Monday, December 05, 2005

The Symmetry Between The Evolution Of Social Structures And Physical Attributes In Isolated Societies

Recently with the discovery of the remains of little people who lived on Flores Island a new connection has been made between man and the animal kingdom.It had been known for a long time animals on isolated habitats mutated into large or minute and largely defenseless versions of their cousins who had to undergo the rigors of competition on the mainland.For example the enormous tortoises on the Galapagos Island or pony sized elephants on Flores Island who co-existed with the Hobbit people.Likewise man when subjected to the same forces or the same forces are absent responds physically in the same way as the animals. However there is another transition which happens in the social sphere of isolated and otherwise safe societies.That is the social structure sheds it's ability to defend itself even conceptually just as flightless island birds or the giant tortoises of the Galapagos have shed their defenses for the most part and what is left is only a vestige what their ancestors had.This mutated and defensless form of society which is a natural response to nature's desire for economy of thought and exertion is socialism and multiculturalism which of course is the beginning of the end for western civilization.Society in the West has been for the most part unassailable for hundreds of years so this seems a natural development.All great civilizations in the past have become soft and weak and eventually have been destroyed either from the outside or inside or a combination of the two.However the path taken in the West not only refuses to defend itself but even goes further in it's desire for non-conflict and actually invites others into their societies.What was preserved for hundreds of years in England by way of a natural moat which kept out numerous adversaries was destroyed in a single generation.The drawbridge was lowered for all to enter. Naturally it takes many thousands of generations for physical changes to happen but since thoughts are far more malleable than physical changes they can happen in a remarkably compressed timescale.In many ways western man is as defenseless from invading ideologies or religions as is the kiwi bird of New Zealand who evolved in a threatless world and is now totally at the mercy of foreign predators.Kiwis the humans are as endangered as kiwis the bird.A beautiful symmetry for those who care to see it and with an almost certain and tragic conclusion for both. So the natural world has become a proxy for the social world and now western societies are facing the threat of a self inflicted extinction and must adapt or disappear.

Saturday, December 03, 2005

The False Logic Of Time And Numbers

Occasionally one reads of someone extolling the virtues of his or her religion or ideology based on the number of believers or the time people have believed such things.If someone says their group has X number of followers therefore this ideology must be true because look at all the people who believe then they are talking nonsense.This is a totally circular argument since the implication is if all those people believe in it then it must be true so I will join.Of course if enough people join based on this argument then the spokesman can come back and say look now we have (n)X people who believe and use that as a basis to join although the argument is just as specious as before.Likewise with the time argument he can argue that look at all the time our people have believed such a thing and say that it must be correct so we should keep on believing this thing.Of course what is never mentioned is that people thousands of years ago were for the most part illiterate superstitous people and why anyone would want to use them as a role model seems a mystery unless ignorance is what is being perpetuated.The next time someone says how many people are in their religion as an excuse for it's validity remember this piece and question how deep their thoughts must be and by extension how valid is their message.