Climate Change, Tribalism and Human Evolution

On a geological time scale, the history of life on earth has recently been a struggle. But that struggle has driven the evolutionary process, that throws up ever more novel life forms. Currently it has thrown up us humans, which today dominate the planet.

Life first appeared in the oceans over 3.5 billion years ago, but didn’t change much for the next 2.8 billion years. Then the earth got very cold and turned into a snow ball and nearly all life was snuffed out. But this crisis forced evolutionary change and multi-cellular life forms started to appear on the sea bed.

On geological timescales, species go extinct all the time, but since the snow ball earth there have been five  large mass extinctions, when over 50% of species died out, and in the Permian Triassic extinction event, over 90% of species disappeared. Life, of course, bounced back after these events, but never the same as before. These shocks to the system, meant the cooking pot of life was tipped over, and when evolutionary processes had scooped up the mess on the floor, a new meal was served.

What do all these mass extinctions have in common? The answer is a rapidly changing environment caused by a rapidly changing climate. Whether is was global temperature rises due to volcano’s pumping out carbon dioxide or dramatic global cooling  because of an asteroid impact (or both at the same time), when the climate changes rapidly, species that are evolutionary adapted to their niche environment, can’t adapt fast enough to the new situation, and go extinct. Species who can migrate, are small or burrow to avoid the worst of the changes, may be lucky and pass through the event, but when the climate settles down to more stable conditions, the world they enter is radically different and they share it with new life forms.

Humans only became numerous after the climate changes of the last ice age when they developed irrigation and farming techniques that produced plentiful food and spare time to learn and develop other technologies. As a result we have our global communications, global transport systems and global trade networks. However, this rapid technological advance has not given us time to adapt our evolved human behaviour of small minded, selfish individualism and group tribalism, that leads to competition for status and frequent periods of warfare. Thus we find it almost impossible to act for the good of the entire species.

Today we have realised that we humans are the cause of another rapidly changing climate, that will lead to environmental problems similar to the mass extinctions of the geological past. To many this is almost unimaginable and incomprehensible, that collectively we are changing the entire planet, but when examined the facts are undeniable. Instead of volcano’s pumping out the CO2, it is our burning of fossil fuels that is the cause. Nobody likes to think of the implications, but the fossil record is clear, a rapidly changing climate, leads to many species going extinct. It is true life recovers when eventually the climate stabilises, but this takes  hundreds of thousands of years.

Exactly what is going to happen in the coming years is not precisely known, but the earths atmosphere, oceans and land are the same as they have always been and will react to change in exactly the same way as they did before. With our technology, the wealthy part of humanity is likely to survive, albeit in a vastly impoverished and degraded world that will never be as beautiful again. We will have blood on our hands forever more, and because we knew what we were doing and the likely consequences, we will not be able to plead innocence to the crime, which could have been averted.

To avoid this disaster of our own making, we need to act against our evolved nature and use our collective intelligence to act for the greater good of our species, which means for the greater good of all species. We need to rapidly switch from our current cheap, accessible and convenient fossil fuel energy sources to emissions free renewable energy sources, or we will change the planet for thousands of years to come. And to do this we needs to stop acting tribally  and start acting globally as one. How ever there is no chance of this if right wing nationalist strong men, who are only interested in their own status and the status of their country, become predominant.

To avoid the worst that man made climate change will entail, humanity needs to evolve, or it will have to deal with the next mass extinction, that risks our own food sources.  If it doesn't, evolutionary processes will be forced uncontrollably upon us. 

How to stop man made climate change

Executive Summary

1) Educate people of so they know the facts about man made climate change and the effects it will have on the future of the world.

2) Highlight the fact that man made climate change is made worse each time individuals cause the burning of fossil fuels or other materials. Therefore if every one stops burning stuff, especially fossil fuels, we become part of the solution.

3) Vote for Governments that will prioritize addressing the problem of man made climate change..

4) Price non CO2 emitting energy less than fossil fuel energy, so everyone switches because of their own self interest.

5) Introduce carbon taxes to subsidize the transition to low carbon economy,  

6) Start to build a global energy grid, so surplus wind and solar power can be moved to areas of darkness and calm.

7) Build nuclear power stations to back up wind and solar. 

8). Humans need to stop being tribal. To solve the man made climate change problem humans need to work together, as we all need to drastically reduce emissions at the same time, ie now. In order to survive we need to evolve and change our nature.

 

How to stop the endless cycle of wars

 Executive Summary.

1) Declare war a crime against humanity. War is a barbaric, in humane activity that only brings misery destruction and death. It always produces victims. There are no war crimes, war is a crime.

2) Brand all those that propose or start wars as political failures who cannot solve their problems by normal peaceful methods of respect, tolerance, negotiation and compromise.  

3) Promote democracy, free speech and an independent judiciary. This will allow the people and courts to kick out leaders who propose the use violence.

4) Promote equal rights for women and feminism. Men are far more violent than women, and women with power keep violent men in check. Women should shun violent men.

5) Promote atheism. If we stopped believing in a life after death, perhaps we will value all our lives on earth much more and stop killing. If we stopped believing in gods then perhaps we would accept that we are responsible for all the horrors of violence and stop.

6) Show the true horror of war. TV and social media should not be censored so all can see the truth of war, and demand it stops.

7) Stop glorifying war. We need to change our culture especially for our children, so violence is seen as something barbaric and shameful.

8) Recognise that violence is used by low status people as a short cut to gain status for themselves, their clans, country or religion. But in the long term violence is no solution to problems which can only really be solved by self improvement.

9) Acknowledge that use of violence always creates victims. People of violence conveniently ignore the misery, destruction, suffering and death they create.

10) Acknowledge a fundamental human right that an individual does not need to follow an order that causes the suffering of others.

11) Acknowledge that human beings are tribal in nature, but this is useless in today’s globalised world. If we loose our tribal habits and start thinking as members of a single global tribe, we might realise that we have only been fighting ourselves and there is no "other" to fight.

12) Acknowledge that we should not just do the easiest thing for ourselves but can and must choose to do the right thing for the good of everyone. Don't be a bystander - stand up to those who promote the use of violence against others.

13) We must learn to care and support each other, (with out exclusion) or humanity is destined to suffer violence and wars forever more.   

Why War?

When I was a teenager, someone punched me in the face. I was a bit surprised and shocked but I just stared back at him. This wasn't what my assailant expected. He just looked sheepish and didn’t know what to do, so I walked off as if nothing had happened. When I got home I burst out crying - my nose really hurt!

Violence in all its forms is fundamentally about status, whether it be national leaders wanting to maintain or raise a nations status, religious leaders promoting wars to maintain or increase the status of their beliefs or kids fighting in the streets to get them up the pecking order. The kid that punched me in the face wanted to show how big he was to his mates. Putin wants to demonstrate to everyone what a great leader he is and religious leaders want to gain status for their faith and get status in the kingdom of heaven for doing their gods work.

People use violence because they think they can benefit from it and win at  little cost to themselves. But there are alternative ways to gain status. These methods take longer and are much harder work but create a better world for everyone because there are no victims. However, when people think they can win a fight they get greedy and use violence as a short cut to gain status quickly. They may justify violence by saying that they are making the world a better place, but what they mean is they are making their world better, not everyone's world better. The suffering of victims is conveniently ignored.

Why is status so important? I think it is all due to our basic biological drive to reproduce - high status means better offspring. It all boils down to sex in the end. (Even those fighting religious wars enrich themselves and their families and often enslave and rape). But this is no excuse, as unlike other animals, we have a large frontal cortex which gives us the capacity to assess the future implications of  our actions. Also, we all have the freedom to choose our actions, if we make the effort to use our free will and don't just follow the herd. We all have the mental capacity to do the right thing, rather than the easiest thing*.

So I say violence is never justified, but is here to stay until humans learn it is no solution to problems, and just shows how incapable someone is at gaining status through self improvement, co operation, mutual respect, generosity and the ability to compromise. People also need to learn to stand up to power and not just do what their group leaders tell them. In the long run, history tell us time and and again that other strategies are much more successful than use of violence. Deep down, we all know war is morally wrong and that peace is better than war.

However, back when I was teenager, I managed to throw the school bully across the cloak room and my status increased no end!! If violence starts, a show of strength is justified to keep those who propose violence in check. 

(*For example in places such as Italy and Japan, population numbers are falling.Humans are demonstrating that they have the ability to exert conscious control over family size, which is counter to the evolutionary imperative to reproduce as frequently as possible, as animals do.)

Letter to the Russian Ambassador to the UK

 Dear Ambassador Kelin

 I have been using social media attempting to find answers to questions concerning Russia, but have so far failed to find anyone who could give coherent replies. Could you or someone you know be of any assistance? The questions are:-

1) If President Putin’s Russia is so great, why are so many leaving and migrants heading to Europe rather than Russia? I understand that even migration numbers from poor countries in central Asia are now falling.

2) How does bombing Ukrainians make them want to be part of Russia?

3) Since President Putin came to power over 20 years ago, how has Russia become a better place in which to live?

4) Why does President Putin fear people criticising him, when he is clearly doing such a great job? Surely the facts speak for themselves?

5) Why do Russians think war is better than peace?

6) Why are there so few women in the Russian Government?

7) What has happened to the Russian Military, a force that heroically defeated Nazi Germany, but now can only take a few rural villages at an extremely high cost?

8) Why does President Putin humiliatingly kowtow in submission to Xi Jinping and Kim long john?

9) Why do Russians stand by and do nothing, when the future of Russia is clearly to end up like North Korea - poor, isolated and backward, but with an extremely rich elite ruling class?

10) And finally, how are Russians ever going to face the world with dignity and pride ever again?

Do humans live in a world of delusion?

After eleven years of reliable service, my diesel car is on its last legs, so it's  off to the local dealers to see whats available. As fossil fuels are clearly wrecking the planet, my next car will be electric. 

One dealer was busy, and had no staff to help us. The other we visited was empty, with great staff, but it didn't open on a Sunday and all their cars where over priced. A 30 second search on the internet could save me 10% on their prices. With another leading EV manufacturer, I rang the number trying to find out the waiting time from order to delivery and got an automated machine, of which none of the options applied. 

So my impression is that one dealer is losing sales because he thinks he can sell cars with out staff, one hasn't realised he is competing with the internet, and the other thinks computers have all the answers. Are they all deluded, closing their eyes to the real world?

Currently in America, one half of the country will be voting for a very shady crook, who just speaks rubbish with no idea or regard for consequences. What are Americans thinking? Are they all totally deluded? Do they really think these people are fit to run their country?

Here in the UK, we continue to call ourselves "Great" Britain even though we continue to get poorer and rack up the national dept so we will soon be bankrupt. Who do we think we are fooling?

In Russia, Putin is repeating all the mistakes made by leaders of the past and using unrestrained violence for his own benefit. What do Russians do? Nothing. Can't they see that fighting a pointless war only achieves misery , destruction and death. Do they think war is better than peace? Are they all totally brainwashed by Putin's propaganda? Are they all totally deluded that Putin is making Russian great?

In China, the Ruling elite, the Chinese Communist Party, tells the people it is working to create the Socialist Utopia, whilst living in luxury generated by the profits of western capitalists exploiting underpaid Chinese  workers. Why do the Chinese do nothing?  Are they all ants that cannot think for themselves and see the reality? Are 1.4 billion Chinese really all deluded and believe they don't need to think as the CCP knows best and its working for their greater good?

In Israel / Palestine both sides think violence is the solution, whilst the evidence is plain for all to see' Why are they so blind?

And when it comes to man made climate change, the effects are clear and the urgency to act very apparent. The science makes it unavoidable what the future world will be like. Do the vast majority accept this and act in the best interests of humanity and all the other creatures in the world? No. Emissions keep rising. Once again people choose delusion over reality. 

I've called this blog "Make the world a better place" and try to write plainly and simply as to what the reality of human nature and the world is, and therefore help readers see the world as it is so they can make better decisions for the benefit of all. Can I, a nobody from Sheffield, change the world by posting short essays? Who do I think I am?  

Will my purchase of an electric car make the world a better place? I could live with out a car, but others rely on my driving so I will be buying one. But am I deluding myself? My single decision wont make a jot of difference to global emissions, 

But if everyone started to face up to reality, rather than delude themselves they can just sit back and do nothing or keep doing the same old thing, the effect would be massive and we will all be a lot better off.

Well, that's my delusion. but is it better or worse than yours?!!!

The Past is dead - face up to reality for a brighter future

 I’ve read a lot of history books, but whilst its been interesting to learn how people behaved and dealt with past problems, the study of history is of little practical use. Because the world today is not the world of yesterday, you cannot just keep doing the same thing, just because it may have worked in the past.

Putin, when interviewed by Tucker, gave a half hour history lecture to justify his invasion of Ukraine. It’s a shame that the Ukraine and Russia of the past no longer exist, and his use of history (however he  sees it) to make decisions today is fundamentally wrong. The world continually changes and these changes cannot be ignored in any decision making process. If you do, eventually reality will catch up with you and will force change upon you.

Xi Jinping and the Chinese Communist party also want to finish a war of  75 years ago and take over Taiwan, which was part  of China in the first half of the 20th Century. He ignores the fact this was now a long time ago and that today the people of Taiwan vote for continued independence. Again history is used and the reality of new circumstances are ignored to justify present policy.

Why can’t they just be honest? Putin and Xi want to take over these places, because they are democratic and therefore a direct threat to their personal wealth, status and power. If people who are culturally very similar to the people over whom they rule start enjoying the benefits of democracy and freedom, then Xi and Putin are highly likely to be pushed aside as new leaders, who will have more focus on the lives of their fellow countrymen,  get  a chance to govern and show what they can do.

This explains why Putin, who is basically a violent criminal gangster and Xi Jinping, who says his ambition is to finish the socialist utopian dream started by Mao, are getting on so well together. They both fear modern western ideology which can no  longer be defeated, or even challenged, intellectually by historic alternatives. Therefore their only option to maintain their personal positions is to use violence against their own people and war against the west.      

Time to choose your future - but please don't ignore the reality of today. Don't let history hold you back.

A Celebration

 My partner and I have just walked the Southern Upland Way, a path that crosses the boarder lands between Scotland and England, from coast to coast. Because of long ago wars and lawlessness, it cuts across some of the most unpopulated parts of the British Isles passing through dramatic hill country.
Being 215 miles long and requiring 8500m of ascent whilst carrying a pack of camping gear and food, I was not convinced we could manage it, when first suggested as a “holiday” by my partner.

But the real failure in life is not to try, and we have done a lot of walking in the past, so two and a half weeks ago we walked out of Port Patrick, heading for Cockburnspath with an outline of a plan and only thoughts of where to pitch the tent that night and how to obtain water.

Well, luck was on our side and the weather was cold and dry, rather than wet and windy. We had a great time walking the hills, sleeping under dark skies and waking with heavy frost on the tent. We learnt about the areas we past through and met some great people; isolated farmers, walkers from aboard, friendly locals and also the path ranger who works  hard to maintain the path.

The last few miles, the glory path just before completion, are always the best. We strolled the cliffs at dawn, just as the early morning sun set the sea on fire with a golden light and the fog clad the hills with a silvery mist all to the orchestra of waves and sea birds. It was great to be alive.

Some people, from less fortunate parts of the world, don’t understand why we do such things. When asking why westerners want to climb a mountain they ask “ what’s up there, what’s so fascinating ?”. Or when they discover we go on camping holidays, they think we are mad - to them camping is associated with poverty, homelessness and refugee camps.

Nearing the end, we met a farmer, who was polite but standoffish. Perhaps previous walkers had caused problems, but I sensed he just had no comprehension of why people keep tramping across his land. At first I couldn’t express why we do such things. It’s hard work, some of the time unpleasant, but as one of my friends says “What’s the point of doing easy things? There’s no challenge, no achievement”

On reflection I choose to do walks such as this because it is a celebration of being alive, of living simply and experiencing this wonderful world with minimal impact. (Not to mention getting away from all the **** in the news.)

My only wish is that every one in the world could also have the health, the wealth, the time, the support, the companionship, the peace and above all the freedom, to take what ever path they want to walk with minimal impact on others..  

Putin the Con Man

 Putin made a big speech the other day. When I heard what he was spouting on about, I laughed. Basically he was saying I'm Mr Big, I'm going to stay as Mr Big and if I can't be Mr Big, I'm going to end civilization. Its just like some pathetic school kid, who if he cant be the striker, is going to take his ball home and then no one can play.

Why does anyone fall for this comic performance from some jumped up bully who has run out of ideas and whose solution to everything is violence, followed by more violence?

Well he has reasons to be cheerful these days. He has killed off the political opposition, intimidated all Russian critics into silence, has just got a cash bale-out loan from China and his big pile of North Koran shells has worked wonders on the front line. This, together with Netanyahu using his tactics in Palestine and Americas obsessed with their own internal divisions, its all looking up for Putin and his Military Dictatorship.

However, I'm not concerned, as his constant talk of nuclear weapons shows how weak his position is. What it really means is that “my army can only advance like a snail, my navy is refusing to leave port and my air force keeps getting shot down, but I still have some old historic nukes left over from a previous era, so don’t even think about it”. At the end of the day, nukes are all he has. Its a pity that nukes are so destructive that he can’t use them, as it would mean the end of Russia, and Ukraine isn’t worth the end of Russia, not even for Putin.

So his power is ultimately based on myth, which relies on constant creation of fear, apathy of the majority and non stop projection of the illusion of power to instill a sense of impotence in individuals. If you can understand what he’s doing, that it’s all a psychological con trick, he has no power at all. You will then realize that he is the minority and people like you, are in fact, the overwhelming majority. 

Putin has chosen a path from which he cannot escape. His fate is already sealed. His strategy of fear will fall apart when his own people realise there is nothing to fear and absolutely nothing to respect. There is a much better option to his reign of terror. I give him  two years at the most. Arrested by his own Generals or strung up on a lamp post, when the people see through his con trick and loose their fear and realise they are the true power in Russia, they will bring the house down.    

PS if you want to lose your fear of Putin, just imagine him trousers down, sitting on the loo trying to pass a difficult stool. Whether he ends civilization if he fails, I will leave to your imagination.

Dictatorship to Democracy

 For most of human history, it has been the ruler with the greatest army that ruled. Relatively recently, the power of the few has progressively been weakened by increasing levels of democracy and freedom for the many. This has provided many benefits for more and more people and has proved very successful and popular, as evidenced by migration movements away from authoritarian countries towards democracies. 

However, democracies, whilst successful, need constant maintenance and vigilance if they are to be stable on the long term. There are still those who want to have it all and take over as sole ruler. History has shown time and time again, that freedom is not handed to you on a plate, it has to be fought for. If the general population is apathetic or afraid to act, it is very easy to turn a democracy into a dictatorship. But to do the opposite, to turn a dictatorship into a democracy, is extremely difficult. 

But not impossible. 

And should you be interested, download the book "From Dictatorship to Democracy" by Gene Sharp from the Albert Einstein Institution.

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/62b0eb7da51f3717911bb4e1/t/642f2c6a956bc34188310fbe/1680813163028/FDTD+%28English%29.pdf 

Post Scrip Oct 24. I've been reading of the importance of a well educated mid class majority to be present in order for a healthy democracy to thrive. If a country has a majority of poor people, the majority don't have the time, education or power to partake in politics, so a ruling elite dominates by controlling the wealth and laws. However a vibrant and large middle class, has the education, time, wealth and political clout to monitor and debate events and keep leaders in check if necessary. 

If you consider countries where democracy is waning, is all the wealth being concentrated into less and less people, and the mid class getting poorer.? How the wealth is distributed in a society is important, you don't want lots of poor people and neither do you want few extremely rich people.

Fourteen truths that humanity doesn't admit, but needs to face up to.

 1. We all have obligations as well as rights.

Our inalienable rights are well know, but because we live together with others, we cannot do what ever we please. Everything we do has consequences, whether it be how we behave, or what we consume, or what we say and these things effect others and so must be moderated to eliminate harm to others. And when I say others, I mean other humans, other living things, and all future living things. See “is it time for a declaration of human obligations?” below.

2 We usually do what is easiest for ourselves, not what is best for all.

When we vote we nearly always vote for what ever person or party will implement policy that will most benefit us, not others. Likewise, if we see or hear of people causing suffering on others, do we take action or just do nothing, making some excuse that nothing can be done and we are powerless to do anything? Do we not do what is easiest for ourselves, rather than doing what is morally right? Socrates said that with knowledge it would be impossible not to do the right thing, But he was wrong, we can delude ourselves, dismiss knowledge as fake, or pick and choose knowledge to justify what ever we want. In this way events such as the holocaust and holomodor continually occur. See “A History of the world in a single object” below
 
3. The vast majority of us are good natured, but we are all capable of evil or permitting evil to happen.

“There are no evil people, but there are evil acts“ This is the conclusion of prison psychologists who are attempting to understand and thus reduce future violence. If you read history, study the experiments and read of the world today, you will realise it is all about context, not inherent personality. Any ordinary person can cause suffering, or kill, it just requires the situation to give the reason to do it, or permit it to happen, especially when those suffering are not of our own social group and portrayed as others who are of less importance,  or not human at all, and so we fail to see another human who is just like us. See "The battle of Fridaythorpe" below .

4 We are 100% responsible for our own actions.

Human beings can think, and in any situation, can consider options as to how to act next. We can assess different actions and then choose what to do. But we have to think, rather than automatically react, or just do the same as others, and personally decide how we should act. We do have freewill, but we must choose to use it. Therefore we are all responsible for our actions as we are capable of deciding what to do. See “You have freewill, do you choose to use it?” below.

5.Belief in god and an afterlife is comforting but bad for us.

A by-product of our minds, (minds that gave us the adaptability to populate the many varied habitats of this earth), is our need to explain our creation, our purpose and our need to come to terms with the fact that in the future we will die. So to give us comfort we invent stories of all powerful gods and an everlasting life beyond death. However these mythical falsehoods are bad for us, as they absolve us of responsibility or make everyone’s lives on earth less important. Gods or God is in control and we are all going to heaven (or being reincarnated) so what happens when we are alive is not really our responsibility and  all secondary, to what will follow. If we ditched such thinking, and accepted there is no one but us and our lives  are wondrous but short, we might start valuing each other and start really treating each other with love, respect and compassion as most religions teach. See "Concerning religion" and "Atheist faith, hope and prayers" below.

6. We already live in paradise but are slowly destroying it.

We have evolved to live on planet earth, and it will be impossible to travel to another similar planet. The way we currently all want to live, is incompatible and unsustainable with the planet. If we keep doing what we are doing now, the world will just get hotter and hotter and hotter. Some people will survive, but most wont and we will transform this beautiful, rich and varied planet into something impoverished and harsh. Our current competitive tribal nature is not suited to preventing this happening and we must change, and change very fast. See "Impacts of Climate Change" and "Why the majority accept man made climate change, but do nothing about it" below.

7. We are extremely violent creatures.

Our historic past is one of constant violence. Our societies use violence to enforce rules. Violence drives innovation and determines which societies prosper. Our use of violence has made us a successful species - but will it in the future and is there a better way? Nuclear weapons means we now have the means to totally destroy ourselves and because of globalisation the planet is very much smaller. We are all interconnected and inter dependent on each other. Use of violence is no longer an option. See "Violence and how to reduce it" below.

8. We are tribal by nature.

Humans are social animals and evolved in groups. We cannot live on our own. But in our globalised interconnected, interdependent world we can no longer separate ourselves into competing groups and should all start to think that we all share a common humanity, The reality is, that there is the individual who is a member of the global social group. If we can lose our tribalism, we will lose competition between clans, nations, races, religions, genders, organisation. It opens the door of opportunity to a truly tolerant, sharing, supportive, cooperative, compassionate world that will be mutually beneficial for all. See "Now is the time to end tribalism" below.

9  We are still animals whose primary purpose is to eat and reproduce.

Because we are biological organisms, or more fundamentally, self sustaining chemical reactions, the point of our lives is to survive, reproduce, bring up our offspring, then die. Its written into our genes that our bodies and brains are just tools that the gut and genes use to replicate themselves and continue. In the human species the brain created by our genes, gives us a degree of intelligence, that means we have come to dominate all other species .(except a few virus’ that still kill us). However, that intelligence is now backfiring on us, as we compete selfishly to reproduce with the best genes we can. In this big global competition of display, status and power the world is being wrecked, but our genes don’t care. Will our intelligence anticipate the future and over ride our selfish genes? We will soon find out. See also "Human behaviour explained" below.

10 We are not as clever as we think we are.

We used to think we were the at the center of the universe and everything revolved around us. Some people think they are the center of the universe and the everything world should revolve around them. Others say the brain is the most complex structure in the universe but isn’t; the entire planet together with the biosphere in which all the brains survive far more complex. We are always getting things wrong, and we should never be as arrogant as to think we know and stop learning. The more we think we know, the more we realise what little we do know. We should always be open to new learning, new ways of thinking and always aware that we could be wrong and others know more than us. Perhaps it would be the first sign of intelligence, if we owned up to ourselves that we aren’t intelligent at all. See" The Mess the world is in and what to do about it" below.

11 Our Leaders are usually rich, selfish, paranoid, incompetent charlatans, and they think the vast majority of us are too. 

In the past, birth determined who were our leaders. Authoritarian states are lead by the most powerful or most ruthless. Democracy is lead by the most popular or most convincing. But in our increasingly complex world, how can one single person have all the answers? The notion of a single leader in which we delegate all decisions or have to accept as the most able to decide what is for the best, is absurd.  In today’s world we need teamwork, different people for different problems, not the best well meaning fool who thinks he can do a great job and promises the world. See "World leaders - do we need them?" below.

12 Women are more important than men.

Because they have babies, women are far more important than men. Which is why men have and do oppress them and frequently carry out acts of sexual violence against them. In the future when artificial sperm can be made, men will be redundant and the world will be far less violent. See "Women rule the world - they just don't realise it" below.

13 Democracy is not the default setting of societies.

Because of our frequent use of violence, it is usually the most ruthless who are the most powerful and lead a society. Democracy is an alternative that controls the most violent, by clearly demonstrating the will of the society  as to who it wants to lead and when it wants a change of leader. However in order to succeed this system needs some rules that all must obey. and those who break the rules and start to act selfishly in their own interest must be punished. This means vigilance and rule of law, or its back to tyranny. You have to fight for democracy. But democracy must not oppress minorities.  See "the direction of human history" below.

14 Our lives are short but amazing..

Time is the most precious thing we have. Because we all die, from the moment we are born our lives are getting shorter. None of us likes to think that one day we will no longer exist and,when we are young we think we have many years ahead of us, but each moment is unique and will never come again. Each moment we experience is a highly improbable event created from the infinite number of previous highly improbable events but your ability to experience them and memorise them will stop. A lot of people avoid the thought of their priceless lives ending by a made up belief in an after life, but if you don’t delude yourself and face up to your own demise, your life, and more importantly that of all other living things, becomes a priceless joyous miracle of existence.

Acceptance of life coming to a end, is not a tragic thought, it is a liberating joyous thought. Joyous, because it makes life a million times more precious and something not to be wasted. Don’t waste it doing useless or negative things, make the world a better place. See also "The truest thing that everyone knows" below.

 

Putin's Fantasy

 

Putin has created a world of delusion and fantasy which is totally detached from reality, but in which all Russians must believe. In this imagined world, his obsession with gaining total control over Ukraine, means that the west, who is against this idea, wants to destroy not just his ambition, but all of Russia, and to prove this, facts and truths are either ignored, distorted or presented out of context to maintain and up hold the delusion. However, the longer this goes on, the more and facts and truths arise, making it ever more difficult for the delusion to be  maintained. Eventually, there will be so much evidence against the delusion, that one day reality will come crashing down upon Putin.

One of the principal delusions of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is to de-nazisify Ukraine. After nearly two years of war, how many Nazis has he found? How many have been brought to trial? What evidence has been uncovered? I’ve seen nothing in the news, so in this respect, isn't his war a complete failure?

Another principal aim is to demilitarise Ukraine. So does Ukraine have smaller or larger armed forces now or before his illegal invasion? It looks to me that Ukraine is now totally committed to fighting Russian forces and completely militarised with ungraded western weapons. His erroneous strategy has completely back fired.

Putin is now calling his “special military operation”  a civil war between brothers - but Ukraine was an independent country before his invasion. His war is not Russians fighting Russians. And does he think that after the war, however it ends, Ukrainians will ever want to be Russian after all of his violence against them?

Putin has turned  Russia into a military dictatorship,  the only justification for which, is the existence of a formidable enemy that must be confronted. So America and its partners in Nato are portrayed as the enemy from which he, the hero, must protect the motherland. The fact that America and Europe are busy dealing with their own problems and didn’t really care what was going on in Russia until he used full military force against another country and thus became a potential threat to them, did they start thinking about Russia again. And after two years of the Ukraine war, aren't most in the west losing interest in the war?

Putin says America is a threat to Russia. So why is it dithering with its future payments to Ukraine? Isn’t this evidence that America doesn't really want confrontation with Russia?

Putin says he now wants peace in Ukraine, so why aren’t Russian diplomats flying around the world drumming up support for his peace plan? This is just a stalling tactic to woo others who sensibly want peace, especially with his Presidential show election coming up.

Putin says Russia is stronger now because of western sanctions, so why is food getting more expensive and spare parts for its cars and planes becoming  scarce. Also his army has taken a hammering and is full of  unmotivated under-trained reservists, his air force wont go near the front, his navy abandoned Crimea and the rest of Russia practically undefended.

Putin says Russians are free. But he takes away their passports to prevent them from traveling abroad and doesn’t allow any criticism of himself or the war, and doesn’t allow anyone to return home from the front. He is also preparing for a new mobilisation after his publicity stunt of an election. (this has been postponed for now by using criminals and North Koreans). 

Putin says the war is a tragedy - but it is one of his making and one he could stop tomorrow if he wanted. He is the tragedy.

Putin thinks that the west is decadent and will lose interest in Ukraine. Well we in the west don’t like war and have learnt that war only brings destruction, misery and death and is ultimately futile. But he is wrong to think that we wont fight for freedom and democracy if we have to. We also know that Russia is now suffering and the longer his pointless war goes on, ordinary Russians are learning that his war is ultimately futile too. Putin’s biggest delusion is that his war will keep him in power.

Putin thinks his military dictatorship is better than a free democracy and Russia fully supports him and loves him. So why does he have to control the internet, press, TV and all media outlets? Why is Russia slowly rotting at its core?

Putin wants to think that the attack on Crocus Hall, which is the same format as so many other Islamic State atrocities around the world, was carried out by Ukraine. This fits perfectly with his delusion. However the evidence is that it was carried out by Islamic State. The US warned of the high risk of an attack, but the US helping Russia doesn't fit with his delusion, and so the advice was ignored. Islamic State claimed responsibility and posted film evidence of the shootings, but Putin ignores this. The captured terrorists don't look Ukrainian, but as they were heading away from their homeland in the east, Putin tells every one in Russia that they were heading for Ukraine, where a route through the Russian front lines had been  prepared.  The fact is that this attack does not fit his delusion. The truth is, he is so obsessed with Ukraine that he has left Russia weakened to attacks from the east, a situation that his over stretched military and intelligence services will now have to deal with. 

Putin thinks that constantly reminding the west of his nuclear weapons will keep them out of the war, but no one takes this seriously. We know this would be using a sledge hammer to crack a nut, and would bring Nato into the war and even more pain for Russia.

But his greatest delusion, is to think that using violence is going to make him, Russia, and the world a better place. Violence will only lead to more violence.

What's the truest thing that Everyone knows?

 An algorithm asked me - what is the truest thing that everybody knows? Instantly I typed in “You are going to die”.

Now you may think I’ve got problems with my mental health, dwelling on morbid thoughts, but having been a rock climber who climbed with people who died pursuing their passion, and learnt that the ground is very hard, gravity works instantaneously  and I’m very soft, I accepted early in life that my mortality could easily be demonstrated at any  weekend. This acceptance made me a much better rock climber and I appreciated the beautiful and joyful things in life even more. My world was a shining, sparkling beautiful diamond back then, (but on reflection perhaps a crazy selfish one).

Rene Descartes, concluded that the only thing he could be sure of, was the fact that as he could think, he existed. There is also the old cliché that the only thing you can be sure of is “death and taxes“. So combining these you get:-

 “I’m alive, I have to conform to social group norms, and I will die“.

Well, you know about being alive, and I’ve written about social groups previously, so it’s time to write of death!

Back in the mists of time, someone in our prehistoric past, must have had the first human realisation that he or she would also end up dead, like that person who had just “hopped the twig” as my mum's bird metaphor calls dying. This must have been a traumatic, scary and a lonely moment - being the only one to have this new knowledge. It must have been upsetting for this person and those he or she told.

However, to overcome this horrid by- product of our developing intelligence, our ancestors by - passed the negativity and created the myth of the afterlife. There is no need to dwell on the awfulness and sadness of your and others demise, because you can pretend it isn‘t really the end, just a change into something else. What a comfort this must have been, and still is.

The problem is, with our enlightened, inquiring, scientifically trained minds we now know that the psychological trick of heaven is just a fiction. It’s just like Harry Potter, who at the wave of a wand, can solve any problem -  it's just made up, reality isn't like that. And once you know this, the trick no longer works. You can’t go back once you know how the trick's performed.

So, how do we get over the tragic fact that one day there will no longer be a you or I - Not even thoughts or memories - nothing?  Well you don’t get over it, you just have to accept it. It is tragic and sad, but it isn’t really anything to worry about. After all, It can’t be that bad - everyone does it! And as Cervantes says in Don Quixote, once your dead that’s the end of it, no more problems, no more concerns and (I would add) you are leaving the world for those that follow, rather than cluttering up the place using oxygen whilst not contributing. There is a bright side to death, as Monty Python would sing.

And Once you accept the fact that one day your body will run out of energy, and you die, I find it liberating and exhilarating. The fact that you and I are alive to experience the world is made much more amazing. We may only have a few years of existence - but what a phenomenal fact that is.

You and I think, therefore we are.

How wonderful is that? How precious is that?  Celebrate your life and help all others* to celebrate theirs too. 

(*Others I define as every one alive now and in the future, including animals - you help future others by not wrecking the planet)

The Batte of Fridaythorpe

 The great thing about going on a long distance walk, is that you meet new people and discover things for yourself, It gets you out of your small pond and into a different world of new experiences and stories.

One such story was encountered on The Yorkshire Wolds Way when we passed through the village of  Fridaythorpe. An information board near the duck pond told of a “battle” that occurred back in the 19th Century, a local punch up that has relevance today.  

The tale was, that back then, Fridaythorpe and another local village (the name of which I can’t recall) each had a well that provided each village with all their essential water. However, in one particularly hot summer, one of the other villages wells' dried up, so it was agreed that they could draw their water from Fridaythorp’s well, which appeared to have plenty of water.

As the hot summer continued, and the drought persisted, Fridaythorpe’s well started to get worryingly low. At a heated meeting the villager’s decided to withdraw the agreement with the other village in order to save the remaining water for themselves. Obviously the other village, who would be left with no water supply, weren’t very happy about this and demanded to be able to draw water as previously agreed. But the people of Fridaythorpe maintained their position and stated that the agreement was not permanent and entirely at their discretion.

Being without water is extremely serious, as you and your animals cannot live, so it’s no surprise that violence broke out and the two villages went to war and fought a pitch battle.  Luckily, it rained the next day.

It’s no surprise this story isn’t widely publicised, or on the village website. It’s not a great moment in local history to be proud of. But it does illustrate a side of human nature that’s very common - when people get rich relative to others, they become less generous, not more. Why share with “others” when your doing fine, particularly when things are getting serious? Deep down, humans are tribal beings and  put themselves and their clan first.

In his book Metazoa, Peter Godfrey-Smith writes, “Often in evolution, an animal will be set up in a particular way for one set of circumstances, and then may find itself in a very different setting. When this happens, you will find yourself with a way of being, a way of relating to things, that is inherited from the earlier context. This might bring advantages or problems. Things will present themselves in a particular way and particular roads will be open - or relatively open- while others are not”.

Well, in our increasingly globalised world, that is changing rapidly because of the internet, global travel/trade and man made climate change, we are finding our selves in a very different setting to that encountered by our predecessors. The roads ahead are all new.

But let’s not choose a road similar to the one taken by the villagers of Fridaythorpe, back in the 19th Century.

Update Aug 24. In his excellent book "Why War?" Richard Overy highlights that changes to the environment have historically been triggers for violence and the Fridaythorpe battle would fall in to this category. However,  he makes the point that such violence is usually a local problem and highlights that today aid  would normally come from unaffected areas further afield or from national Governments, so predictions of violence due to man made climate change are currently overstated.

The impacts of Climate Change

 The impacts of man made climate change that I have read in respected newspapers, magazines, books and websites are:-

1. Increased rate of glacier retreat.

2. Less sea ice in antarctic and arctic.

3. Increased rate of melting of Green land ice cap and other land ice.

4. Sea level rise due to land ice melting and ocean expansion leading to increased coastal erosion and flooding.

5. Greater risk of ice melt water lakes bursting.

6.4% reduction in the strength of the North Atlantic Gulf Stream due to fresh water from the Greenland  ice cap altering salinity of the ocean.

7. A change in the tilt of the earths axis due to changes in the distribution of fresh water.

8. Greater evaporation from the oceans.

9. Increase in frequency of storms.

10.Increase in the intensity of storms ie windier weather.

11. Higher levels of precipitation ie more down pours.

12. Greater risk of flooding from storms.

13. Greater risk of man made dams being breached.

14. More frequent heat waves.

15. Hotter heat waves.

16. Increased desertification.

17. Acidification of oceans leading to coral reef collapse and shell fish extinctions.

18. Melting of permafrost, leading to rotting of peat, generating CO2 and methane.

19. Increased risk of peat ground fires.

20. Increased rates of under sea methyl hydrates melting.

21. Melting of permafrost and destablisation of building foundations.

22. Increased risk of landslide due to high rain fall.

23. Increased frequency of droughts.

24. Increased duration of droughts.

25. Increased risk of wild fires.

26. Increased soil erosion.

27. Greater risk of crop failure leading to famine especially in the tropics.

28. Damage to existing ecosystems.

29. Migration of warmth tolerant species to cooler climates.

30. Migration of topical diseases to cooler climates that are now warming.

31. Extinction of species that cannot migrate.

32. Mass migration of humans from areas that become too hot, stormy or flooded.

33. Increased mortality of humans due to heat stress, flooding, ecosystem collapse, wildfires, storms.

34. Large Economic expenditure adapting to man made climate change ie repairs to damaged infrastructure and buildings.

35. Large Economic expenditure preventing man made climate change.

36. Large Economic expenditure developing and implementing large scale climate mitigation projects.

37. Increased risk of war (and violence to migrants) as humanity fights over the land and resources that become more valuable in a hotter world.

38. Man made climate change has permanently changed the earth, hence the new geological period the Anthropocene.

39. Reduced mental health in humans particularly for young people (which is cured by coming to terms with the reality of man made climate change and taking positive action against it). 

40, Increased stratification of the oceans as surface water warms but mixes less.

41. Increased oxygen depletion in seas and oceans.

42. Cancellation of outdoor events such as music concerts, fairs and sporting events.

43 Increased insurance costs 

44. Ground water depletion.

45. Changes to food prices, most likely up. 

46. Increasing the number of air conditioning units from 1.6 billion units to 5 billion units in 2050 also increasing energy demands and HFC refrigerants which are green house gases.

47. The jet streams are being pushed further north in the northern hemisphere and further south in the southern hemisphere. 

48. Extreme El Nino events will have twice as frequently.

Happiness

 People want to be happy, but don’t seem to be able to understand what happiness is, let alone know how to achieve it. To tackle this problem, it should be recognised that there is more than one kind of happiness. Perhaps because we only have one word for it, we fail to acknowledge the fact that there is more than one way to achieve the state of being happy. The types of happiness I’ve experienced and witnessed are -

The happiness of innocence

This is the happiness of childhood in which we don’t have a care in the world and can play to our hearts content with friends sheltered from reality. Living is easy and knowledge of the big bad world is absent or lost. Adults can return to this state when they get drunk together, or experience music at a festival, or watch their team win at sport. The troubles of their lives and the world are temporarily forgotten at least until the next day, or for Children when they grow up and learn about reality and life’s problems.

The happiness of parenthood.

The joy of a mother and father at the birth of their children is often described as the happiest moment of their lives. This is something I’ve not experienced first hand, so I will have to take their word for it. Perhaps it’s a deep rooted biological emotion, programmed in to us to ensure the continuation of the species.

The happiness of delusion

An epitaph on a grave stone I came across  read “Always Cheerful”. More like “Completely deluded” I thought to myself.

 I don’t think it is normal to be always happy, as if we were always happy, how would we know we were happy? Happiness must be relative to how we were feeling at an earlier time. As children do we recognise that we are happy or do we later realise how happy we were? If our football team always won, how boring would that be? Aren’t we happier when our team unexpectedly beats a much better side, or we are about to achieve something every one said was impossible?

To experience happiness you have to experience sadness, and humans, at every moment of their lives, are on a  continuum spanning from very sad through to very happy . Being sad all the time is not healthy. Being happy all the time ie deluded, is just madness. Being in the middle is normal and nothing to worry about.

Social Happiness

Being social animals, we crave social acceptance and adulation. All of the above forms of happiness are magnified by sharing with other people, and the more the merrier. Having lots of friends, who act and think like you, means we have status, a support network and hence an easier life. The opposite, ie enemies, people telling you re wrong, and being a loner means you cannot achieve the happiness of innocence, parenthood or achievement. You can achieve the happiness of delusion, but it would be a false happiness, such as the happiness of a religious hermit, who thinks he only needs Gods love to be happy.  
 
The happiness of a worthwhile, recognised achievement

For me, the greatest happiness is experienced when you are about to achieve with your friends, a noble, near impossible, worthwhile goal that earns you status, adulation and respect from your social group.

I say “about” to achieve, because when you accomplish the goal, it always seems to be an anticlimax, and not as satisfying as when you and your friends first realise that you are going to achieve what you didn’t really know was achievable. The moment of success is quickly tainted by the daunting realisation and emptiness of “What next?”.    

This is why I choose to “Make the World a Better Place”. I will never achieve complete success, but small victories along the way, make me very happy.

List of Contents

 Oct 23    Sycamore Gap or Rosebank Oilfield - Which is the Greater Crime?
Oct 23     Israel Palestine - Why not support and care for each other?
Oct 23     What has the Holocaust, Holodomor and Genocides got to do with Climate Change?
Sep 23    I have a dream!
Sep 23    Ukraine - What next? (How to break the cycle of endless wars 2)
Aug 23   Violence and how to reduce it.
Aug 23   Chinese and Russian elites Wrongly think wars will keep them in power.
Jul 23     Why the Majority accept man made climate change, but take no action.
Jul 23     Burning Fossil Fuels is a crime against humanity
Jul 23     Less is More
Jun 23     A 1.5 degree Course Change?
Jun 23    The Use of the world is ultimately a personal matter
Jun 23     Human behaviour Explained
May 23   The History of the World in a Single object
Apr 23    You have Free Will - do you choose to use it?
Mar 23    Make the world a better place.
Mar 23    Migration (Review of The Fourth Time we Drowned by Sally Heydon)
Feb 23     Marketing Sustainability
Feb 23     Charity Shops and how to fill the existential void.
Feb 23     Life’s a joy, or it should, would, could be.
Feb 23     The Tyranny of the majority.
Feb 23     We Each support and serve each other.
Feb 23     Being Green shows you are caring, intelligent and love the world.
Feb 23     Has Human evolution run it’s course?
Feb 23     Freedom of Speech is not freedom to lie or freedom to cause harm.
Feb 23     Why you should never invite Socrates to your diner party.
Feb 23    Natural Selection trends towards an improved understanding of reality.
Feb 23    Rationality and the crisis in democracy.
Jan 23     Letter to Ukraine.
Jan 23     Effective Financial Investment.
Dec 22    Letter to the Russian Ambassador to the UK.
Nov 22    The Climate Crisis Challenge - Ban the Burn.
Nov 22    The Mess the world is in and What to do about it.
Oct 22     Women Rule the World - They just don’t realise it.
Sep 22     Letter to the Russian Ambassador - All War is Tragedy
Sep 22     Armour for a Real World Mission.
Sep 22     The Multiply Butterfly Effect.
Sep 22    Letter to the Chinese Ambassador to the UK
Sep 22     Know Yourself - the wisest words ever written?
Sep 22     How to prevent wars - defluffed
Sep 22     Hierarchy of Needs - Social acceptance is top, not self Actualisation.
Sep 22     How to prevent Wars
Aug 22    Freedom Loving democrats Take Heart!
Aug 22    How to Stop a Tyrant Part 2
Aug 22    Putin the Coward
July 22     Fossil Fuels are as bad as the Slave Trade
Jun 22     Neurodegenerative Diseases disprove the existence of a soul and afterlife.
Apr 22    Atheist faith hope and Prayers.
Apr 22    Civilization Collapse - Is Humanity Committing Suicide?
Mar 22    World Leaders - do we really need them?
Mar 22    Human Progress - Don’t make me Laugh!!
Mar 22    Mr Putin - its ok to be gay.
Mar 22     How do we break the cycle of endless wars?
Feb 22     The Direction of Human History.
Jan 22     Now is the Time to End Tribalism.
Oct 21    A Gift from Mr Putin
Oct 21    Why the West is Best and the evidence to prove it.
Oct 21    Letter to the Chinese Ambassador to the UK - Super Hero Xi.
Oct 21    Fear
Jul 21     Fun and high Jinks at the Chinese Communist Party’s Birthday Bash.
Apr 21   Concerning Religion
Mar 21   The importance of international Travel
Jan 21    Time for a Universal Declaration of Human Obligations

Sycamore Gap or Rosebank Oil field, Which is the Greater Crime?

 It may be because I‘m a Sheffielder, who has witnessed many of our street trees being felled, but I can’t get worked up about the felling of a single sycamore tree on Hadrian’s wall. Especially when it occurred a few days after the UK Government announced it would be opening up new oil and gas fields, loosening its commitment to phase out gas boilers and pushing back targets to stop selling petrol and diesel cars. In my eyes both acts are wrong, but one is criminal vandalism and the other is a crime against humanity.

The motives of the vandals is currently unknown, but if they were trying, by the sacrifice of a single tree, to open our eyes to show how blind we are, I have to congratulate them on a job well done. The tree, because it is so wonderfully photogenic,  is world famous, being framed in perfect symmetry between two sinuously curving hills. It’s unforgettable image is ideal for our tiny screens that we now use to experience the world. Its destruction has left a hole in our lives and generated an outpouring of emotion.

But are we so obsessed with our tiny screens, screens that only allow us to view the world through a business controlled keyhole, that we have become blind to the bigger picture and what is really important?

Can we not see that the felling of this single sycamore, is insignificant compared to the damage that will be caused by the extra carbon dioxide emitted because of our Governments recent policy announcements?.  The felling of this tree harmed no one, but more CO2 in the atmosphere will damage the planet and will lead to more human suffering. 

Just because policy announcements don’t make a stunning photo, can we not see who the real criminals are?

Israel Palestine - Why not support and care for each other

 The recent attack by Hamas is morally wrong, but the reaction of Israel is also morally wrong. Both sides must be condemned, as the only justification for the State of Israel comes from a story dating back to the Bronze age and Hamas should not kill other human beings in order to further its cause. Neither side makes any serious attempt to integrate or find a final solution, which is to support and care for each other.

The modern state of Israel was formed just after the second world war when us Brits became alarmed at the scale of migration of Jewish people flooding into Palestine, and tried to control the numbers. A short war followed, but the war weary British didn't see the point of fighting and so left. Both the British and Israel didn't considered the Palestinian people already living there. Many in the middle east see Hamas as fighting for their homeland, just like Ukraine, and yet the west backs Israel, thus losing all credibility in the eyes of half the world. It's tribalism at it's worst.

Attacking Gaza with overwhelming force will only breed more hate, more violence and more entrenched view points on both sides. Cutting off water, power and food is morally wrong. It's the same as Stalin did to Ukraine in the holodomor when his communist regime took their food away and 4 million starved. One evil crime does not justify another. The West should be attempting to get both sides to stop basing their policy on history, and should try to get acceptance that neither side is going anywhere, and make all sides focus on how to make a better future,  respectfully living together, whether that be in some form of a two state solution or sharing the land.  

The past cannot be changed, but we shouldn't let the past restrict our options for a better future. Israel should seek justice not revenge, and never forget they have a responsibility to the Palestinian people whose home they now occupy and should share.

As I have said before, -

All war is tragedy. War is a primitive, backward and a base activity that is promoted by people who are not thinking of a better future and follow out of date philosophies. Those who start wars are people who do not have the skills  to solve their problems by normal political means, ie respectful negotiation and compromise. They can only achieve their goals by conning others to commit violence with threats and lies and so are not fit to lead. War only spreads destruction, desolation, misery and pain. It is no solution to problems. Everyone has a selfless duty, not to hide from the horrors of our past, but to stand together against such cowards and fools. We should all unite to consign war to the history books, to keep war out of our present and humanity’s future.

What has the Holocaust, the Holodomor and Genocides got to do with man made Climate Change?

 After visiting Berlin a few years ago, I wanted to learn why the holocaust occurred, and if it was possible to prevent similar events ever happening again. After reading and thinking about this troubling subject, I learnt that the circumstances and mindset of it's perpetrators has been common throughout history, it is just that in modern times, we have the means to carry out slaughter on a massive scale.

Firstly, it must be accepted that people like the Nazi’s, Hutu militias or Stalinist's are not monsters. They did monstrous, evil acts, but they were perfectly rational human beings. When they faced trial, they behaved just like any other criminal would. Many didn’t think they had done anything wrong, and went to their deaths unrepentant. To simply call them monsters, is to deny their humanity, which makes the problem too easy for us to dismiss. We must accept they were humans, just like us, and try to understand why and how they carried out such evil acts. We have to accept, that if we had grown up in Germany, Russia or Rwanda just prior to the Holocaust, Holodomor or Rwandan Genocide, it is highly likely that we too would have also participated, or done nothing too stop, crimes, awful crimes, against humanity.

Not any easy truth to acknowledge, but once accepted, understanding can develop and then prevention.

So having accepted the horrific fact that normal human beings are  capable of great evil against others, why does it happen? Well the key word is “others”. Crimes against humanity are always carried out against others. And prior to the crimes occurring, these others will have been portrayed as “lesser others” - People who are of lower status, inferior, unimportant, or descendants of some perceived past crime, such as migration or stealers of wealth. If this portrayal is carried to such an extreme, those other human beings are seen as not equal, as animals, filth, coach roaches or sub human, or, if they hold different religious or political views, as wrong, or just simply, such as rainforest people, not considered at all.If this is the case, then any cruel and barbarous act against them can be portrayed as actually doing good, similar to an act of cleansing, or progress or improvement to the world. If this view is widely held in a society, then genocides can, and in the past, frequently have happened.

Especially, when those views are held by those in power. When this occurs, even if the general population does not hold these views, the elites, by passing laws and rewarding those who enforce and obey those laws, can control behaviour to such a high degree that individuals will not stand up and speak out against, what becomes, the perceived majority view. To do so will mean a long prison sentence, reprisals against loved ones or even execution. Few have the moral courage required, and the elites ensure those that do, cannot join and work together. The elites know that if dissenters get organised, they become more powerful and pose a threat to their privileged position. At the first sign of trouble, alternative views are crushed. And so the genocide, holocaust and holodomor is permitted by almost everyone.*

What’s this got to do with our current problem of man-made Climate Change? Well, I’m getting worried. I see parallels in how we are thinking about man-made climate change, and how genocides have occurred in the past.

Because, when it comes to the issue of global warming, the “others” this time includes billions of  “future others“, Those “others” cannot vote today because they are yet to be born. Their needs, wants and lives are not heard, are not equal, not considers and seen to be of less importance to our own, They can be easily dismissed and ignored. By radically altering the planet, will we not be harming them before they even exist?

Because, when it comes to the issue of burning fossil fuels, are we not committing genocide, not against other humans, but this time against other species, whose habitats are being destroyed? The world of the Emperor Penguins and the Polar Bear are being rendered, for them, uninhabitable. The vast majority of us know this, but do we do anything? Are we not just looking the other way, while the concentration camps are in full operation, pumping out their carbon dioxide rather than Zyklon B and carrying out unseen mass murder on an industrial scale ?

Because, when it comes to rising planetary temperatures, are we, especially in wealthy high emitting countries not treating the "others" who live in the tropics, as human beings whose lives, wants and desires are  unimportant compared to ours? Are we not treating them as un-equals, as lesser beings?

Thermometers don’t lie. And we shouldn’t lie to ourselves, we are all capable of evil acts.And the future may look back on the continued burning of fossil fuels, as the most evil act of them all. 

* There is now an excellent book called Bystander Society by Prof Mary Fulbrook on this process. This book together with Orwell's 1984 should be read by everyone.)

I have a dream!

 Our closest relatives, the Neanderthals, died out 40,000 years ago leaving us, Homo sapiens, to dominate the planet.  In his book on the subject, palaeoanthropologist Ludovic Slimak proposes that their demise was not because of failure to adapt to climate change, but because of homo sapiens superior weapons. What is implied, is that Homo sapiens killed off the Neanderthals, in the first incidence of genocide. 

In the Neolithic, when a settled farming lifestyle was becoming established, evidence is emerging (in  Europe) for many acts of whole communities being massacred with bodies being disposed of in mass  graves. (Schoneck - Kilianstadtan). Central Europe is being seen as a bit of a "blood bath" as Professor Alice Roberts puts it. Also when homo sapiens first entered the Americas and New Zealand,  species went extinct, so it is speculated that we killed them off in a frenzy of hunting.

Of course, these are only  theories based on very little evidence, so you can pick and choose your preferred version of reality, and no one can say you are wrong. But given humanity’s historic record of violence, tribalism and destruction, it certainly fits my low opinion of homo sapiens. (See “History of the world in a single object” below).

It is now generally accepted that we are in a new geological era, the Anthropocene*. This period started mid 20th Century, when humans started to irreversible change the planet and now there is no going back. We continue to harm ourselves and the planet through wars, pollution, tribalism, violence and selfishness and by using technology to vastly speed up and increase the effects of these bad habits, it appears that the future of Homo Sapiens is going to be worse, and probably much worse.

If you accept that, because of our superior weaponry, we raped and killed off the Neanderthals, (rape could explain the Neanderthal genes in our genome),  fought battles with the first farmers and killed off many species upon arrival in a new land, then it looks likely that from the very beginning, our success as a species is based on  genocide against other peoples, namely the Neanderthals,  It would appear that our fundamental nature  from deep prehistory, is shameful. People like Hitler, Stalin and Putin are just keeping up the tradition.

I’m sure you are aware of the many great challenges facing humanity, and if you have read some of my essays, you will know that I’m not convinced humanity is up to the job. Great change is coming and we need to change greatly. We need to learn from the past, face up to who we are, accept that our fundamental nature, which up till now, has turned humanity into a great success**.and move on to something better. You could say that because we need to change fundamentally, humanity needs to evolve.

So, having acknowledged the reality of a new geological era, why can‘t we recognise the emergence of a new species, a new split in the tree of life,, a new version of Homo. Isn’t it time for the emergence of  HOMO MUTUALARLIS, a new species that cares, co-operates, puts others first and rejects the violence, selfishness and tribalism of our less enlightened ancestors? Such a species, that recognises that their individual wants, desires and life, is of equal. or of less, importance than that of  others,  that   continually strives to make the world a better place, rather than worse, could then look forward to a compassionate, happier, and sustainable world. 

Well, that’s my dream, you probably think. But aren't there already examples of this fine new species out there in the field? We just need them to breed like rabbits!!!!!

*(up date - geologists who are more at home with timescales of millions of years have rejected this conceit, because the few thousand years of humanity will leave no significant trace in geologic record. But the idea has taken root in the public imagination)

**(if you regard accumulation of knowledge and domination of other species as a definition of success)

Ukraine - what next? (How to break the cycle of endless wars 2)

 The current state of the war in Ukraine is likely to result in stalemate. The Russian Army has dug in and Ukrainians are finding it extremely difficult to break through and push them out of their country. Each side is launching missile attacks that have little strategic value but look good in the news. Behind the scenes, Russia is increasing its military spending by 25%, and Zelensky is touring the West trying to keep the financial and military support for his country high. However, signs of Western resolve diminishing are appearing, as results have not been forthcoming on the battle field and no end is in sight.

Internationally, sanctions are starting to have some effect as the Rubal falls, but not enough to restrict the Russian war effort. China, whilst indirectly condemning the war by calling for peace, appears to be doing nothing that would reduce the conflict and is silent on Russian / North Korean military co operation,

So what next? What should be the next moves in the “Great Game” which brings death, misery and destruction to so many? How do we end this war?

What is certain, is that Putin will win next years Russian Presidential election, probably by 98%. Putin needs a large election victory to demonstrate to Russians, the world and himself that he has the total backing of the people and that every thing he does is popular, right and correct. And because the Russian people have been crushed into silence and inaction by Putin’s  anti dissent laws, we are unlikely to see an up rising on the streets in protest, even though everyone knows its a sham. The Russian people don’t have it in them to stand up to power, and will continue to trudge off to the front line, enslaved by their own leader.

So, Putin will remain in power and as he will never admit he's made a mistake, delude himself that he is protecting the mother land from those who want to destroy it (or more correctly destroy HIS ideology), he will continue to waste all of Russia’s resources, both material and human, on the war.

The West, who are happy for Ukraine to do it's dirty work, ie weaken Russia, will slowly accept that Ukraine survived the war, albeit as a smaller country, and accept that the war should enter a new low level cheaper phase with no movement along the front line, which will eventually become the new boarder (similar to Turkish boarder in Cyprus).

However with Putin remaining in power, and with Russian Military spending being increased it would be foolish to think that Putin will not attack again in the medium term. War is his excuse for remaining in power as it hides the total failure of his domestic policies. So the West must not let him grab the initiative and must make the next move. The Russian Army is on the back foot and it must not be allowed to regroup, reorganise and come back stronger.

Therefore, I say that, if Europe wants another 70 years of peace, as we have enjoyed since the second world war, Nato and all of the Western alliance must issue an ultimatum to Putin - Get out of Ukraine, Crimea and the Black Sea by the end of the year, or Ukraine will be treated as a full member of Nato and Nato Forces will enter the War. This should be backed up with increased military build up on the Nato / Ukrainian Border ready for Ukraines Permission to enter their country and take part in the war. Putin will no doubt bang on about nuclear weapons and try to scare everyone, say that it is impossible to meet these demands, but he is not stupid and neither are his Generals. He is not going to take on Nato, especially with his armed forces in a weakened state. He will not want Nato in Ukraine. (Putin keeps talking about nuclear weapons, because, with is army taking a hammering in Ukraine, the rest of Russia is virtually undefended and open to other threats).

This is what should happen to finish Putin, but it is unlikely to happen as Western leaders only think of the short term. They will dither and let Putin get strong again and so have to fight another war in say 3-5 years time. China may even get ideas, and start its own war.

And so the tragedy will continue, the opportunity to break the cycle of endless wars will be missed and humanity will be plagued by serious violence for at least another century. What a waste.
 

Violence and how to reduce it.

 The news and history books are full of violence. War in Ukraine, fighting in the Middle East, gun murders, stabbings and sexual violence are portrayed as the norm and it seems it has always been this way. Why are humans so violent towards each other, and if we understood why, could the knowledge be used to eliminate it? Certain writers (Pinker) have pointed out that in recent times the number of wars have been on the downturn, but the risk of this trend reversing and the unacceptable high levels of gun, knife and sexual crime mean human behaviour is not improving significantly. There is still much work to be done,  in order to make the world a better place.

To tackle this subject, it is necessary to recognise the various different forms of violence, whether it be at individual, societal or international level,  and then decide if there are non violent alternatives.

A) Violence as protection.

If some one threatens you or attacks your close friends and love ones, they will definitely be doing so because they think you are no threat to them. No one starts a fight thinking they will be the one who ends up being worse off. However, for you, the target of these threats and violence, there are three well know options open to you. 1) take  a beating (turn the other cheek) and hope it stops quickly, and seek justice later 2) Run away (flight response) or 3) use violence to stop violence ie fight back. Options 1) and 2) are non violent on your part, but are risky; as they leave the aggressor in a position to commit further violent acts. The aggressor may later reflect on their behaviour and realise they acted selfishly and apologise, but usually more violence will follow. Option 3, fighting back, will lead to less violence if you can beat the aggressor, but if you lose, you will have taken a beating for nothing and the aggressors violent tactics will be rewarded. And even if you do win, it will always be at a cost to yourself and the defeated are unlikely to revert to peaceful ways and will probably seek revenge much later.

Are there other non violent options? Of course there are. Firstly you could project an image of superior strength, so no aggressor ever thinks he can win, so peace ensues - but this is still peace by threat of violence so doesn’t really lead to a relaxed peaceful society.  The cold war is an example.

No, I would say the best non violent response to aggression is to get all your friends to stand with you and face down the aggressor. If someone picks on you, call on others to stand shoulder to shoulder and send the message that the aggressor will have to defeat many, if he wants to defeat you. This is the strategy used by kids getting the assistance of their big brother and also used by Nato concerning Ukraine. Standing with Ukraine gives them a chance against Putin, but if Nato truly backed Ukraine and committed all of Natos forces, then Putin would back down. This explains why he keeps use of  nuclear retaliation in the minds of everyone, as so far this keeps Nato out of the war.. 

B) Violence as Punishment

Humans live in societies, and to live successfully together, societies create rules and laws so individuals don’t make the society worse by acting in their own self interest at the detriment of others. And with rules, comes enforcement and punishment,  so that future bad behaviour is deterred. Historically, this punishment was  some form of violence, whether it was a parent hitting a child, getting paraded around the village as a shameful offender, being banished, mutilated or executed. Societies around the world used violence as an acceptable method of punishment for the good of the whole. Today punishment is less violent, as children are taught how to behave by reward, verbal  punishment and temporary banishment of smart phones or friends; and adults are fined or locked up in prison, but violence is still there in the background, as the ultimate threat.

Could humans live in a world with only non violent punishments? To a certain extent this has already happened but if a prisoner is violent to the guards, force will be met with reasonable force, which is deemed acceptable by the law. But in this situation both the prisoner and the guards are worse off, so violence is futile but happens anyway.

Perhaps if rules could be explained and understood as being fair and for the good of all, and that violence makes everyone worst off, perhaps then societies could ditch violence once and for all. But I suppose there will always be rules, laws and therefore law breakers and the need for punishment. The aim should be to keep these to low levels through a culture in which violence is not seen as acceptable or beneficial to anyone, and  an absolute last resort.

C) Violence as an outlet to frustration

When some one of higher status, such as your boss, does something you don’t like, you may feel powerless to do any thing about it. You will be frustrated and it is all too common to take out anger on someone of lower power who cannot strike back. Domestic violence is an inexcusable example. However,  recognising your  frustration, the unfairness of taking it out on innocent others  and not accepting you are totally powerless in any situation, results in non violent solutions. Bush and Blair invading Iraq after 9/11 is an international example of a violent response to frustration. They went to war with a non nuclear nation, when the organisation and people behind 9/11 were criminals, not a country. 

I suspect the mass shootings common in the USA are this form of violence. People of low status, empowered by easily available weapons, who think they have no options to improve their lives, take it out on innocent unarmed bystanders.

D) Violence as a means to increase social or national status (power)

Recent research (Harvard Study of Adult Development) into happiness has concluded that the happiest people have lots of friends,  which they call high Social Fitness. For example happy people are popular and have a high social status and therefore social power and also social support. As my previous essays describe, the reasons relate to life’s basic need to reproduce with some one else’s good genes in order to ensure successful offspring in future generations. If you are popular and have many friends, the choice of partners will be so much greater and better.

Most of us choose to work hard, be nice, helpful, entertaining and generous in order to get friends and increase our social status. However this takes time, effort, self sacrifice and personality that some people of low status do not possess, or just can’t  be bothered with. Instead they may choose to get violent as a short cut to leap up the social ladder.

Want to get rich quick - just threaten and steal and then share your ill gotten gains with your rapidly increasing circle of friends. The police will be after you but if you can get away with it, you can live like Royalty. it’s a short cut to increase social status and once you have established your self; your increased power means you can start ordering others about to do the dirty work. As long as the money keeps coming in and you keep being generous, your position will be maintained or enhanced. Of course you have to ignore the pain and suffering inflicted on victims, but why care about them when you are doing so well?

Putin’s war in Ukraine is fundamentally about maintaining or increasing his social status. Before the war he was losing popularity, but annexing Crimea was one of his popular successes - so why not annex all of Ukraine and boost his popularity even more. Unfortunately this has not proved successful and as he is now fighting a long war that he cant back out of or win, all he can do is put as best a spin on it as possible and show how popular he is with North Korea, China, India and some African States, who’s leaders also have popularity problems of their own. If citizens realised that wars only benefit the elites, who keep well away from the danger, whilst wasting  national wealth and people, perhaps they would stop following orders and only fight in matters concerning self protection.

Violence is also manifesting itself at an international level in an attempt to increase the respect and standing of one nation over another. China, that for past historical reasons wrongly has an ingrained inferiority complex, is toying with the idea of using war and aggression to gain the respect of the West and teach the world a lesson that their way of doing things is as good as, or superior to theirs. It’s a shame that they don’t understand, that what would really gain the respect and admiration of the west, is if they could develop a country, that has excellent health and education systems, a thriving sustainable green economy, fair, tolerant and respected law and order, free citizens and superior wise leadership. But instead, it is far easier to bomb and invade Taiwan or so many in China think. 

Wars fought over resources, such as Israel / Palestine wars over who has rights to occupy the land, fall into this category. After the second world war, Israelis kicked the British out of Palestine, when the Colonial Power became alarmed at the high number of Jewish people migrating into the area. War weary Britain didn't put up much of a fight and no one considered the views of the powerless Palestinian who already lived there. The violence has never stopped since, as one side sees a Bronze age story as evidence of their right to the land, and the other side says we are here now and always have been. Neither side forgets the history, nobody is talking and neither side works for a better integrated, respectful tolerant future.

To counter violence at an individual level, the culture of society especially for our young people must be one that abhors any form of violence against others. If a clear message is sent that using a knife or gun will cause suffering to others,  turn you into a target of violence, will not increase your social status and there are plenty of other non violent opportunities to progress in life, we will see less gun crime, knife crime and sexual crime etc. But this will require a complete change of mindset, from reducing violence in films, games, sport and music as well as education, celebrity endorsement, as well as youth development programmes  to bring about a change in culture.  

E) Violence as an alternative to tolerance and debate (failure of politics)

Everything you think, you believe to be true, because  you wouldn’t think it if you knew it to be false. Therefore it is easy to conclude that anyone who thinks differently to you is wrong, but because you can’t prove otherwise or can't back your ideas with indisputable evidence (or don't want to risk finding out you are wrong), you just punch them in the face to shut them up.

Other people of differing ideologies, faiths or beliefs, who to you are obviously wrong and therefore inferior, can be dismissed as stupid and sub human. You in your correct mindset are superior. Such warped thinking, taken to extremes, leads to violent oppression of minorities, wars of religion, holocausts and genocides. Beware when anyone who starts talking about others in a dehumanising, prejudiced, ignorant or biased way, it could be used as an excuse for violence against them at a later date.

If we could just accept that some questions have no right or wrong answer, and others think differently to you or I, we are all continually learning and violent intolerance just leads to more violence, perhaps humanity may be judged as making progress.

F) Psychopathic or Evil violence

Psychologists working with mass murderers, sex offenders and very violent people report that there is no such thing as an evil person. There are evil acts and if we are truthfully with ourselves, we are all capable of such acts. It all depends on context. I would shoot Putin if I had a chance and would justify this to myself as destroying a cancerous cell for the health of the body of humanity - but such an act would probably just start an international war or send Russia into chaos, so wouldn’t I be as evil as I see him? (Perhaps it should be the Russian people who deal with Putin.)

Forensic Psychologists, such as Rabecca Myer and Gwen Adshead, who endeavour to treat offenders to prevent more victims, have written books based on their experiences with violent serial killers and sex offenders, (of which I have only read reviews). However what I understand they write of is many normal people who have done terrible things. This form of violence is thankfully rare, but Myers and Adshead says that risk factors for  violence are, no where to live, substance abuse, child hood abuse, paranoid mental illness, no sense of purpose, depression, disorganised lives, fear, disillusionment, no self worth and no relationships, so perhaps its all about attempting to increasing social status, but by the wrong method. Fundamentally, they point out there is no gene for violence, therefore such behaviour could be drastically reduced given sufficient resources. But its quicker and easier to just lock them up rather than address the causes of the problems..  

G) Sexual Violence. 

To realise the enormity of the problem of sexual violence, principally rape, I would encourage everyone to read  Disgrace, Global Reflections on Sexual Violence by historian Joanna Bourke. This book gives an unbiased, non political and scholarly overview of the problem, and recent attempts to reduce it. The last chapter calls for a rape free world but (as all historian do) fails to develop the knowledge gained into a practical strategy for future action beyond calling for solidarity. Having just read the book, the following are my preliminary suggestions on how to reduce sexual violence, which at a fundamental level is the failure of one individual, to recognize  that the wants, desires and life of another individual, is of equal importance to their own.

a) Rape, whilst it does not end a life, destroys a life. Therefore legal systems should treat rape the same as murder. 

b) Boys and girls should grow up and be educated together, never separately. If they learn to live together as soon as they are born, the more chance of respect of the other sex, will be a life long trait. 

c) Male masturbation must be de-stigmatized and become culturally acceptable. Consensual Homosexuality gives males access to (and if measures are taken against sexual disease)  unlimited harmless sex. For heterosexual males, it is a cultural norm (I would say myth) that sex can only take place with a woman. However if masturbation is seen as an acceptable and equally pleasant alternative, this gives an outlet to the male sex drive and the basic genetic programme of the urgent need to reproduce. Such a culture change would eliminate the need for comfort women, prostitution and perhaps rape.

d) War, which reduces social behavioral constraints and hence lead to more sexual violence, must be consigned to the history books. 

e) Religions, with their in built assumption of male domination over women, must be tackled with humanism and atheism.

H) Delegated Violence or State approved violence

Here in the UK, the law says that use of "reasonable force" is acceptable to counteract violence.  However in other societies the definition of what is reasonable will be different. If those in power, give orders to those lower in the hierarchy, ie go arrest that trouble maker, or go fight that war, then they are not being violent themselves and those who obey the orders can think that they are not responsible for the violence, as they have the excuse that they are only following orders. History and the Miligram experiments the 1960's show how important the context of a situation is to the level of violence a person will carry out. 

Obeying authority is drummed into us from the first moment we are born. We are taught for good reason to obey our parents, as children know nothing of the dangers of the world. This trait stays with us into adulthood as society works best if everyone obeys the rules that make life easier for everyone. However because of this and the basic drive to be successful in our society, individuals rarely stand up to power when rules or those in power are bad and promote violence. And because those in power gain by delegating the violence, and reward those carrying out the violence, it is very difficult to change the culture.

To prevent this kind of violence, someone has to stand up and say this is wrong, followed by many joining until the majority overthrow those in power. I can highly recommend Bystander Society by Mary Fulbrook concerning what can result when people take the easiest personal path, and just look the other way, even when they know what is happening around them is wrong.

Conclusion
 

Human societies and international relations are based on violence and it appears that we cannot live with out at least the threat (and occasional use) of violence to enforce acceptable behaviour.

Could this change in the future? Is the abandonment of violence just a dream?

Well, the Banded Mongoose Research Project (please bear with me) studies how the social banded mongoose lives in groups that frequently fight battles with neighbouring groups in order to gain territory. They attempt to drive other groups to extinction by killing young female pups. “Humans and Banded Mongooses are among the most warlike animals on the planet” says Michael Cant the Project leader. This is all very interesting and makes for an entertaining read. However, what the article I read mentioned, but didn’t highlight, is that the Banded Mongoose is one of 25 species of mongoose in Africa and that most species of mongoose are solitary whereas the Banded Mongoose lives in colonies called bands. Therefore most other species survive by more peaceful means. Perhaps if the researchers studied those more peaceful species, rather than the war like species, we might realise that violence as a strategy has alternatives that can be equally, if not more successful. As Peter Kropotkin highlighted back in 1902, peaceful co operation, sharing and  mutual aid is very much a part of nature and a much more productive strategy, especially in a tough environment.

Other research in to violence in apes is highlighting the importance of females moderating male violence (kit Opie of University of Bristol). Primates, who live in groups where only females leave the group, where males form coalitions, males are dominant over females and males are exclusively responsible for defending the group, all trend towards increased levels of violence. So perhaps increased sex equality in human societies could lead to decreasing levels of violence.

An educational strategy is needed, and this is to get any potential aggressor to reflect on the long term implications of violent behaviour. If everyone considers what their future life will be like if they adopt a strategy of  violent behaviour, and by using examples from history  and personal experience to make them realise that violence only leads to more violence, which is to theirs and everyone's detriment,  perhaps we will see less.

So, I conclude that humans don‘t need to base their societies on violence. Violence is a learnt behaviour that can be unlearnt. It happens because some one or some group thinks they can benefit from its use, which in the long run is unlikely to be true.  There is an alternative way to live and (despite what is reported in the news and we encounter on the internet)  most of us have chosen that path of peace, it just needs the majority to convince the minority that it is so. Perhaps if Russia had a First Lady and the Chinese Government was 50/50 male female rather than 100% male and everyone shunned anyone gaining from using any form of violence, we might see a better world. 

If we recognised we are one global tribe of humanity, all living on the same planet, perhaps we would realise there is no "other" to fight, and through out history, we have only been harming our selves.