THE TRUE ELEPHANT

how can any country in the world prosecute acts of terrorism involving a handful of people and then engage in war? the national armies of the world account for nearly a hundred per cent of the human-caused terror on this planet, yet they are legitimized even at the level of international law. 

this is truly the most enormous elephant in a not-well-hidden corner of human society and anyone with an even slightly detached and rational voice would necessarily come to the same conclusion — war is the single most destructive deadly criminal and unethical activity in the history of the world. anyone in any government waging war for any reason outside its borders should be tried as a criminal actor in a world court. any people in any government waging war against its own people for any reason should also be tried as criminal actors in a world court. 

the rights of individuals supersede the rights of nations. the rights of individual people are primary and universal, and they are the natural rights from which all other (group) rights derive. anyone, no matter in what uniform or flag they are wrapped, who harms or kills other people is a criminal and the size of the offense is the size of the damage they do to others. instead of being lauded as heroes, the people who plan and execute these large-scale atrocities should be condemned and their efforts dismantled.

how will order be kept at the scale of nations? a world body (which is already present in its nascent form) is the only organization capable of ensuring war between nations will not occur, and it should be the only organization allowed to maintain a standing army, a small mobile force to be legitimately deployed to arrest perpetrators anywhere on this globe as soon as they even attempt to acquire the technical means to wage war, or even by threat attempt to usurp the rights of others. belief in the rule of law is widely understood and there is less to be feared in this arrangement than any other we have tried on this planet, as long as men continue to attempt to dominate and harm one another.

whether we come to this arrangement after a global conflict that devastates much of the planet, or we come to this in our maturity as an ethical actor, i cannot say. that we will come to it, provided we survive as a species on a viable planet, i have no doubt.

CORPORATIONS (AGAIN)

corporations need to be conceived, constituted and regulated in different ways than they are presently; they need to make central the value of utility at the level of society entire instead of just at the investor level; they need to evolve around a core value of usefulness to society instead of the narrow and unethical focus on themselves. as they presently operate, they are sociopathic, even psychopathic, and that is a sickness that needs remedy. 

however, the idea of eliminating corporations is not a useful reaction to their present inutility. though they are certainly not individuals in any sense of the word, either morally, ethically or (properly) legally, they are naturally occurring manifestations of emergent organizational principles and have proven to have many practical uses that ensure they should be preserved as long as their natural life cycle permits. they just need to be regulated, and regulated by an independent collective societal voice that is not owned or regulated by them.

GOD IN THE UNIVERSE

intelligence and understanding are global not atomistic properties of mind. they no more exist — nor are they concentrated — within a single neuron or small circuit of neurons as overseers than a termite colony building a mound has a single architect or building committee, and noone has a set of drawings or any form of plan that exists prior to and separate from the action that creates the thing. the same is true of the way entire single organisms self-assemble; there is no architect and there is no pre-existing plan, there is just the continual division into ever more complex assymetrical structures arising out of the simple actions of the simpler structure that preceded it; the plan is an integral and emerging property of the organism that is developing and is parallel to it. ditto the cosmos.

so much for god in the universe.

GENES, HISTORY AND CULTURE

there are people in the world who think that certain populations are prone to certain maladies of behavior. they say things like 'chinese people all lie and cheat' or 'italians are all loud' or iranians are all 'fundamentalists' or 'christians are all this, or jews are all that...' (i could go on). they think it is somehow bred in the bone and they apply it to whole peoples. how then would they explain the germans? after the second world war (it seems strange that we even own that phrase) the east germans were supposedly known to enthusiastically denounce each other with accusations of being anti-government; the same is true of the north koreans. how then would these people explain the fact that nothing of the sort was going on in west germany and it is not going on now in a unified germany on either side of the old divide? same for korea. these german and korean people share an identical gene pool; in fact, many of them are related across borders. the chinese people share the same gene pool with the japanese, koreans and many other people of asia; not only that, the whole world shares the same gene pool. you who are reading this, that is you and me.

it is true that different countries with different governments and different histories manifest different cultures and that some governments and some cultures are more brutal and some people more inured to a hard life, but this is historical and situational, not genetic; there is nothing unique about the individuals living there compared to individuals living elsewhere. you could find your counterpart in any country; you could find someone with opposite views of life and society in any country.

it is a dangerous form of ingroup/outgroup hostility which is more likely to be believed by people who have not known enough people from other places and cultures, or who are themselves rather fundamental in their thinking. it does not promote harmony and understanding on this tiny little orb, and promoting harmony and understanding on this tiny little orb is the only thing that will save it (and the mostly similar individuals who live on it) from oblivion. 

if you are hoping armies and power and domination of others will save you, or your country, you are hoping in vain.