[GJM] TOP Figure 12N [was [FixGov] repost]
W. Curtiss Priest
bmslib at mit.edu
Thu Oct 11 13:38:59 MDT 2007
Dear Wes,
I am glad to see this new figure, recent figures of
yours are on the web site (list below).
I see you mention holodynamics and Ron Paul as recent
additions.
Where does my proposed 28th Amendment lie with regard
to this figure? (copied below).
http://www.epie.org/cyber-soc/Fig8i.gif
http://www.epie.org/cyber-soc/FIG7-9K.GIF
http://www.epie.org/cyber-soc/FIG6C.GIF
http://www.epie.org/cyber-soc/FIG2-3E.GIF
http://www.epie.org/cyber-soc/FIG11.GIF
http://www.epie.org/cyber-soc/FIG11F.GIF
http://www.epie.org/cyber-soc/FIG17H.GIF
http://www.epie.org/cyber-soc/FIG17I.GIF
http://www.epie.org/cyber-soc/FIG12L.GIF
http://www.epie.org/cyber-soc/fig10e.gif
http://www.epie.org/cyber-soc/Fig10c.gif
http://www.epie.org/cyber-soc/Fig%204%20&%208i.gif
http://www.epie.org/cyber-soc/FIG12N.GIF
But, who are the leaders of reason? And, because of the
separation of church and state, political leaders can
not be leaders of a reason-based religion.
What is left is a vacuum. And the only logical alternative
is to have no leader.
But, if we have no god and no leader, how can there be
a positive force for good? What currently fills the
vacuum are legislated laws and the overlapping goodness
of various religions. As for laws, these typically tell
us what not to do and they say little about what we should
do. And minimum standards, set by law, do not create what
wells above those, which we need.
However, there is a form of innate leadership created by
nature. And there is also an implied contract among us as described
by Rawls (Theory of Justice).
Innate Leadership of Nature:
While there is no intentionality associated with processes of
nature, there is, at least, the principle of survival. This
principle, at its harshest, becomes "survival of the fittest."
But there is an underlying message related to the continuity
of each species. And, regardless of religion, many of us
wish to preserve species. For example, we did pass an
"Endangered Species Act" and we put the survival of species
above, say, economic development that threatens various
species. The "snail darter" of Tennessee stopped the building
of a dam and made history.
At the heart of the matter is this. The overall course of
our universe is a winding down. Suns, everywhere, are
combining hydrogen to create helium. Accidentally, the
light released by this process is strewn into galaxies
and planets, such as Earth, are bathed in that light. And,
if there is also the presence of water, there is the
chance that hydrocarbons will be created and that some
of those hydrocarbon life-forms will be re-created by
forms of procreation.
So, life is a curious side-effect of the unwinding, and,
more importantly, life, like salmon swimming upstream,
is temporarily winding up. That is, some greater order is created
out of a process generally moving toward greater disorder.
This is a special event. We would not be conversing about
it if it weren't an extremely special event. And, those
species capable of consciousness have a special role to
play as stewards to the special event. So we become obligated
to all be leaders in this innate leadership of nature.
And so we must stand in awe of who and what we are. When
we look in the mirror we must rejoice in the celebration of
our being. When we look at others, we must rejoice in how
magical it is that there are many of us and rejoice in the
ways that we can help each other and disdain the many ways
in which we can hurt each other.
And, as Rawls describes, we all can arrive, not only to a
sense of glory, but a sense of righteousness. We accomplish
this by insisting that all enter into a social compact
in the "primal position." The primal position is an imagined
one. Imagine that we could ask every person to a gathering
and at this gathering no one knows what social position they
might have in life, nor do they know when they will be born
and die.
And, for the various species that lack the ability to conceive
of such a gathering, we designate embassaries for each and all.
At this gathering "we all decide" upon a social contract that
determines matters of fairness. And, matters of fairness will
be decided not only for a given future generation, but, for
how the actions of one generation impacts another generation.
Of course, such a contract would be constrained by the intelligence
of the gatherers and constrained by the lack of knowledge about
the implications of various activities. For example, an imagined
gathering in 1950 might ignore the effects of burning fossil
fuels on the environment, but, a gathering in 2008 would bring
a different view and arrive at a different "arrangement."
When Rawls conceived of this "veil of ignorance" about what
position each of us might have in our lives, Rawls was mainly
concerned about how to justify that the CEO of a company might
be paid 100 times more than one of its workers. Rawls recognized
that if in the gathering it was understood that by someone being
paid 100 times more, that everyone else would be better off, that
the group would permit this "inequity" for the larger good, and
thus, in fact, there would be no inequity.
But, this (continuously revised) social contract can just
as easily be used to decide whether to institute matters
such as altruism, honesty, courage, etc. Indeed, via the
social contract we can define the best of all religions.
So, via the implicit leadership of nature and the celebration
of that, and via the explicit, on-going social contract, we
can, indeed, create a reason-based "faith."
To implement this, we, at the outset, must not call this a
religion. Indeed, as this is reason-based, it is, by definition,
simply a statement of reason. So, if anything, it is
an extension of State and can be said so by declaring a
28th Amendment to the US Constitution that says the following:
Section 1. In an age of increased reason and knowledge, the people of
the United States declare a more specific approach to achieve Life,
Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.
Section 2. As shown via the process by which nature created life, it
is
the responsibility of all people to not only perpetuate life but to
sanctify all forms of life in their practices, activities and actions.
Specifically, various virtues that constitute the good life, and
similar
instrumental values shall be celebrated.
Section 3. A fourth body of government shall exist with the purpose of
reviewing all laws and practices as called for in the form of a
Rawlsian
social contract as defined and regulated by the Bureau of Social
Contract.
Section 4. With respect to the other three bodies of US government,
the
Bureau has the power to introduce, and see through to a deciding vote,
legislation when requested by five Senators in the Senate or twenty
representatives in the House. With respect to the Judiciary,
decisions
of the Supreme Court, found to be disrespectful of Section 1 or
Section 2, shall be formulated into law and entered into the
appropriate
legislative body within ninety days of such decisions. Similarly,
Executive Orders by the President found to be disrespectful of Section
1 or Section 2, shall be formulated into law and entered into the
appropriate legislative body.
Section 5. To avoid delays for time-critical situations the Bureau
shall have the power to enforce injunctions on any issues that arise
under Section 4. Such injunctions shall require the concurrence of a
Federal Judge and shall be subject to powers as determined by Congress.
Section 6. In situations where it is deemed that actions within a
single State may manifest into disrespect for Section 1 and for Section
2, the Bureau may seek redress as provided under Section 4 and Section
5.
wesburt at juno.com wrote:
>
> Ashok wrote, in part, to list Fix-Gov:
>
> We need to find an appropriate position for society
> somewhere between Marx, Socialism and capitalism...
>
> Ashok
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
> Dear Ashok,
>
> The appropriate position for society is above,
> not between, Marx, Socialism and capitalism,
> as illustrated on attached Figure 12n.gif.
>
> I know list Fix-Gov strips off non-text parts of
> each message, so I have copied this message
> to you, confident that you will appreciate the
> content of the attached visual-aid, although
> other subscribers to Fix-Gov will not see it.
>
> Kind Regards,
>
> Wes Burt
>
> --^^---------------------------------------------------------------
> This email was sent to: bmslib at mit.edu
>
> EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?b1dg11.b1r7uX.Ym1zbGli
> Or send an email to: Cyber-soc-unsubscribe at topica.com
>
> For Topica's complete suite of email marketing solutions visit:
> http://www.topica.com/?p=TEXFOOTER
> --^^---------------------------------------------------------------
>
> [Image]
--
W. Curtiss Priest, Director, CITS
Center for Information, Technology & Society
466 Pleasant St., Melrose, MA 02176
781-662-4044 BMSLIB at MIT.EDU http://Cybertrails.org
More information about the Discussion
mailing list