Letter to the Russian Ambassador - All War is Tragedy

 Dear Ambassador Kelin

I Cannot Celebrate Victory - all War is Tragedy

When the Berlin wall came down, and the Eastern European Countries left the Soviet Empire, there is one miracle that is over looked. There was little if any violence, there was no civil war. This shows to me that Russians are a peace loving people, despite all the news being reported.

I sense that people in Russia are beginning to realise that Putin is not the leader they thought he was. It is time for him to retire and  a new leader be found. However, once again, this brings the threat of Civil War and it is time for the Russian people to show their true peace loving colours. I’m sure that there are wise people in Russia who know this, but to assist I have written the following anti violence statement, with which I trust you can agree and perhaps put to good use.

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that war is a primitive, backward and base activity that is promoted by people who are unintelligent and following out of date philosophies.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


Yours Sincerely.

Armour for a Real World Mission

Mission  

CARL VON CLAUSEWITZ, the Prussian general and theorist of war, is much-quoted and his most famous dictum is—“war is the continuation of politics with other means”.

If war is politics by other means, then the deeper cause of war is politicians doing what they do, which is attempting to  increase popularity and then stay in power. As power ultimately comes from the people, either as voters or supporting armies, citizens are the fundamental cause of wars, by their approval or passiveness of their leaders actions.

 If an anti war culture could be promoted and embraced by all the peoples of the world, then leaders would lose popularity when promoting conflict. Thus, war would  fizzle out and be consigned to history. To this end I have written the statement below, which I think should be promoted as much as possible -

 “I cannot celebrate victory, all war is tragedy. Everyone must understand that war is a primitive, backward, base activity that is carried out by people who are unintelligent and using out of date philosophies. War mongers are people who do not have the skills to solve their problems respectfully by normal political means ie negotiation and compromise. They can only achieve their goals by conning others to use violence by threats and lies and so are not fit to lead. War only spreads destruction, desolation; pain and misery. All citizens of the world, have a selfless duty, not to hide from the horrors of our past, but to stand together against such cowards and fools. We should all unite to consign war to the history books and keep war out of our present and humanity’s future”.   

 

 Armour

 Yesterday, I went for an enjoyable walk in the Peak District which was enlivened by a mid day heavy down pour. Shortly after the rain, I saw a group of people, who despite the  glorious beauty around them, were paying more attention to their smart phones, which were, no doubt,  the latest models. They weren’t talking to each other, but seemed happy staring at their small, colourful, flickering screens. However, they were drenched,  soaked to the skin, even though they had more computing power in their hands, than existed in the world 50 years ago. 

 It would appear you can’t get smart umbrellas.

I wish they would look up from their phones, see the real world and start thinking about what they could do to improve it.   Smart phones are nothing without smart brains.

The Multiple Butterfly Effect

 I recently discovered a web site called “Making a Huge difference”, that’s proclaimed mission is to make the world a better place. It sounded great, a group of like minded people that I could team up with and really make a difference to this absurd world.

As usual, reality was disappointing.

What I found was lots of posts by academic  Don Quixote types, with titles that I didn’t really understand or desire to read. A few were about the sites problems and one gem about exclusion, but most were vanity essays on trivial concerns. The main objective of most essays was not really about making the world a better place, but trying to show how clever the author was and rack up as many positive comments as possible. The impression I got (based on limited time browsing, so I could be completely cynical and wrong) was that the site had been set up by someone wanting to sell a book and promote educational courses, but it had ended up totally out of control as every one pitched in, in a totally unstructured manner..

I posted a few of my thoughts, received the expected ticking off and decided to leave them to it for a couple of weeks, to see what develops.

Why was I disappointed? My view is that, Ideally, a forum should be a criticism free space where anyone can come up with an idea, however wacky, and then it gets debated, examined, thrashed about and developed, to see if it is good idea. If it gets through this phase it should be put on a list of items for implementation, in priority order (not ease of achievability). My basic priority list would be, but yours may differ:-

1) Reducing fossil fuel usage
2) Preventing wars
3) Promoting human rights
4) Promoting good Governance

Once  priories have been set, then they could be put into sub groups for a plan of action to be developed, and once this was completed, the actions could be implemented, by all of the web sites users. Thus all users contribute, develop into a plan, action and share the successes.

As “Making a Huge Difference” didn’t seem to have any chance of achieving anything useful, except selling a few books, I have decided to continue to pester all and sundry with my correspondence and keep posting most on my blog under my own name. (I use my own name because before I post or submit anything, I ask myself, what is its purpose, would I say this to their face  and will I be proud of what I have written in a few weeks time? Hopefully this cuts out any nonsense, that is all too common on the internet).

Whilst I fully expect my efforts have little impact on a world of 7 billion people, a lot of whom are also tapping away into their computers, I put my faith in the butterfly effect, that a single butterfly can one day create a great storm. The probability is extremely low but Chaos theory stays the probability isn’t zero, Which It would be if I did nothing, so I keep on. It gives meaning to my pathetic insignificant little life!

However, what would happen if our single butterfly, flapped its wings in unison with another? The odds would halve, And if it flapped in unison with 10 others, 1000 others, 7 billion others…… wouldn‘t the storm be much more likely to occur?. The more butterflies the better the odds, and then it is time to place your bets for change.

Percy Shelley. wrote the following in The Masque of Anarchy in 1819 (I stress I’m not an anarchist, we still need competent, selfless leaders, like our Dearly Departed Queen and new King, so the rest of us can enjoy ourselves).

Rise, like lions after slumber,
In unvanquishable number,
Shake your chains to earth, like dew,
Which in sleep hath fallen upon you,
You are many - they are few.
 

When Shelley wrote this, no one would publish it or his manifesto, as they were too dangerous to the powers that be to print. But if Shelley were alive today, or there was someone of his equal alive, she or he could self publish on the internet and soon his many would be working together against the few. Like Butterflies, all flapping their wings in unison, not to create chaos or a storm, but to make the world a better place. Wouldn’t that be effective?.

Where are the modern day Shelley’s? Like Diogenes with his lamp, I’m still searching.


 

Letter to the Chinese Ambassador to the UK

 Dear Ambassador Zheng Zeguang

“Those who suppress truth, are those who are benefiting the most from lies”

China’s history clearly shows that there have been many wise people in China and I am in no doubt that this applies today, as it did in the past.

I came across the quote above and immediately though of China.  So I ask you, Ambassador, why does the Chinese State suppress freedoms of expression and stop the people telling what they see as the truth? The state says it is to keep order and prevent chaos, but is it because it is benefiting the most from the lies? Why does the Chinese State fear the truth so much?

In my studies, I have come to accept that the Chinese State system, ie Authoritarian rule rather than democracy, is a viable way of organising society, but for it to work the following conditions apply

a) The ruling elite, has to be composed of the most wise, learned governors, who are willing to put the interests of the country before their own.
b) The ruling elite must have access to the best knowledge and data, so it has a clear understanding of their country and the world
c) The ruling elite combines the wisdom and best knowledge to make the best decisions for the society as a whole..
d) The people are well informed of the actions of the elite and are happy that  the best decisions are being made on its behalf. They permit the elite to rule.
e) The ruling elite accepts that the world is constantly changing, and that past decisions, whilst not wrong in the past, will need to be adapted  to meet new circumstances.
f) The ruling elite accepts that in a world of constant change, it may need to change too.

The above points are very idealistic and in the real world of human social politics I think are very hard, if not impossible, to implement. So I think that the truth is that the Chinese State suppresses its own peoples freedoms because it has to hide the truth to protect itself. It fails on all the points a) - f), suppresses the truth and benefits from the lies. Meanwhile the people of China suffer. The Chinese people I meet are a timid, quiet people, afraid to open their mouths for fear of being punished.

How long does the Chinese State think it can keep this up? Does it think that starting a war over Taiwan will distract the people, so the truth can be hidden forever? This will only heap more misery upon an already suffering world.

So I appeal to the wise and good people in China not to hide from truth, but accept the world as it is, not as you want it to be. Just like the covid virus, truth, once discovered, cannot be eliminated, it will keep breaking out, and those who benefit from lies, will keep on having to suppress it. Until they are overwhelmed by it.

If I am wrong, and the Chinese State is meeting the conditions a) to f), then it has nothing to fear and should permit the people their freedoms.

Yours Sincerely    

Know Yourself - the wisest words ever written?

 “Know Yourself”. In my opinion these are the wisest words ever written. They were written over the entrance to the temple at Delphi about 300BC. My interpretation is that, because we grow up in a relatively isolated social group, we all have built in (learnt) prejudices, bias’s and delusions based on our groups poor knowledge of other social groups and the world outside of our it's experience. These warp our thinking to that of the group, which helps social cohesion, but means that we do not see the world as it really is, but as others want us to see it, or how we would like it to be. However, if you can understand these prejudices, and, delusions and also acknowledge the limits of your knowledge, ie know yourself, then in later life you can compensate, and under stand the world with a greater degree of accuracy. Achieve this ie understanding the present, and predicting the future becomes simple. 

Ironic, isn’t it that the Ancient Greeks came from all over to consult with the oracle, and the key to prediction was written over the front gate for all to see! 

-----

As for the greatest book ever written, well I've not read them all, but the best one I've read is Don Quixote, which I recommend unreservedly. Plenty of reviews are available but I loved the humorous style that entertains as well as presenting the complexities of being a human being who wants to do good in the world, after a life time of reading a load of rubbish!!!

How to prevent Wars - defluffed

 Summary

Everyone must understand that war is a primitive, backward, base activity that is carried out by people who are unintelligent, people who cannot solve their problems by negotiation, compromise, and respect. They can only achieve their goals by conning others by use of threats, violence and lies, which only spreads destruction, pain and misery. We all have a selfless duty, not to hide from the horrors of ourselves, but to stand together against such fools. We should all unite to consign war to the history books and keep war out of our present and out of humanity’s future.     

How to prevent wars - defluffed

 Someone commented that my essay “How to Prevent Wars” contained too much distracting Fluff and not many references. Well, I thought I had done pretty well to tackle such a difficult problem In 4 pages of A4, but I accept the point and will attempt to express my thinking in a nut shell below. As for references, the essay is the result of a life time of reading, listening, watching, experiencing and thinking about the world. Including references would be impossible, so I’m afraid you are just going to have to think for your selves. So, if you don't like a bit of fluff -

1) Human beings are social animals that crave the approval of the group and want to rise up the status ladder to get access to get loads of sex with the best quality and highest status group members. Its written in our genes.

2) The group unconsciously knows this and uses it to control you. Those of the highest status especially use it to get you to do things they don’t want to do themselves, but will be of benefit to them. If you don’t conform the group will punish you. Result less sex with desirable people. Your genes will not get mixed with high quality genes or may be not passed on at all.

3) If you understand what is going on, you can rise above it, break free, and challenge immoral group behaviour such as the use of violence as a short cut to increasing or maintaining status within a group or between groups.

4) However, the power of the group means this cannot be done by yourself, There are three paths to take (assuming you don’t just capitulate and  conform, which is the short term, personally risk free, selfish, usual human response - it takes courage and sacrifice to stand up to your own group).

6) You can quietly attempt to convince most of the group to your way of thinking and then challenge the group leaders, and if successful take over.

5) or you can run away and hide, find another group and forget about the first group. But this doesn’t make the world a better place.

7)) or you can tell members of other outside groups about what is happening in your group and ask them to come to your assistance,  to face down the immoral behaviour of your groups power brokers.


Does this explain why holocausts happen, wars start, and why the tragedy that is human history continues? Just scale the above to a national level, with leaders punishing those that criticise them and the world starts to make sense to me. Does it to you?

Please think deeply about it. Its very very important that you do. Globalisation and the internet means that we live in turbulent times. Different social groups with extremely differing views are being forced together. Whether it will get worse or better is up to each and every one of us to take responsibility and act..The world is absurd because people do absurd things and we permit the absurdity. It can't go on.

What Ive been doing is 

a) Promoting the view that status, wealth and power gained by violent immoral means is not sexually attractive. It is a short cut, or cheat, used by low status individuals to jump up or maintain a high position in the group hierarchy. (How many dictators were nobodies in their early lives?)

b) Promoting atheism, so the difference between social groups is reduced.

c) Ridiculing world leaders to reduce their status and power.

d) promoting democracy, feminism and human rights, all of which reduce the status and power of leaders and so lessen their ability to boss others about.

e) Promoting longtermism, (but not at the expense of short term failure).

f) Calling for an end to tribalism - ultimately humanity should be one big social group (but respecting differing cultures - the world would be very boring indeed with out cultural diversity).

g) Calling for it to be a basic human right that you don’t have to follow immoral orders, which will reduce the power of group leaders.

h) Promoting the sharing of resources, which will reduce wars over scarcity. 

Even if you don't agree with the above, the question needs an answer, why are humans always fighting, and how do you prevent it?

Methodology

The  style of the essay "How to prevent wars" may be unusual to many. My approach is as follows.

a) Examine my own behaviour and what motivates it. ie know myself. 

b) Assuming that I'm just a normal typical human, I assume that my behaviour and motivations apply to others. Therefore find and present evidence that confirms this assumption. ie Seek first to understand.

c) Scale up this behaviour and the motivations behind it to examine if they apply to nations and globally in differing cultures . The assumption is that people are behind world events and all people are basically the same. From my travels and reading, I think this is so.

d) Assuming a) to c) are true, use this knowledge and understanding, for a practical purpose ie change the world, stop wars. 

Upon reading d) you may think I'm a romantic fool, and I would agree it sounds crazy on the face of it. However, the rewards are so high ie a world without war, and my life so insignificant, that I'm 100% committed. What's to lose?  I'm old and I've had a great life. If I'm right someone of  higher status may nick my ideas and take the credit. If I'm wrong, I will be ignored, perhaps laughed at, and that doesn't matter either. I've risen above group approval.

It's absolutely fantastic to be so free of group approval! 

Hierarchy of Needs - Social adulation is top, not self Actualisation

                
                                                
Introduction

When I was younger and being told what to learn and what to do, I was introduced to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. This theory sets out a ladder of human needs and assumes that the higher you climb the ladder, the happier you will be. At the top of the ladder (at the time) was Self - Actualization which to this day I’ve never really understood. I would have rather scored a wining goal in the FA cup final than Self Actualised. Today I would ask, how does a never ending endeavour to learn and self improve fit into a hierarchy? As far as I’m concerned I’m ignorant and flawed and project Prew will never end. You can never reach all that you can become, because it is a moving target that you can never hit. If you get close to your goals, you can obviously achieve even higher goals.

Know Yourself  

I used to be a construction project manager, and because this gave me a comfortable life style, the proceeds of which I continue to live off, I think I can conclude that I was good at it. I was lucky enough to be able to look at a project, clearly define the objectives, recognise the risks, eliminate the risks, organise people and motivate them, so that when it was all over, there was much back slapping and self congratulation at the pile of cash the client had made. Unfortunately they never slapped my back. “Ah Trevor, that project was easy“, they'd say “We didn’t really need to employ you, did we?” Or another comment would be “Trev - all those worries and risks you talked about at the start, none of them happened did they?” "No of course they didn't, I had managed them out of existence" I would think to myself.  So,  I had worked damn hard, on some very high risk projects, and no one understood or appreciated what I had done.  It felt so unfair, but I suppose I shouldn’t complain, they always paid my fee invoice on time and the contracts kept landing on my desk.

Seek First to Understand

So from my personal perspective, project success was not enough, I also wanted to be recognised by my clients and colleagues, my social group, as a great project manager. When this was once again deigned me, on what I considered to the be riskiest project I ever pulled off (total project failure was very probably - an unusable building or total collapse at completion!) I decided to put two fingers up  to the construction world and retire. If my social group didn’t appreciate me, they can all go and hang!

So does the importance of social group approval apply to others or is it just my problem? Well lets think about scientists.

What would be the pinnacle of a Scientists career? “To discover some great fundamental truth of the world” you might say, but is this enough? If you discovered a unified grand theory that was completely true but no one acknowledged it as such, you would certainly be self actualized, but would you be happy?. It would probably drive you mad, knowing what you knew, but no one is listening or understanding. It would be like Cassandra, being given the gift of the ability to predict the future, but no one believing your predictions. It would make you howl with frustration.

So I say the pinnacle of a scientist's career is not only to make a great discovery but also to get a Nobel for it, which means he/she will forever have the adulation of the scientific social group, and if its noticed by the public, the whole world. Richard Feynman wrote about the proudest day of his life was when he drove into the university car park and parked next to all the other Nobel prize winners. So for him the pinnacle of his career was a coveted parking space! Social group acceptance confirmed!*

Darwin, when he had worked out the details of natural selection, and had written Origin, which is one of the great leaps in human understanding, what did he do? He hid the manuscript in a draw and didn’t publish for over a decade. Why did he do this? It makes no sense. But if you look at it from a social group perspective, it makes perfect sense. He knew that if he published, his group, that was dominated by creationist Christian thinking, would lead to nothing but trouble, namely group rejection. So he hid it away. It wasn’t until Russell  independently came up with the same theory that he decided to come out and jointly they introduced the theory of natural selection to the world. At least he had a social group of two, him and Russell.

So based on my own experience and a couple of examples, (that's good enough for me because I'm lazy and easily bored!!) I propose that the pinnacle of human  endeavour is group adulation, and the larger the group the better. If you achieve fame and glory you will even achieve everlasting group acceptance, as your name will be remembered forever.

(The above  has a heavy male bias. A Women’s opinion or examples would be very welcome)

Better to go to Troy, young Achilles, and achieve everlasting fame, than stay at home and live like a sheep.

In my essay “How to prevent War” I proposed that the primary motivation for humans is to reproduce, because it’s programmed into our selfish genes. Am I not contradicting myself with the above? Well not if you ask why do people  crave group acceptance? Lots of group acceptance means more people will like you and that means more sex and therefore more reproduction if male or better genes to choose if female. But why seek everlasting fame after you have reproduced? Well your genes want to be passed on,  not just to the next generation, but also into all the future generations to come. If you are famous, wont all your children be attractive too? And their children also? This makes sense to me, rather than a hierarchy of needs. High group acceptance ie status (and the power and wealth that goes with it) gives your genes an advantage in the natural selection game, now and well into the future. This explains why hereditary honours were the most coveted reward a monarch could bestow on a loyal subject. It rewards not just your self but your future generations. 

But choose your social group wisely.

*I’m sure I read this in “Surely you are joking Mr Feynman”  but I can’t find it - there’s no index. It may have been a different  Nobel prize winner altogether!!! I hope you  can accept the  point I’m making anyway. Perhaps it’s in “Chaos” a book I obtained from the library, so I don‘t have a copy to check.

How to Prevent Wars

Introduction

When I stood in the darkness of a railway waggon that had carried Jews to the concentration camps to be industrially murdered, I found the horror of being a human being too much to bare. I turned and ran. From then on, like many who have experienced war, I tried not to think about it and certainly never talked about it. But the experience remained.

Then came covid and the lock downs. For the first time in my life, I was stuck indoors and unable to explore the world as I pleased and I was bored. With all the fear, panic and talk of death in the air, I thought I might write something of what I had learnt during my life, so that others might read something useful, and perhaps my life wouldn’t have been a completely self indulgent (but enjoyable) waste of time.

Know Your Self

The first essay was “A history of the world of the World in a Single Object” in which that waggon resurfaced. Whilst shaking and crying with emotion. I let my mind and imagination run free and forced out what was within. What was it like to be an ordinary person on that train, why didn’t they resist, why did they let themselves be herded meekly like sheep onto those damn waggons? Then I imagined the guards. What motivated them to partake in such behaviour. Surely they knew what was going on - but what would I have done in their shoes?

The deep dark horrible truth is that I would have done exactly the same as them, and herded the Jews onto the waggon. It’s a horrible truth, and it still upsets me to write it now. I would have taken the easy option, not stood up to power, not challenged orders and invented a false truth that justified doing something that was terribly wrong. Herding Jews was much better for me than fighting on the Russian front, much better than being shot for disobeying orders, much better than having my family threatened by thugs. So I would have chosen the selfish easy path for myself, not the correct path that would have benefited the many.

I’m deeply ashamed of who I’m. But is this just my personal problem?   

Well from what I’ve read of history, ever since people could write it’s been wars, misery, destruction, slavery, rape and murder. Tribe fighting tribe, nation fighting nation, empires against empire. religious wars, civil wars, right up to present. Historians continue to chew over the violence and tragedy  without any emotional empathy for the people of the time and without any imagination of what it was like. We too, sit watching the news while seeing tanks blown up, homes destroyed, lives wrecked and then we switch off and watch cat videos and worry about our fuel bills. We choose not to think. We choose not to look into the waggon and face up to the fact that we all have the capacity to permit or do evil within us. (see Rebecca Myers work with violent prisoners)

Is this how its going to be forever? Will it be wars forever more, as long as humans exist? The current evidence is Yes.  It would appear it is human nature to do what is easiest for the self and not what is morally right. If we carry on as we are, ie choose the easy path, not the morally correct path that would benefit all, the future looks bleak or maybe non existent for humans. (Perhaps that wouldn’t be such a bad thing. The planet will settle back into equilibrium and the next civilization to develop won’t have fossil fuels available because we will have used them all up!)

(See also the experiments of Milgram 1963 which explored humans ingrained trait of following orders, although my interpretation (unscientifically tested) is that humans choose, regardless of others, the path of least discomfort or maximum gain for themselves, especially when not genetically, culturally or geographically related to those others),

Seek first to Understand

If you have read Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, you will have recognised the resonances with his Congo and my waggon. Conrad saw the world as a giant absurd machine that keeps spewing out utter madness, desolation and despair and all we can do is stand and stare, powerless to turn it off or stop it. Voltaire thought similar, in Candide he concludes we should all hide in our gardens. Well I agree that the world is absurd, but I don’t agree that we are powerless to change it. The world is absurd because people do absurd things, and we stand by and let them. If we could understand human nature, and why wars are fought we can use this knowledge coupled with the power of the internet, to disseminate ideas and bring about immense change and a much better future world. The Enlightenment happened after the printing press was invented, so lets get the second enlightenment underway using the world wide web.

So what is a human? Like all life forms, humans are programmed to firstly survive, secondly reproduce successfully, and additionally, as we get older, to help bring up successful grand kids and community youngsters. Then we die because  the genetic mutations that affect old age cannot be weeded out by natural selection. And that’s it. Live, have kids, hang about to help, die. So why fight wars?

[Religion says this life is preparation for the next, but to me this idea is absurd. Once your body and brain stop functioning, that’s it, your time is up. So promoting atheism, gets rid of religious wars for starters. See my essay “Neurodegenerative diseases disprove the existence of a Soul and afterlife”  on my blog or Richard Dawkins excellent book “The God Delusion“. ]  
 
For most surviving is easily achievable. Because we live in social groups, we have the support of  parents and others that give mutual aid, food, education, healthcare and good governance that maintains law and order in a world of plenty. Humans have been known to fight just to survive, when resources such as food and water are in scarce supply and this will become a bigger problem in the future as global warming brings about rapid environmental change, However adaptation, migration and sharing of resources will reduce the risk of these types of wars, and people are in less of a position to fight when low on the basics of life. No, the serious  problems start when you have to find a mate to successfully reproduce. And this means competing with other human beings, whether you are male or female.

Males want to reproduce with the most beautiful, healthy, intelligent caring wealthy mother they can find so that their offspring are also attractive and their genes will be successfully reproduced down the eons. Also because the woman carries the child, it pays for males to fertilise as many women as possible to increase the chances of genes continuing into future generation. With men it’s quantity first, quality second.. Females want similar but because of the long time and resources it takes for mothers to bring up children, they want a long term, stable, well provisioned home with a caring father who will stick around to help in the years to come. (I can hear feminists howling, but I’m taking a biological view point to get at fundamental human motivations, stripped of cultural overtones). Also once females have got a good man and home for the kids, they can later have flings with sexy men (who are going for quantity) and this explains affairs after the first batch of kids is successfully being reared. (And why they continue to make themselves attractive after settling down with a Steady Eddie sort of chap!).

So we have males competing with males for as many of the best females as they can bed, and females competing with females for the best fathers, with a bit on the side to spice things up later.

What’s this got to do with war?.

Well I say that males competing with males leads to violence and war, as they fight to get the most wealth, power and status, which means they are in the best position to provide stable, well provisioned homes for the kids. What was Elizabeth Bennetts reaction when she went around Pemberly? Have you seen a young woman's face light up when she walks around a rich mans house? Is she thinking “I can fill this place up with kids?” Well I’m not a woman so what do I know and I accept this is a gross over simplification of humans who are very complex confusing creatures. However, if you are a man who doesn’t have wealth power and status, rather than work hard to get it, why not inspire others to come and fight and take it from those who do. “Lets all go on a Viking raid, it will be fun and exciting” As a young man (who knew nothing of war) I  would have gone. The stakes are high, you might get killed, but the potential rewards are huge - a palace and harem, servants, and all the pleasures of life. (Religious leaders con men to fight wars saying they will get this reward in the next life, whilst they continue to enjoy the pleasures of this one. It‘s unbelievable people still fall for it!).

Of course, if you are a man who already has wealth power and status, but are afraid of losing it, war is a means of holding on to power. Doesn’t this explain the current Ukraine / Russia war with Putin (whose current girl friend is a beautiful gold medal winning gymnast with excellent genes!) losing popularity and power and so launches an attack, that if successful will be popular, as his 2014 annexation of Crimea was. (Poor Ukraine - it should have kept it’s nukes).

Wealth, status and power are men’s peacocks tails that attract the opposite sex and war is a short cut to obtain them. And women permit wars because they want a share of the booty and the perceived protection of violent men.  Would men go to war if all women shunned them and denied them sex, I don’t think so. (But they might go to war to rape instead - horrid thought)

How to stop wars - 1) Religious wars

To stop religious wars, actively promote atheism  Religious people with deep beliefs will be offended but I am offended that they expect people to believe made up stories without evidence and usually forbid the teaching of other alternatives to children. It will be forever impossible to know what happens after death, because you can’t communicate with a dead person, but that is not an excuse to make up a load of stories to fill in for what is unknowable. There would be a danger of starting a new war of religion between believers and atheists, so education of the alternatives to religion is the answer and have faith that people will decide what makes more sense. There is also a danger of losing all of the wisdom and good things that the Worlds religions do but I don’t see that you have to believe in God or an afterlife to be wise and do good in the world. Educate people of humans natural selfish behaviour, but show them how much better the world would be if every one helped each other to be happy.

Once people accept there is no afterlife (which is a comforting but imagined idea) or a God to take care of things, they will value their lives much more and also the lives of others. Our Lives are a precious rare fragile thing of immense value and not something to be risked in a destructive war. We are all stuck on this planet together and we have to make it work. No greater power or being is helping or coming to help..

How to Stop wars - 2) Wars due to scarcity of resources.

As discussed above, humans must share resources, but not be greedy in their requests. Controlled migration must be accepted by every nation but we must accept that completely un controlled migration could cause more problems than it solves. We cannot  ignore geographical and cultural differences. (These are my Preliminary thoughts on migration - ignorance factor high!)

How to stop wars - 3) Wars to grab power.ie invasions and civil wars

 A) Democratic countries are less likely to go to war, as leaders have less power to order people around, so promotion of democracy must be continued. The uncensored internet will be a major player in getting rid of authoritarian regimes such as the Chinese Communist Party, which is a hang over from the last century, I call for the cutting of all trade with China because the CCP only stays in power because China is getting richer and the lives of the Chinese are improving. As soon as standards of living start to fall the Chinese will be looking for an alternative to the outdated ideas of the CCP. A peaceful change over is unlikely but not impossible, given the wise Chinese leadership that they possess in abundance if only it was given a chance. (An explanation for my pro democracy bias see “Why the West is Best and the evidence to Prove it” on trevorprew.blog.com
b) Promote Governments to take a longer term view. There is too much crisis management and not enough focus on important but not urgent matters. Governments should sign up to UNESCOs declaration of Responsibilities of current generations towards future generations. (Read the excellent 7 habits of highly effective people by Steven Covey If you haven’t already - concentrate equally on the important but not urgent,  as well as the urgent matters)
c) The idea that soldiers have no obligation to obey orders that are not for the defense of their country or are not morally right must be promoted. This will make doing the right thing easier and reduce the power of war mongering leaders to order people about. The UN should add something to the declaration of human rights, and see how authoritarian states howl in protest. However it will remain a personal responsibility to stand up to authority, and social networks must be used for brave people to stand together. This is why authoritarian states control/shut down the internet at the first sign of trouble.
d) Women must make it absolutely clear that they will have nothing to do with men who go to war or, promote war or violence in any way. It must be shameful to obtain wealth, power and status by violent means and clearly expressed that it is any way sexy..  This principal could also be used to reduce knife and gun culture. Real men don’t need weapon to solve their problems, weapons are not sexy.
e) In cases of civil war, which are more complex problems , use of violence must be condemned and arms sales halted. De-escalation and a return to political democratic processes should be encouraged by sending in overwhelming peace keeping forces or supporting the pro democratic side. What would have happened if the West went in to Syria? The second Iraq war and  Afghan war were a mistake by the west but so was not getting involved in the Arab spring, which degenerated into war that continues to this day. It may be that you just have to let all sides fight it out until they realize the futility of war but make it clear full support will be available to a democracy after the fighting is over. .
f) If an invasion  happens, all countries of the world, all the peoples of the world must come to the aid of the attacked, and, without escalating the violence, stand with and fully support that country  with hard hitting sanctions and military aid. Those inside the attacking country must do what ever is in their power to show that they do not agree with the violence. Protest on line and in the streets, hold vigils at dead pacifists graves, make it clear that the vast majority love peace. Acting together the violent oppressor can be faced down. Deign a warmonger the power and status they crave and they will back down no matter how high and mighty they think they are. A flood of disapproval will wash them away.
See my essay “Putin Craves social acceptability” on trevorprew.blogspot.com

In Summary

Wars happen because men want to be sexy and attractive to women, and women find wealthy, powerful, high status men sexy. . War provides an easy way to get the wealth, power status and sex. To stop wars change the culture - wars are not sexy.

To stop wars, recognise that humans are social animals that make selfish decisions for the benefit of themselves or their social group, even if they are morally wrong. They obey orders from their group leaders so they stay accepted by the group and thus maintain or increase their status,  Humans, and males in particular, crave social approval and without it they are nothing and unlikely to get much sex. So deign violent warmongers the approval and status they crave and we will have a peaceful world.

Act today. Make the world a better place.
 
Footnote
The  style of this essay may be unusual to many. My approach is as follows.

a) Examine my own behaviour and what motivates it. ie know myself. 

b) Assuming that I'm just a normal typical human, I assume that my behaviour and motivations apply to others. Therefore find and present evidence that confirms this assumption. ie Seek first to understand.

c) Scale up this behaviour and the motivations behind it to examine if they apply to nations and globally in differing cultures . The assumption is that people are behind world events and all people are basically the same. From my travels and reading, I think this is so.

d) Assuming a) to c) are the true, use this knowledge and understanding, for a practical purpose ie change the world, stop wars. 

Upon reading d) you may think I'm mad, and I would agree it sounds crazy on the face of it. However, the rewards are so high ie a world without war, and my life so insignificant, that I'm 100% committed. Whats to lose? 

If people don't like my ideas, but I'm right, I predict I will be rejected, threatened, portrayed as mad, locked up as insane, bumped off (the ultimate from of group punishment). But so what, I'm old and I've had a great life. If I'm  wrong, I will be ignored, perhaps laughed at, but I've risen above group approval, so that doesn't matter either.

It's absolutely fantastic to be so free!

 

Freedom Loving democrats Take Heart

 Recently, I’ve read in the press several letters and articles asking if this is the end of the enlightenment, or is democracy a passing fad. It certainly would appear so if you follow world events such as the failure of the Arab Spring, the increasing power of authoritarian regimes and the rise of Trump in America. Well, despite all the gloom for Democratic Liberals, I’m confident that the underlining trend is positive and although the road is currently bumpy, the world WILL emerge a better place. But we must endeavour to get there as rapidly as possible to minimise the harm to humanity.

The causes of the these rough times are rapid technological change, generational echoes  and globalization. (I’ve left out environmental change for now, as the full impact has yet to hit).

The Chinese president, Xi Jinping, is the  son of Communist revolutionary Xi Zhongxun, a member of China’s red aristocracy. He grew up in a family with strong roots in the Party and it’s ideals of a Socialist state providing for the good of all the people. However, with the relaxing of economic controls in the 1980’s, and globalisation opening up  worldwide markets, hard working Chinese entrepreneurs took full advantage and made themselves and China rich. This isn’t what Xi’s hero’s  fought the revolution for. Currently he is trying to get capitalism under control so that all of China can fairly develop to be the socialist super power the party has always dreamt of (with the Party on top living in sumptuous luxury)  The difficulty he faces is that to do this, he needs free thinking, richly rewarded, unrestricted capitalists, not state controlled business’ shackled by meddling corrupt party members. So what will happen in China? As we are seeing, covid and other regulations are slowing growth rates and the people are getting restless. If the Chinese Communist Party starts to be seen as the cause of this slow down, capitalism and more freedoms will be back on the table. Unfortunately Xi Jinping is currently using Military sabre rattling to paper over the cracks in his policies. The west must not over react, but be patient and let the cracks get bigger.

Similarly in Russia, Putin is an ageing echo of the past century. As he was losing popularity with his own people and as he has no intention of giving up power, he cracked down on the opposition, stamped out dissent and came up with a scheme to make him popular again, namely take over Ukraine and recreate the Russia Empire.. The only problem is, his military isn’t up to the job of overcoming highly motivated Ukrainians and he underestimated the western reaction, which hasn’t forgotten what happened when Hitler started invading neighbouring countries.  Also eastern Europeans and Russians have had 30 plus years of western freedoms and few want to go back to Soviet times, so Putin is in a very deep pit of his own making. As he continues to dig, the west must help the Ukrainians and freedom loving Russians, not to appease Putin but bury him and is authoritarian experiment once and for all. Russian joining the EU in 20 twenty years time? No lets make it 10 years.

Trump continues to worry liberals despite losing the last election. Will he run in 2024? Of course he will, he loves the adulation. He’s addicted to it. But the many criminal investigations against him will eventually catch up with him and then America will have to decide if they want a criminal in charge. Currently many love Trump and love is blind but hopefully they will do as we did in Britain. We got rid of our leader because he had a few knees ups, which were outlawed as deadly covid spreading events at the time. Strong men leaders always overstep the mark as they have no control over their egos.

And what is magnifying  all this global mayhem - the internet. It is allowing anyone with a computer or mobile to state their opinion, whether genuine or deceitful and have it instantly available, translated to any where in the world. Anybody at the touch of a few buttons can obtain information from others and chip in with their comments too. We are in the early stages of this world wide conversation, and it's not going to be possible to turned it off now, there is no going back. Each and every citizen of the world is capable of telling their thoughts, filming their experiences and sharing them with who ever is interested in reading or viewing. The internet is showing us the world as it really is, not as a few want it to be seen.

What has been the early results of this tech revolution? Well authoritarian regimes, who like telling their people only what they would like them to hear, hate it. Hence China’s massive attempts to control the internet. But they can’t get rid of it because they love the power it gives them to snoop on peoples private lives so they can arrest any hint of opposition. However in the long run people expressing their views online curbs their power, as right is might not might is right. There are many examples of people protesting on line in China, but after an initial crack down, the party takes note and sorts out the protesters concerns. This trend will only increase as people realise it gets results.

Another early effect is that extremists, who always shout the loudest (often when holding a gun), embraced the internet to spread their views and encouraged others to join them. However in the long run the exposure they get back fires as the flaws in their ideas are examined and exposed for what they are, out dated historic rubbish which has no place in a globalised world of freely mixing people and ideas. No wonder they hate the west so much - their beliefs are doomed once the next generation, who love the internet and global travel, replace them. .

 So Liberal, freedom loving democrats of the world do not despair. Continue to shout out our values. The West is not perfect but better than alternatives. That is why people the world over want to come and live and work here. More people are leaving Russia and China than arriving. Who wants to live in Belarus or North Korea? Why do people risk their lives to enter the USA or cross the Channel. This is the reality of the World politics.

People Choose freedom not oppression. Truths withstand lies. Respect is better than hate.

How to Stop A Tyrant Part 2

 Human beings, which can only thrive in social groups, have a fundamental need for approval by their community. The threat of being thrown out of your group, because it disapproves of something you said or did usually leads to you apologising and backing down to ensure that your membership continues. Ostracism is woeful, as Ovid in exile found out.

Why do Authoritarian states and dictatorships hold elections and referendums, even when they have no intention of releasing their grip on power? Why do they bother? The answer is because, it is a way of  showing to their Social group, which is other nations and their own people, that they are justified in their behaviour and policies. It maintains the delusion that they are democratic and acting correctly, so are immune from criticism and should continue in power. They too, don’t want to be thrown out of the international group .

                                             
So rigged elections continue around the world, even though the results are predetermined, in Hong Kong, China, Belarus, Russian occupied Ukraine. Social acceptance is essential, regardless of the voters point of view.

Putin craves social acceptance and this explains why he writes to North Korea (a minor poor country), sends his second in command on tour to African Countries (to justify his actions), craves the friendship of China (who‘s system he is copies), allows grain shipments from Ukraine (which was making him unpopular in neutral countries), permits UN inspection of a Nuclear plant in a War Zone, (he would be blamed for any nuclear disaster) and wants history to remember him as Peter the Great (social acceptance forever).

Even China, craves acceptance and respect from the world, it wants it’s political system to be recognised world wide as the best. it’s a shame that currently, it wants to demonstrate this by military force. If China really did have the greatest political system, countries like Taiwan would be queuing up to be it’s friend, given the size of its market.

A while ago I asked “How do you stop a tyrant who points a gun in your face?”

The answer, is for all your numerous friends to bravely stand beside you and shame the tyrant into standing down. Deny the tyrant social acceptance.

In the same way it is vitally important that the World, which includes Countries, Companies, Organisations, Oligarchs, people, you, me, everyone, to continue to stand together and shout clearly and loudly “No, this is not acceptable, stop or be forever be excluded”. 

So do whatever you can, write, email, tweet, donate, lobby, demonstrate, support etc etc DENY SOCIAL ACCEPTANCE.

The alternative is for the shooting to escalate.         

----------

An example from history would be the English Tyrant King John, who was brought under control when most of the English barons ganged up on him and forced the signing of the Magna Carta. His social group rejected his lawlessness and taxes. Perhaps the Russian Oligarchs or army could do us all a favour and get Putin under control and make him sign a Russian equivalent!

Putin The Coward

 I enjoyed Boris Johnson saying that Putin’s actions were the perfect example of Toxic Masculinity, where Putin projects an image of “crazy macho” which results in harmful behaviour.  

Real men, don’t need to project an image. The genuine article shines through by their brave actions, unshakable confidence and strength of mind. Based on the principles of integrity, honesty  and selflessness, true manly characteristics are soon recognised by others, earning respect and admiration.                                 
        
Putin is not a real man, which is why he has to strut about bare chested pretending. Putin is vane, insecure and scared, which is why Boris’ comments resulted in the UK Ambassador in Moscow being called to the Kremlin for an official dressing down. The truth hurts doesn’t it?

Putin is also a coward. During the covid pandemic he hid away afraid to come out and whilst he says he has had the vaccine, he did not get jabbed in front of the TV cameras as the other world leaders have done. He is also a coward, because rather than take on his political opponents, he gets his agents to poison them, as he did with Alexey Navalny. He is a coward because he hides the truth of the war in Ukraine from his own people, because he knows that, if they could see what is really happening, that their brave sons are dying for his vanity and an imagined cause based on a reality that no longer exists, they would not agree. He's so scared of his own people, he can't even call a war a war, but says it's a special military operation, and so hides behind confusing words. He clamps down on freedom of speech, locking up protesters and internet users because he knows he has no valid argument to defend his nonsense that the west wants to destroy Russia.

Putin says he admires Peter the Great and would  also like to be remembered as “A Great”. Well perhaps he should do as the British hero Lord Nelson did. He should go to Ukraine, meet his brave soldiers fighting his war, talk to them, thank them and stand with them in the heat of battle. He should be prepared to die for what he believes in and maybe even fall with this troops whilst leading them to victory and glory. If this were to happen, the Russian People would then surely bury him as “Putin the Great“.

But I doubt if he will go to Ukraine. “Putin the Coward” will stay in Moscow.           Cowards always do what is easiest for them, and avoid the more difficult correct course of action.

Post script - Putin, one year after the war was started has finally visited Ukraine. He drove about Maripol at night and visited some buildings that are being rebuild. I'm not sure what he would have seen in the darkness, but perhaps Xi made him go to see the reality of his war before he would meet him.

Fossil Fuels are as bad as the Slave Trade

 

Although slavery, the cheapest form of labour, has been used by all human cultures through out history, today it is recognised as being morally wrong, against fundamental human rights and is illegal worldwide. When discovered, modern instances of slavery are rightly met with outrage and deemed indefensible. Because of the harm and suffering it causes, economics doesn't justify slavery any more.

Likewise, in the very near future, the use of environmentally damaging fossil fuels will soon be seen  in a similar way. Because of the damage they do to the climate, planet, and therefore ourselves, the use of  cheap energy from fossil fuels will be seen as morally wrong and indefensible. Economics doesn't justify global warming.

Soon it will not be statues of people who got rich using slaves that will be torn down, but it will be the memorials to the inventors of cars, planes and the creators of the industrial revolution that will be frowned upon with embarrassment and disbelief. Soon people will look at relics of the oil, coal and gas industries with enlightened puzzlement and ask "What were they thinking? Why did they choose to ignore the harm they were doing? Why didn’t they stop wrecking our world?”.

This change of attitude has already started, but requires more people to do the right thing and not be like those slave owners, who once  chose to ignore the harm done to others, because it was the cheapest way for them to profit.  

-------------------

Another change of attitude that is needed is for us to be honest. When we in the west ask "how are we going to stop climate change?" We should acknowledge that what we are really asking is "how are we going to stop climate change, without effecting my lifestyle? 

The first question is easy to answer - stop burning fossil fuels. The Second question has currently has no answer, as green alternatives are not immediately available with out massive investment.

 

Neurodegenerative Diseases disprove the existance of a Soul and afterlife

 The concept of having a Soul, a spirit, or immaterial part of you that is separate to your body, is fundamental to the idea that there is an afterlife or reincarnation. In order to go to heaven, (or hell), or keep coming back to life for the rest of eternity, it is assumed that your soul or the essential essence of your uniqueness, continues  after your physical body has rotted away and turned to dust.

This idea of a soul is fundamental to the worlds religions, who say that your life on earth is preparation for the next. Be good now,  and after death reap the rewards for eternity. We must earn those “pennies in heaven” as my mother used to say. The idea has attractions for everyone. Individuals, even the lowly can have a great afterlife, Rulers get compliant subjects, and Priests get status and perks too.

But knowing what happens to you after death is unknowable and always will be. Communication between dead people and living people has never happened and never will, despite all the ghost stories and séances held. Whether you believe in a soul and life after death or not, it is impossible. You can imagine a wonderful afterlife, but imagining something, is not proof of its existence. Neither is the fact that nearly every human being that has ever lived believed in an afterlife make it true either. It just means that human beings find the idea of life after death attractive and it is comforting to think that death is not the end of everything we are. Also, belief in a soul and an afterlife also means our ordinary lives are not a waste of time, even if  they have been hard and joyless lives.

Peoples recent experiences have lead me to conclude that there is no such thing as a soul, and so there can be no such thing as an afterlife. Because of modern medical knowledge and accessible high quality  health care,  more and more people are living far longer than at any previous time in history. Whilst this is wonderful progress for humanity, the down side is that we are now exposing ourselves  to new forms of dying, such as neurodegenerative diseases of the brain. Today, we can keep our bodies going far longer than our deteriorating brains, because the ongoing death of neurons is currently unstoppable, The results of modern health care is frequently sad and depressing, as people have to witness their loved slowly fading away inside a frail but still functioning body. I have heard all too frequently stories of elderly parents who no longer know their own homes, can’t recognise their loved ones, or remember their own offspring. Their brain dies faster than their bodies and confusion results.

So, if it exists, what is happening to the soul, as the diseases of the brain take hold? 

“She is just not there anymore” I have heard sons say of mothers, who fail to recognise the person they once knew in front of them, despite all the love they give them. It’s hard, but when the brain fails the person is damaged, their character diminished, memories lost.. If they ever did have a soul, it is also damaged and diminished. And so,  if the soul is diminished as more and more neurons die, the soul will also die when the person dies too.

If you believe the soul does exist, why can‘t a person with dementia still recognise their own spouse, son and daughter? If a soul does exist, will it be this unloving, confused soul that will continue to exist for eternity, or the one we remember of them in their prime, a soul from a previous time when they were at their most beautiful? And if this is true what or who decides when they were at their best? Or is the reality of  a modern disease just requiring us to use our imaginations a little harder to make the new facts fit an old idea that it's time to ditch? Perhaps their soul only exists in our living minds?

For this reason I reject the idea of a Soul, an afterlife, reincarnation or ghosts hanging about after death. Our brains and bodies are inseparably interlinked to make the person and both must function correctly for us to exist. If one develops faults, our living consciousness is affected and our lives and character changed. The stark reality is that when we die, we end. There is nothing of us that can continue.

You may find this hard, cold and desolate, but if you accept there is no afterlife, every minute of this life becomes precious, priceless and wondrous and not something to be squandered. Our time alive is truly the most amazing and valuable thing you can possibly own. And if you accept this then it is easy to realise that the life of others is also the most amazing and valuable thing they own and we all share this fantastic life with each other and the other forms of life around us, making it all even more valuable, wondrous and precious.

I see paradise not as a promise of something to come, but right here, now, all around us at this very moment. We don’t need to invent the idea of a soul to experience it. What ever your circumstances, however hard  or easy your life is, celebrate the miracle of your and everyone’s else’s lives, as our time is limited to only one short precious life.   Enjoy it and help others to enjoy theirs.

And If people accept there is no afterlife, perhaps they wouldn't waste their life fighting wars just because some else tells them to.