Greetings MR XYZ & all the best for 2011 - whatever the pundits say!
I go back to what I have said to you several times in different ways. Its in the genes. Great advances in understanding animal behaviour in the past century are high in the realms of scientific achievement. Yet for all that humans are animals, no one will look at the species' behaviour as they would another animal. The nearest they get is to "look at ourselves from the inside" and steadfastly refuse to get outside and look upon us as they would any alien animal. The excuses for not doing so include "that we are different," " we have the power of thought - and other animals do not," "we and we alone can perceive God, have consciences, are ethical" etc etc etc. In a nutshell we believe that while we may be animals, we are not bound by the rules of animal behaviour. And so it is not put to the test. In principle this is no whit different to the position of the fundamentalists who disregard the evidence before their eyes 'cos all that matters is in the Book. They overlook the fact that, humans as a species have proliferated (the biological criterion of success) regardless of what they believed. Ergo, the content of any belief is not a key to proliferating.
We do know that animals at low densities behave differently to how they behave at high densities. It is not unreasonable to assume that this applies to humans. Nor is it unreasonable to posit that governance (man-management) suited to one density is not necessarily suited to other densities. The chaotic national and international situation that all the bumph you have emailed me could be construed as the expected outcome of too many people (for the prevailing systems of governance). "Democracy" when taken to the Wikkileaks level of every one has a right to know everything is a synonym for anarchy. We trade for personal benefit - a.k.a profit. Free trade entitles us to buy cheapest and sell as dear as we can get away with. Of course US firms will channel manufacturing to Asia for as long as Asia produces cheaply. The only antidote to this is that Ameicans must match or better them ... and the only way they can do that is by lowering their standards (costs) of living. They won't do that? Then the outcome is inevitable. End of story. All the brouhaha about taxes, bastard politicians, etc. etc. unfair trade, is just that. Compete or go bust. That the USA might try to maintain its position by military force? Well it might, only as the Soviet Union found out, you need profits to sustain a military. No profits = a reduced military. That China is expanding its military is perfectly in keeping with the evidence: no economy has ever expanded without a complimentary increase in its military capacity. And canter down the lanes of history looking for an economic power that has not sooner or later used its military power: difficult to find! It was the USA that has pressed hardest for a global economy and it is the USA that is now fighting hardest to prevent its inevitable outcome. And, in any case, it is difficult to envisage a global economy without global governance. If you say that such governance would be impossible: on the evidence before my eyes I believe you. But then the planet has never had the benefit of several billion Chinese let loose. They are proliferating and doing marvellously without democracy.
There may already be too many people to be governed. Chaos seems to be increasing rather than decreasing. Was I to look at things the way you do Andre, I think we are in for a very rough ride. But I don't. The term "quality of life" was, I think, an Americanism. And it has ever been equated with not being poor, having enough to eat, and living in a hygienic environment etc. Yet the behavioural state I equate with life's quality is being happy: the behavioural symptoms of which are laughter and, above all, smiling. I know many very wealthy people and they contained a higher quotient of miserable sods than any other sector of society of which I am aware. Conversely, I have associated with poor people with little in the way of material possessions - and seen many laugh and smile a great deal. Personally, laughing and smiling are the criteria of the quality of my life.
Cheers Ian
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