Trump is the product of the domination of Social Media

 Most people don't read newspapers or books anymore, they just look at the endlessly changing pictures and eye catching headlines that pop up on their "smart" phones. The problem is that you have no idea who posted these things or what their motivations are. 

With Musk's money, Trump paid people to put millions of posts directly onto peoples phones. They dominated the media with promises they can't keep and stories about the opposition with out any regard to reality or truth. And when that's all people see in front of them, (because they have stopped reading quality fact checked journalism) they start to believe it, as they aren't seeing anything else. Also if so many others think it's true, it must be correct. Following the herd, means you don't need to think for yourself.

Through out my life, what I read I believed. Newspapers had a brand that editors protected by not printing rubbish. The Television did likewise and books only got into print if the authors where scholars and the manuscripts checked for errors. 

Today, social media permits anyone to say anything and the world can read it, and because most people grew up trusting what they read, take it on face value, even if it is designed to mislead or confuse. We are in a transition period where it is now the readers responsibility to fact check the material we read, as no one is doing it for us anymore. This is inefficient but how it is.

Whilst I take full advantage of this social media freedom, posting on this blog and quora, I write trying to express everything I have learned clearly and sincerely. I keep re reading posts, checking if it is outdated or wrong or just poor writing that is available from far superior writers elsewhere. I have, to the best of my ability and knowledge, attempted to write quality material that I believe to be correct and worthwhile. I don't want to waste peoples valuable time. 

Thank you for reading.

Why the West is Best and the Evidence to Prove it

 

The leadership of China often says that their method of Government is superior to Western democracies and that ignorant people like me should shut up and stop criticising China’s way of doing things.

Well they may have a point, as I have never been to China, but based on the fact that all the people of the world I have met, seen or read about, have similar goals and drives in their lives, I assume that the Chinese people have similar ambitions ie to live their lives peacefully, strive for happiness, acceptance and wealth and continually improve their lives for the benefit of not only themselves but their family, friends and the society and environment they live in.   

So why do I not agree with and admire the Chinese authoritarian style of Government? Well it is because the method it uses is not aligned to the reality of basic human nature and to overcome this fundamental nature it needs to use force in order to get people to comply to its methods and goals.

Because  human genes are constantly shuffled and mutated at birth, every human being on the planet is biologically slightly different. Also, as each person grows up, what they experience and learn is also unique, No two people can live exactly the same lives at exactly the same place, time and circumstances. (Even one identical twin will leave the womb before the other and so have a very small circumstantial difference to its twin ). Therefore as each persons brain develops, the synapses connect in different ways and the memories and learning stored internally are uniquely personal and given different value and importance by the thought processes (Evolution of the Sensitive Soul. Ginsburg, Jablonka 2021).

It is because of these biological and neurological differences, that every single person will think in a different way, have a different personality, different skills, interests, values, motivations, creativity, and ideas on how they should live their lives and what’s best for the future. It’s what makes people so special and wonderful, we should celebrate and enjoy all the marvelous variety of humanity and its different cultures. “Vive le difference” as the French would say.

As everyone is unique and thinks in a slightly different way, any system of organising society, which aims to increase the happiness of the society it manages should acknowledge and accommodate human nature,  accept different ways of thinking and provide an outlet for these views and resulting behaviours. It should allow people to express themselves,  to  be heard, tolerated' It should then  debate and judge if their ideas are of any value. If these ideas are widely accepted they can be implemented sensible policy or rejected as folly. Obviously negative behaviours that affect other peoples happiness must be enforced by the law, but the law is a human construct and should also be discussed and changed as and when required by the society to which it is relevant.

In my society in the UK, freedom to think and express your own views is accepted, and after debating and deliberating, a consensus is eventually reached and this usually arrives at a good decision. Even if a bad decision is made this is highlighted ,challenged , reviewed and altered if necessary. Although to people in China this may look like chaos and disorder. everyone can have their say and so feels valued and a part of the whole. The differences of human personalities are acknowledged and accommodated as the unstoppable, changing world, increasing human knowledge and new technologies of humanity demands.

However in China, the expression and debate about different views only appears to take place out of sight at the highest level of Government, and very recently only seems to take place (if at all) by a very select few at the very top level . How these few can know everything that is best for the other 1.4 billion people is beyond me. Assuming they are just people and not all knowing gods (which seems a safe bet ) they will not have perfect knowledge, wisdom and predictive powers and so not all their decisions will be perfect or correct. Like every one else they will make mistakes and lessons will have to be learnt, as we often say in Britain. The current Chinese system of government is based on  fallacy, It assumes the leader(s) know best, will make the correct decisions and that people can’t and don’t think  differently and if they do are automatically wrong.   So as the Chinese system of Government dose not accommodate people being who they really are and goes against human nature the system has to be kept in place by constant surveillance, policing, imprisonment, and force. This method may bring order, harmony and peace, but does it bring happiness? The evidence suggests not.

As China has no free and fair elections,  the views of the Chinese people are unknown. However there is a way of judging what ordinary people think of how the Chinese Communist Party runs China, and these are the net migration figures. These are as follows (from macrotrends.net)

UK        1986 - 2021 always positive and currently +2.9 per 1000 ( i.e.  more arriving than leaving)
USA      1950 - 2021 always positive and currently +2.8 per 1000 ( i.e. .more arriving than leaving)
Russia   1975 - 2021 always positive and currently + 0.9 per 1000 (i.e.  more arriving than leaving).
China    1950 - 2021 always negative and currently -0.25 per 1000 (ie   more leaving than arriving).

Therefore, even with the recent Chinese (capitalist) economic boom, for the last 71 years more people have voted with their feet and decided that they would be happier out side of China than within it. If the Chinese way of doing things is so great, why are not people  flocking to your shores asking to live under the Chinese system? If  it is the best way to Govern why isn’t China's migration figures well into the positives numbers? From the statistics, it would appear that people would rather move to Russia than China!

I would suggest that the vast majority of Chinese people are good hard working people (all those I have met are), who, because of their Confucian culture of knowing your place in a society and being ruled by wise leaders, they keep their heads down and do not challenge the status quo for fear of their “heads being bashed against the iron wall“. The Chinese communist party takes advantage of this culture, and also China past history of massive tragic civil wars, as an excuse to rule using lies and extreme force whilst living a life of luxury, as has been done so many times in the past by other tyrants, dictators and despots.

If Mr Desmond Shum (Red Roulette 2021) is to believed, Xi Jinping is president not because he has been elected by the people or is a competent politician  but because he is the most ruthless, and he is using the Chinese State for his own benefit rather than for the good of the Chinese people. Well, I don’t know if this is exactly true and I sincerely hope it isn’t, but from what I see reported in the West, the Chinese leadership is trying to justify it’s position by talking tough and “Making China Great” as fundamentally they have no legitimacy. They are only sons of the original revolutionaries, (just like the European Medieval kings who claimed divine right to rule) and are using old 20th Century outdated ideology well into the 21st Century. No wonder they hate the internet so much and have seized on the pandemic as a way of shutting China off from the world.

How long can the Chinese Communist Party keep their system going? How long can they keep fighting against human nature, the modern world, the internet, global trade and travel? Well no one can know that but such a  system is ultimately doomed to failure, it’s just a question of how may millions of lives will be destroyed when it breaks down. However there is hope, Russia’s Communist System fell apart with few casualties, because the leadership controlling the guns faced up to the reality of the day. Hopefully China’s leaders  will act wisely too.

We each support and serve each other

 

 "We each support and serve each other". - Tolstoy

Is there any need to say more? Except to add that my definition of "other" includes all life on earth and those future others who have yet to come. We have a responsibility to them as well.

What History teaches us

 

What's the point of learning about history? Well it left me will a deep feeling of shame.

 I’m ashamed of being part of the human race that does terrible things to  each other. From what I’ve read of history it’s been one long horror show after another. One tribe fighting another, nations at war for centuries, raiding, slavery, murder, killings, bombings, torture, rape, destruction. Across all cultures and at all times. It’s appalling, disgusting even, but the reality is It’s what humans do, and it continues today. History teaches us that you and I have with in us the capacity to do or permit evil.. Especially when its done to "others" and it’s the easiest choice for us to make.

“What’s he talking about, explain yourself” I hear you demand. Well, It’s like those young tricksters that conned me out of ten euros in Berlin , I didn’t really believe they were collecting on behalf of the disabled, especially when they demanded double what I offered. I just wanted them to go away, I didn’t want to appear mean in front of my partner, I didn’t want any trouble, so I took the easiest path and gave them the money to get rid of them. However, were my actions  right?. Emboldened by their success with me, did they try even bigger scams, so others were conned as well?. Did they go on to  become drug dealers, people smugglers, organised crime bosses?. I hope not, but isn’t it a “reasonable worst case scenario”? Bad behaviours have to start somewhere and all because I didn’t tell them to clear off, or make a scene and attract the attention of a police man. It would have been personally more risky, but better for every one in the long run.

So is that how horrific events happen? Small crimes are permitted, which lead to larger ones and then to massive outrages and all because the perpetrators gain by their actions and others stand by with out taking action against them? Do leaders bark out their orders from their isolated palaces or parliaments, not seeing or understanding the harm it does or the misery it creates and no one stands up to them and tells them its wrong?. Once this process starts, I suspect  nobody can change course as it’s  easier to continue, rather than change.. Leaders don’t want to lose face or power by doing a U-turn, and advisers find it increasing more difficult to challenge authority.  Does it bring any one happiness? I suspect not. The elites and civil servants carry out the orders without question as they take the easiest path to protect their privileged position. Again the foot soldiers don’t take responsibility for their actions, they just execute the orders, because  its  the easiest path for them to rise in the ranks and gain wealth. . And the victims, the people who suffer, that are powerless to prevent their suffering, all they can do is take it with as much dignity and strength as they can muster and hope, hope that something will change.  But usually nothing changes because everyone just takes the easiest path for themselves, as ultimately we all just want a quiet, comfortable, hassle free life by the easiest means.   And so, unchallenged, the tragedy continues, as it is in parts of the world now and will continue into the future,  forever, for as long as there are human beings, unless we face up to the reality of who we really are, what we’ve  been doing and why this despicable  behavior has been continually happening.

I’m not trying to excuse my self or people who oppress or commit crimes, by dismissing it as human nature. I just think that to solve a problem you have to face up to the reality, recognise it for what it is, guilt free, admit the error and then work as hard as you can to solve it. For a start you shouldn’t call it history, the past, or the “troubles”,  as if its kids fighting at the end of the street. This is a whitewash, a cover up, Call it what it is - it’s a tragedy, it’s disgraceful, it’s absurd, but it’s our record, that can no longer be changed. But we all have the power to choose how we behave and we can change the future if we choose to do so.

It’s not as if  there is nothing humans can be proud of. We are a miracle. We are the result of 13 billion years  of  precisely tuned cosmological processes,of 3 billion years of evolution that has generated increasing complex forms of life as it was battered by geological events and astronomical accidents. We have bodies containing trillions of cells that all work together and enable us to reproduce, self repair,  do science, create music and art, love and enjoy this beautiful planet and each other.  For all we know, we could be the only (or first) complex life in the universe, let alone on this planet. Its fantastic, I can’t find a word that expresses my amazement at the story, so I‘m making one up Amazalogical. (Help, please come up with better one!)

Rubbish you shout, who is his guy? what does he know? He’s making it all up, is he mad? And quite rightly so.  I’m  reassured by that response. We shouldn’t accept  all that we're told or read  But the  question as to who I am is irrelevant. It doesn’t matter who I am, it’s the words and the ideas they convey that matter. So, sincerely I ask you, from the bottom of my heart, to consider these thoughts and not simply dismiss them.  Is there a grain of truth within them? I hope you will realise that if we understand how and why holocaust and wars happen, we have a chance to stop them once and for all. 

But only if we stop hoping for a better world and all choose to act together against the madness in the world. We can choose to do nothing, or we can choose to act. And by using the internet, I believe we  can all connect and shout across the Globe in one single voice “Enough is Enough, this is absurd, The tragedy has to stop. Now”  When the printing press was invented, the revolution of the enlightenment commenced. Radical ideas were recorded and spread, the world changed and generally for the better. Today we all have a printing press in our possession, unedited we can communicate what we think, and what we want the world to be like. So with this power at our finger tips don’t wait until an election so you can vote for promises that are never kept. I say send an email or letter or tweet or act however you wish to communicate, each day, now and again and again to every one and anyone. Tell Embassies, Government’s, MP’s or officials, or who ever is in power and can do some thing to bring about change. Deluge them , over whelm them with your shout of protest. Make them listen. Make them act differently. If the people demand it, they will have to take action.
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I believe that it is our obligation to act and if we do all act together, and demand our leaders stop violence against others it will work. Displays of power that are not accepted by the vast majority, soon leads to a climb down. If dictators suppress with violence, the way to defeat them is not by conflict but by everyone standing together in defiance and strength to face down their barbaric and selfish policies, and then their own violence will turn on themselves. Shutting down or controlling basic freedoms is what they do. but with a peaceful Global protest and resistance, they will end up destroying themselves.  That’s what oppressors fear the most, their own people on the streets, backed up by a Global protest. They can’t harm or ignore the one’s they pretend to be protecting, because they are really just protecting their own interests by the use of violence.


So I say its up to all of us, we the people, who share the same genes, the same planet and now the same cyber space. We the people can make this a better world. One with out war, oppression, massive arms budgets, better for every one including future generations and other living things. It won’t be the easiest path to take but it will be the right one in the long run. Then and only then, will the suffering of those people in the wagons, and those like them through the ages, not have been in vain. Even they in the long run, through their suffering and our betrayal, will have made the world a better place..

It worked against Apartheid. It will work again. The power is the People, if we don't bury our heads in the sand and be bystanders. 

PS since writing the above an excellent book has been written by Mary Fulbrooke called Bystander Society, which explains how and why the Holocaust happen.

Human Rights, Human Obligations

 

 Part 1 On the “Rights of Man” by Thomas Paine 1791

Just over 200 years ago Thomas Paine’s Rights of Man was published which sets out his views on governments, economics, revolutionary war, natural and civil rights. Upon reading this historic book one paragraph in particular leaped off the page and struck me as highly relevant, but troublesome, in this modern world.

He describes “Natural Rights as those which appertain to man in right of his existence. Of this kind are all the intellectual rights, or rights of the mind, and also all those rights of acting as an individual for his own comfort and happiness, which are not injurious to the natural rights of others”. Fine words indeed, which form the basis of many western constitutions, and they tell us we have a right from birth to be free, to do and think as we choose, as long as it causes no harm to others. But it’s that caveat  “no harm to others” that needs careful though and definition. Who exactly are “others”

Back in the 19th Century “others” was chosen to include only a select few, those of your own tribe, sex, power, wealth and creed. But slowly the definition has expanded. Women, those of different skin, the poor, the less able bodied, those in other countries and  those of different political views, religion or sexual orientation have all now been included by many legal systems around the world. However, with the environmental crisis plainly evident to all, shouldn’t the definition of others be expanded further to also include future others? What right have we to mess up this planet, in one big fossil fuel driven party, if it means future generations wont be able to enjoy it just as we have? With this updated definition of others, that includes future others, we currently have no right at all to drive a car, get on a plane, use our gas boilers, as all of these actions are changing the planet and will cause harm to people in the future by  continuing the process of climate change.  

Should “others” also include animals that also live on this planet? We share most of our genes with primates and If you trace back evolutionary processes all life originates from a single source and so are we not related to all life forms on earth and equally precious? Well nature is cruel and we have to eat something, but I would argue that animals have a right to exist as much as we do, if not as individuals, then at least as a species. We should not do harm to animals or plants and allow them to thrive along side us. We have no right to cause extinctions or wantonly destroy habitat.

You could also use the same argument for Governments to pursue sound economic policy. Governments can and are borrowing money as if there’s no tomorrow, only for others to suffer higher taxes in the future. Is this acceptable? I suppose it depends on what the money is spent on,  but due to my lack of  knowledge of economics, I will have to leave that issue to others.

Having said all this, I’m still not happy with Thomas Paine’s Natural rights. If we live our lives not causing harm to others, future others, animals or the planet is this enough? Well may be, but I think it should be the minimum. It still all seems a bit selfish to me. Couldn’t we do a lot better? Wouldn’t the world be a better place if we all pursued our own comfort and happiness, with out harming our newly defined others, but also acted to help all others to increase their comfort and happiness too? If we all acted in this way, wouldn’t this create a viscous, or more correctly, virtuous circle of ever increasing comfort and happiness for everyone?

We can never know the future, we can only choose how to act today. Perhaps if we
acknowledge that we have our Rights of Man, but we also have natural Obligations of Man. then human kind would progress much faster than it is at the moment, and we could leave behind old 20th century modes of thinking. If we all exercise our rights, but also help others and contribute to our global society for the good of all, perhaps then we can all act together to make this world a better place for everyone, now and in the future.


Part 2 Universal Declaration of Human Obligations

Before we go on, lets drop the out of date, sexist, term  “Man” and replace it with “Humans”.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was drafted after the Second world war and sets out the fundamental rights that all should enjoy. But what would a Universal Declaration of Human Obligations contain? Pay taxes and obey the law would be top of the list if Governments were drafting it. However there are unfair taxes and the law is written by those in power and may need to be challenged, so they don’t make it on to my list. Top of my list of obligations comes from the Natural Right namely the obligation to:-

1) Pursue your own personal comfort and happiness. If we have this natural right we should use it to full effect and benefit by making our own choices and not just following the herd. Happiness and contentment doesn’t come from doing what others tell, persuade or force us to do but by acting freely and working towards our own desired goals. After all ,if we haven’t achieved a reasonable level of comfort and happiness ourselves,  we wont be unable to assist others in their pursuit too.

2) Not to cause harm to others. As discussed above, others should include future others and other life on this planet.

3) Help others to also have a life of comfort and happiness too. Promote the virtuous circle of increasing happiness by not acting selfishly or greedily.

4) Not to waste resources including the resource of our own time on earth and our own body. Food, water, money, materials and time are all limited and of value and so should be used  thoughtfully to maximise over all comfort and happiness. I also include our own bodies and mind as a resource. We should keep them both fit and healthy, so we minimise our demands on healthcare services.

5) To volunteer our time, labour and resources for the good of animals and the planet which are not represented in our democracies. Animals don’t get to vote so they need us to represent and protect them in our societies.

6) To continually seek the truth and to question or correct all possible lies and false hoods.  Edward Heath said “never believe the first version of a breaking story“, it will usually be distorted by  those who are most disadvantaged by its likely effects. Socrates questioned everything, assuming he knew nothing. A bit extreme perhaps but I don’t think Trump would have got into power if people remembered these wise principles.

7) To continually endeavour to learn and self improve, help others to do the same and to always correct ignorance and prejudice in ourselves and others.

8) Endeavour to be creative and practical in thought and action. Never fear failure, or fear to take considered risks. Only then will the world improve and not stagnate.

9) Celebrate the differences of our peoples and cultures, but to always think globally.

10) To participate in democratic processes and debates. “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance”, so we must all be on guard against extremists and those who tell us that they know best. This is achieved by voting, joining political parties, protecting free speech and free press, debating issues of the day, particularly speaking out against injustice and corruption in society.
 
11) Always act in a way that makes the world a better place, for everyone now and in the future.

These are just my ideas. What would you include in your Universal Declaration of Human Obligations?

PS Since writing this essay I discovered that the United Nations and Unesco have already written their Declaration of Human Obligations and also a Declaration of Responsibilities of the Present Generation to future generations, although these have not been made legal in many countries. (Wales has).





 

It's time to end tribalism

 

 When I was a small boy, my father took me to see a few football matches at Selhurst Park, and ever since I have supported Crystal Palace football Club. I have never lived in or near south London and they are not a particularly successful club, so why I still follow them 45 years later is hard to explain, but to switch my allegiance to another club would be difficult and unnatural. Once you have stood in a crowd and cheered your team to victory, shared the highs and lows, lived success and failure with the fans and players for a season or two, bonds are formed that are hard to break.

Like all good Palace fans, I keep following them as they struggle on and, because it's what loyal Palace fans do, I dislike Brighton Football Club with a passion that equals my love of Palace. I have no idea why Palace fans loath Brighton so much and having lived in Brighton for three years I know that the people of Brighton are lovely kind people just the same as anywhere else. It’s just a learnt behaviour that comes from being a dedicated Palace supporter.

I’m not alone in this irrational football tribalism, as I recently met a man who, as evidenced by his broad Scotch accent, had lived in Scotland for many years. He is a keen supporter of Scottish independence, but still supported his childhood team - Sheffield United. There is also similar loyalty in other sports as demonstrated by John Majors gripe, that people coming to live in Britain from aboard, continue to support the cricket team from their original country, rather than England. the team of their new home.

This may be all harmless rivalry, but on a more serious level, my youth spent in Kent means I grew up in an atmosphere of prejudice against the French. Being just over the Channel, ie near, but  separate, and having (allegedly) not performed in the Second World War as well as they could have, being enemies in the Napoleonic wars and (unbelievably) not using soap as much as they should, moaning and demeaning the French  was common as I  grew up. Echoes of this behaviour continue to this day especially since Brexit. Having now grown up and taken several vacations to France, I see this as complete nonsense, but as a youth I knew no better, so I went along with it. Like road rage, if the other driver cant hear it, what’s the harm in having a rant about other people, it relieves a bit of stress and makes you feel better. The problem is the French are real people and as the world gets smaller and better connected, do hear what we say, just like the other driver when I forget I have my car window down..Such ignorant sentiments are also exploited by the right wing and nationalists which threaten us all.

Similarly, I was raised as an Anglican Christian, so there was an unspoken but ever present undercurrent that Catholics, Muslims, Jews etc where inferior as they didn’t worship as we did, and so were wrong in their beliefs. To acknowledge that they were just different, but equality valid in their religion and style of worship, would undermine our own world view as having the correct way to think and act or,  would undermine our own obviously higher importance and correct superior thinking. It was easier to avoid the complexity of the world and just assume others were simply wrong and ignorant. Now I’m an atheist, I hold the view that all of the religions are contemptible, and based on primitive, backward views  so although in this instance I have switched teams, have I personally developed into a better person or am I still stuck in a tribal rut?

It appears to me that it Is a universal human trait to always “adopt a them and us” attitude, to always divide ourselves into people like ourselves and other people we don’t know or interact with. Labeling and pigeon holing others makes it easy for us to avoid the complexities of the world and is probably deep rooted in our past history. When populations increased, land and resources became more valued and people started to  compete ie kill each other for gain rather than work together for increased overall gain. Ever since. we have been  forever dividing our selves up, maligning the others, promoting our tribe as superior so we can increase our own status and justify stealing, exploitation and  killing of other people. Or, in modern terminology, promoting  propaganda, spreading fake news, being nationalist, racist, sexist, anti Semitic, anti Muslim, homophobic etc etc so our group can get or stay in power. Slagging off the others makes you and people like you appear superior, it also allows you to scapegoat and blame others for your failings  and avoids the issue of saying how your group should address its own problems. Simply get rid of the others and all will be well. No wonder it is a favourite tactic of all politicians around the world. From Boris Johnson and Brexit, Nicola Surgeon and Scottish independence, Trump and MAGA, to Putin and Xi Jinping, tribalism explains a lot..

So is Tribalism, the dividing of peoples into groups, the root of many of the problems of today. Well if there are no national tribes, why go to war? If there are no ethnic tribes, why be racist? If there are no tribal religious sects, why hate other believers in God or Gods?  Acknowledging we are all part of one global humanity, and face similar problems such as poverty and wealth distribution, climate change, war, disease, water and food shortages, education, birth control, human and female rights, racism, sexism, biodiversity loss etc etc wouldn’t these problems start to drastically reduce? I hope you can agree that it would.

But is this all a dream? Is changing a basic human behaviour possible? Are be doomed to be for ever tribal, just looking after our own kind, those like us?

Well, when young children play, they play  happily together, whoever their parents are. It is only when  they get older and “learn”  from their “wiser(!)” elders  to differentiate themselves from others. that the divisions begin. Perhaps it starts when they sense fearful mums or hear negative talk of others, that the divisions set in or perhaps when they start at a different play group, church or school. It happens generation after generation as there is no reason for it to stop if the tribal group think remains separate from challenge. So I conclude that Tribalism is a learn behaviour and not fundamental to human nature. And If it is a learnt behaviour, it can be unlearnt or better still never taught at all.*

This does happen. I recall a TV documentary that investigated the poor relationship between some travellers and the residents of an unfriendly village who wanted them moved on. After showing the bad feelings both groups had against each other, the programme producers organised a meeting and sat individuals from both sides down for a cup of tea together. After a frosty start tensions eased and a more normal conversation developed and understanding of each others problems and worries ensued. By the end of the programme friendship, respect and tolerance started to emerge. Tribal barriers had been broken,   and they started to see the others as people with different life styles but similar problems and desires.

I also recall the tale of the vicar, who during the second world war, organised German prisoners of war to spend Christmas diner with  local families. This wonderful story resulted in many life time friendships developing between people who had been told to kill each other but by actually meeting realised the truth that they were no different from each other.  Tribalism unlearnt. It is possible if people meet and talk together.

On  a larger scale, the tribalism in Northern Ireland is slowly being unlearnt, but it is still a work in progress. Deep rooted divides are being eroded, but unfortunately have recently increased due to the tribalism of Brexit, and the need for borders, barriers and division to satisfy an idea that working alone is better than cooperating together. The Good Friday Agreement and Brexit are totally incompatible, but thankfully negotiations have developed a solution based on pragmatism rather than ideology. 

There is a lot of talk today that social media is promoting tribalism by detecting what you view online and sending you more of the same. This simple algorithm, which is designed to get more clicks and so earn the social media company more advertising revenue, results in you never seeing other peoples differing view points and thoughts. So it  promotes your initial views leading to a more polarised and extreme views. The Social media companies deny all this probably because, when they wrote the algorithms they didn’t know how political social media would become. Initially it was set up to keep in touch with your friends rather than tribe but the lack of  interaction with other ways of thinking leads to a distorted virtual world view of your own creation, rather than a truer picture of the world with all its differences variety and complexity. The result is that Tribalism in America has got so bad that there is only talk of  the fantasy to Making the tribe great again. However increasing the tribal barriers to trade, migrants, ignoring the law  and increasing military power will back fire todays world.
 
Theresa May once said that a citizen of the world is a citizen of no where. Whilst I admire her for her  endeavours to do an impossible job after the Brexit vote, I totally disagree with this statement. I say that a citizen of the world is a person of hope, one who has abandoned tribalism, has a global world view, that accepts people have different cultures, political views, religion and life style but that all people deserve respect, tolerance and understanding. A citizen of the world rejects the labeling of people as black, white, republican, democrat, Labour, Tory: etc etc and accepts they are people just like you and I, but with minor differences that in the big scheme of things are not as important as we like to think they are. A Citizen of the world embraces the variety and complexity of people and endeavours to care for all so the world is a better place for all.

So I say Down with Tribalism, Up with Humanitarianism.

That is, until kickoff. Come on you Eagles!!!!

*Psychologists experiments highlighted in Sapolsky's book Behave appear to indicate this is wrong and that Us/Them thinking is hard wired into our brains. This may be so, but is it hard wired who the "Thems" are? Why do we discriminate against people of a different skin colour and not hair colour, which is an equally striking visual characteristic? When humans evolved and started migrating from Africa we were all black, so if racism is hard wired, it can only be a very recent brain re-wiring which commenced when skin colour changed due to living in less sunny northern climes ie 40,000 years ago. And at what point in time did it become a frequent occurrence for white people to meet dark coloured people, so that all brains become hard wired by evolution? This frequent long range mixing requires transport technology ie domestic horses or ships, so only 6,000 years at a stretch.  I can accept that we are hard wired to be afraid and cautious of  other tribes, which clearly has evolutionary advantages, but it is a learnt behaviour, based on a geographic location, as to which tribes to avoid and which to co operate / trade with, which is equally advantageous. 

Update June 24 A book on this subject has now been published. Inheritance - The Evolutionary origin of the modern world by Oxford Professor of Anthropology Harvey Whitehouse. He says we all have a Tribal bias but should think of humanity as one tribe in order to solve our many problems ie base our Tribalism on the geographic location of the whole planet Earth rather than end tribalism. 

Lies and Free Speech

 I once told someone that honesty was always the best policy, unless you're guilty, then lie like hell!!! This was intended as a joke, but these days some seem to take it as a normal and acceptable strategy, but it isn't.

Lying is the act of speaking or promoting something that you know to be untrue. It is not the same as saying something you believe to be true, but is wrong. That is an error, that should be corrected and an apology made if discovered. But a lie is deceiving, consciously using a false hood to gain some advantage over another, and is a common tactic by many humans, because in the short term it unfortunately gets results, hence my joke having an unsettling ring of truth about it. However, in the long term it will back fire, make any situation worse, and damage the liar's reputation. 

I agree that the truth is sometimes hard to take, but in the long run, avoiding the truth gets you into further trouble, so even a little white lie is unacceptable. A true friend will break the truth gently. “Tanks for the cake, it was so good of you to think of us and spend the time making it, but did you realise you used salt instead of sugar?” is much better than "Thanks for the cake it was lovely" after you have thrown it in the bin. If you also gave a sample and the maker was confronted with reality, you could then have a good laugh about it. A white lie may have made the situation easy for you, as you wouldn't have had to skillfully used some tact and would have avoided the risk of mental discomfort and possibly losing a friend, but lying is a form laziness and cowardice, a sign that you, and that you think your generous friend, cannot face reality. 

Except in extreme circumstances (see below) there is never an excuse for lying. It may be initially easier for you and hard if it takes time for people to adjust to the truth, but avoiding the truth will back fire on you in the long run. ie you will be getting those uneatable cakes forever and you will be wasting a lot of the makers time and money. When you are discovered lying your status in the eyes of the discover will drop dramatically and they will start to doubt what you have said in the past and what you will say in the future. People don't forget liars.

When thinking about lies, it is is important to recognise if the context concerns the long or short term. Short term lies are common, hence politicians are prone to lying to get you to vote for them on election day, unscrupulous sales men lie just to get the sale, and cheats lie in order to get a tax return passed. In these situations there is judged to be no long term so anything goes. But there is always a long term, and when lies are discovered, voters turn away, sales fall and tax men look closer. Lying can work in the short term , which is why it is common,  but totally unnecessary and a sign of a weak character that lacks honesty and integrity.

There is a lot of talk at the moment about freedom of speech especially on social media. However, as I have written before, freedom of speech is not freedom to lie. Lying undermines trust, which leads to a disfunctional society.Trust ensures that when you hear or read something you can accept it as true straightaway, and don't have to find further information to double check, or even triple check. Like corruption, lying makes the smooth running of a society much harder which makes everything more expensive, time consuming and wasteful. Unrestricted lying on social media, will lead to nobody being able to believe anything that is posted, which will devalue those social media brands permitting it as people switch to more trustworthy brands, so permitting lying will back fire on those allowing it. Would you buy a newspaper in which half of articles were true and half not? A brand is a symbol of quality, and owners of those brands will lose business and profits if the brand image is seen as low quality.  I suggest that those promoting absolute free speech, probably want to lie to you.

The exception to the never lie rule is in the extreme circumstance when faced with evil. If someone asks you where a person they intend to murder is hiding, you should lie, in order to protect the potential victim. But facing evil is an extreme case, where it would be excusable to lie. However I still not comfortable with it. 

The perfect response would be to confront evil with the reality of its evil and trust it eventually backs down.But this could only be done with a total disregard of your own safety, which can only be a deeply personal choice.   

Humans prefer fantasy over reality

 Given a choice, do you watch drama or documentaries? Do you read fiction or non fiction? Would you prefer a film based on real life or one that tells a great story created in the writers imagination. Judging by viewing numbers, book sales and box office receipts, most prefer to spend time in the world of fantasy rather than reality.

Conspiracy theories are common on social media, and despite the attempts to control are impossible to stop. Posts telling us that Organisations and Governments have long running programmes to control us, Aliens have been visiting us for years, climate change is made up by scientists to get more research funds etc etc are frequent and unavoidable.  Why are these expressions of “free speech” so common and popular. Well, I think it’s because they are so much more interesting and easy to understand  than boring old reality, about which you have limited data and so little understanding. It sounds feasible and attractive that Governments are not made up of well meaning incompetent people struggling to improve  the world for the better, but cynical master planners, who in their secret elite privileged world control everything so you are enslaved to do what they want with out you even noticing. It's a fantastic story, but I don't think our leaders are that clever. And in posting this “truth“ the status of poster goes up, makes the reader feel very important (so important that the Government needs to control you) and the reader also gets a juicy story to pass on to others.

However, when it comes to making decisions, such as at elections, when we need to decide who is best to improve the reality of the world, the fact that the boring far from simple reality of the world is not promoted to anything like the same degree as the  fantasy, means many base their decisions on the fantasy and the biggest fantasist gets elected. Who will vote for someone who says "elect me, I will try something different than the last guy, but who knows if it will work?" which is what they should truthfully be saying.

“I can stop the war in 24 hours, I can solve the immigration problem, I can make every one rich, I can make your country great again, climate change is nothing to worry about, I can restore the Empire, We can create the socialist utopia” cry our fantasists and many are unthinkingly attracted.

If only it were true.

The reason for war isn’t that simple that it can be solved in a day, cutting immigration will not improve your life, everyone cannot be rich, no single person can make a country great or turn back the clock to a world that no longer exists, or make a dream of utopia a reality.

The reality that we don’t want to  face up to is that the world is harsh, boring, requires unbiased analysis and most problems cannot be solved, only managed. And keeping up with constant change is damn hard work. If you ignore reality, you might be alright for a while, but eventually, the divergence of your fantasy from the real world gets bigger and bigger, until the inevitable happens and reality comes crashing down upon you and leaves you with no other option than to accept your world view was wrong all along (or continue looking increasingly foolish)..

So my advice for a successful life is to base your decisions (as best as you are able) on reality. If you do you will have a great advantage over the fantasists. And don't listen to people who say the world is complex. It only appears complex when you do not understand or lack information that brings the understanding. If you understand a problem, the solution is obvious.

Generosity and Greed

It’s a new year and everyone looks forward to, and hopes for, a better year than the previous.

The trouble is, these days more and more think  “better“ means “better” just for themselves or their social group, and not better for everyone. The result is that the world gets worse, as people vote in their own self interest; leaders order others into battle and grab more power; court judges don’t stand up to the powerful; people chase more status. and we continue to wreck the planet with ever increasing CO2 emissions as we selfishly pursue “better“.

Greed is a word you don’t hear often these days. Calling people greedy won’t win any votes, so no politician will ever use it, but as all the religions of the world remind us, it is a common human trait, but bad for us. Humans are never content, if they have something they value, they will always want more.

 I’ve just read a book about the Bedu of the Arabian deserts before the coming of western influences like education, cars and oil revenues. They were nomadic experts of the desert and despite being poor in a monetary sense where exceedingly generous with what they did possess.. No matter who arrived in their desert camps, the visitors would always be asked for the “Good News” (ie interesting news)  and be fed with the best the host could offer,  even if that meant the host would have no food tomorrow, This unselfish generosity came from the fact that to appear mean would result in a permanent loss of reputation, and reputation was highly valued along with their camels and spiritual faith. Of course the Bedu had their faults,( they had long running blood feuds and some would murder any Christian on sight)  but the books' author, W Thesiger, saw these “poor” desert people as far nobler,  honourable and richer than any westerners. including himself.

I’ve also read that the richer people become the less generous and more greedy they are. Poor people, who have very little to share, are more generous as they know that in the near future, they are most  likely to need someone to be generous to them. On the other hand, Rich people think they don’t need other people, and so give less, help less and so communities suffer as a consequence.

Is that what’s happening today? As the world gets richer, people get more greedy and in doing so forget what made us better off in the first place? International cooperation and trade is under threat and regression to our nation tribes pointing spears at each other looks more likely. This is an intinctive approach but it not new or better. Perhaps in order to make the world a better place, ie long term peace and prosperity, we need to be more aware of greed. We should demand less and give more, even if it is the last of  what we have to give..
 

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?

Update Feb 25. The BBC Russian correspondent Steve Rosental asked Putin at his end of year Q&A session question Nr 3. Putin's reply was he that he had increased Russia's sovereignty ie reduced its dependence on the West. Well, he may have done this, but Russians continue to pay the extremely high price for their sovereignty that surely they always had in the first place. 

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)