X-Message-Number: 18131
From: "George Smith" <>
References: <>
Subject: Ethics and reality and survival
Date: Sun, 9 Dec 2001 15:03:40 -0800
I find it amusing to note that there remain many comments I hear and read
from people who are striving to prove whether this or that government is
moral or not in its conduct, past and present.
A mob is a bunch of people. So is a government. So is a democracy. The
behaviors are identical overall.
I realize it is something of a shock, especially to my fellow US citizens
who were educated in "public" (read "mob") schools, that the US is a
republic and not a democracy at all. That has always just been propaganda.
A republic is a structured effort to restrain a mob through dividing power
by placing it into the hands of fewer individuals by means of representative
authority.
It reduces the mob to a smaller group of people, a smaller mob.
It isn't perfect but it works much better than a democracy which is nothing
more than mob rule in which the majority rules no matter how ignorant they
are (or illiterate!).
What has this to do with cryonics?
Perhaps its survival.
I recall when John Kennedy was assassinated how the television news
commentators in that multi day marathon of breast beating continued to harp
about how this was an issue of "shared guilt" and that somehow (never
explained) we were all "guilty" and responsible for this murder.
At the time I thought this was nuts and I still do.
A fundamental guide to determining psychosis is the issue of identity
boundaries. When the police would haul a "suspect" in to my office for
evaluation because he had been screaming that he was "God" and running naked
through the forest, I would suspect that he had a problem with drawing an
accurate line of personal identification around himself that would not
disagree with the public opinions in this regard.
Knowing what you are NOT is critical to sanity.
We still live in a world where it is considered "sane" to identify with all
kinds of groups: sport teams, religions, nations, races, etc.
Then, after identifying with a group, we feel responsible for its actions -
which are by its nature mob actions.
To lower one's feet to the ground and consciously disavow identification
with such groups is still rare today, but I have hopes for the future.
Ethics are a guide to actions by an individual. When you attempt to apply
ethics to any group, things start to go awry.
At that point you can begin to believe that mobs will NOT act like mobs -
driven by emotions and primate dominance psychology.
By at least adolescence it is incredibly useful to stop believing that you
will change the world through rational or moral appeals to groups of people
(governments, religions, social clubs, etc.) on the basis of doing what is
"right."
It is useful to restrain this behavior because doing so (1) contributes to
the likelihood of your personal survival, (2) contributes to the likelihood
of your personal success occupationally, and (3) contributes to the
likelihood of your personal happiness.
I have been pleased to note in this forum those occasions when someone will
label my opinion in regard to the treatment of terrorism as "brutal" or
"inhuman" when I would advocate a nuclear strike to cow the social groups
who respond historically to overwhelming violence with obedience.
I AM a brute, an animal, specifically a primate, and I know what primates do
in groups. And if "inhuman" also might mean thinking as a transhuman, I
would happily embrace that title and say to both labels, "Thank you!"
It is time to grow up if you want to survive.
The current level of group identification which is near universal on this
world means that you cannot expect ethical or moral actions from any group
based upon what is best for you (or any other single person) as an
individual.
What you can do is attempt to remove your blinders and see what impact the
huge groups (like governments) will have upon your present and future.
You can waste your time and effort pointing a finger at the Emperor's new
clothes shouting that he is naked, (which most usually will cause the guards
to come over and bludgeon you into "compliance") or you can think about what
the current actions of the Emperor might mean to your personal well being.
("Why is he doing this? What might this mean to me?")
Harry Browne referred to this problem as a "group trap" in his 1974 best
seller "How I Found Freedom In An Unfree World." Robert Ringer repeated
many of the same ideas in his bestseller a few years later "Looking Out for
Number One." I like Ringer's cartoons but Browne was more eloquent.
At this point in time I have a few rules for my personal conduct around any
mob, whether national, religious or social:
(1) Treat it like a wild animal which is on drugs, which means:
(a) Don't antagonize it.
(b) Don't trust it.
(c) Try and keep your distance if possible.
(2) Don't try to change it unless doing so without the intention of actually
expecting change and for personal amusement only.
(3) Don't bother whining about how immoral mobs are unless you derive
pleasure from whining and realize how pointless it is to do so.
(4) Always consider the downside of not remaining obscure and unnoticed.
I think it was Robert Heinlein who suggested the danger of being a pink
monkey in a brown monkey cage. The wise pink monkey will look for brown
paint to apply to himself rather than seek to be torn to shreds.
Cryonics as a movement needs to avoid unnecessarily antagonizing anyone,
especially groups. It is a tough call to decide when one must fight in
court against personal injustice and when it makes more sense to jump bail.
The two organizations which store suspended members are both inside the
territorial boundaries of the United States.
The United States is involved in a certain degree of military action as I
recall. The word "war" has been used rather often. I have noticed a few
flags here and there. Polls seem to indicate that there is a fair majority
(mob) who think the US is very, very right.
I would consider it suicidal for either organization to offer anything
except a neutral to patriotic approach to war (mob conflict) and as
individual members of an organization with such long term survival goals, I
would suggest that this is especially a stupid time to criticize US military
policy, past or present, if YOU are inside the US.
(Taunt: "Run, run as fast as you can, you can't catch me, I'm the
Gingerbread Man."
(Response: "You can run but you cannot hide.")
But then some people prefer martyrdom to a "cause" rather than survival.
My own view? I am very happy that the "war" on terrorism is killing the
people who want to kill me and those I love, and want destroy my standard of
living.
The rest is not important.
Just my opinion,
George Smith
Trying to Survive in a World of Psychotics
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