Friday, June 17, 2005

The Essence of Government

You bump against the fire, something burns, you jump back. You don't wait for permission from the priest, or the shaman, or the mayor, or the president ...

Evolution has developed individuals as making their own decisions.

Up to a point: where lots and lots of individuals congregate, group decision making becomes more and more prominent.

Scientists tell us that each bird in a flock is making it's own decisions about when to fly, when to take the lead, when to fall back and rest. The apparent order is emergent; not directly caused by individuals.

Now we're in the 21st Century. You walk down the street, the guy jumps out to mug you. Everything in your Scottish or your Zulu lineage tells you to fight that guy to the death rather than give him one penny. Oh, no, says the cop: give him the money. If it's rape the guy has in mind, and the victim is female, different programs run instantly in her head. Her father, her brother, her financée ... are not there. What to do must be strictly her decision.

The essence of government is to rewire society so that the burned individual will not jump out of the fire till told. School ... church .... it's all part of the government.

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