 year, 5 months ago
    "Government endowed subsistence colonies." In the twenty years after this book was published are the urban plantations of LBJs Great Society programs. They have a lot in common with southern antebellum plantations - broken families, dilapidated housing, subsistence living, despair, violence.
    Reply | Mark as read | Best of... | Permalink  
    • Posted by j_IR1776wg 1 year, 5 months ago
      And yet, the will to dominate persists and the will to resist and change is absent.
      Jefferson's "Mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed." leads me to ask why do humans accept slavery as normal?
      Reply | Mark as read | Parent | Best of... | Permalink  
      • Comment hidden by post owner or admin, or due to low comment or member score. View Comment
      • Posted by 1 year, 5 months ago
        Yes, and I think it persists for two reasons. Those with the will to dominate, in Objectivist ethics, are second handers. Their self-esteem is borrowed from the weakness and subservience of those they dominate. Those willing to submit are also second handers, their self-esteem is derived from social acceptance in a culture of self-sacrifice. In both cases, the solution is also the enemy: independence.
        Reply | Mark as read | Parent | Best of... | Permalink  
  • Posted by VetteGuy 1 year, 5 months ago
    I suspect the "noble savages" were a lot more fearful than noble. Conforming to the norms of the group was essential.

    Since they typically did not have writing, they had no formal set of documented laws, therefore fewer things were considered "crimes". However, any minor infraction that pissed off the chief could result in death.
    Reply | Mark as read | Best of... | Permalink  
    • Comment hidden by post owner or admin, or due to low comment or member score. View Comment
    • Posted by 1 year, 5 months ago
      Yes, the "noble" moniker is contrived, and as mentioned in this excerpt, a nod to society (the tribe) as the primary unit of civilization.
      Reply | Mark as read | Parent | Best of... | Permalink  
  • Comment hidden by post owner or admin, or due to low comment or member score. View Comment
  • Posted by 1 year, 5 months ago
    To establish "society" as the primary and a concrete entity is to violate the law of identity. Of course, this is the Road to Serfdom.
    Reply | Mark as read | Best of... | Permalink  

FORMATTING HELP

  • Comment hidden. Undo