The Quest for an Empire - TQE

The quest for an empire – powerful enough to deter all potential enemies and thus secure peace and prosperity for its subjects!

How did humanity try (and keeps trying ) to achieve this dream, where did we succeed and when and why did we fail?

I an attempt to discover a pattern I noticed that:

It obviously starts with concentration of power to achieve security, followed by large development, defence and ideological projects. Soon concentrated power leads to abuse, abuse erodes support for the government and ultimately the empire fails. Therefore, better systems – those with a better chance of survival are those that have implemented better governance. Good accountability is essential for good governance. Therefore, in essence, accountability is indispensable for sovereignty.

Associations and Governance

Assumption:

People form associations to solve difficult problems they are unable to solve alone. Elites emerge within associations to lead and manage them. Elites may misunderstand their own interests as contrary to the other stakeholders and become corrupt.

Therefore, systems should be established and constantly improved to ensure the interests of all stakeholders are considered and pursued.

Elites exist only within associations.  Associations exist only when people come together to solve particular problems.

Governance systems need constant updating because corrupt elites will tirelessly and incessantly work towards beating the system. That updating is difficult to achieve because by definition it’s the elites who will investigate what needs to be updated and the corrupt part of them may take over/hijack that task.

Foolishness

We are all kings and queens regardless of our foolishness. For foolishness is humankind's disease. There is no dumb duck, no silly cow...

The Shortcut Axiom

Most people will act reasonably to pursue their interests. The best way to do that is by finding and exploiting shortcuts. If this shortcuts infringe on someone's interests they are bund to provoke opposition that may lead to failed projects or worse. Therefore people tend to cooperate to secure advantages. Because communication is easier in smaller groups elites are likely to emerge from the more successful associations. Elites as a group may seek cooperation with the rest or be tempted by the easier way to obtain an advantage  by exploiting them.

Elites will always pursue their own interests so the rest must be on guard. Lack of accountability can lead to mounting tensions that may cause destruction adversely affecting everyone involved.

On the other hand if the good life is created by rational actors pursuing their goals then cooperation is most certainly advantageous.

Institutionalised cooperation is even better due to improved communication and accumulated knowledge of successful methods and processes but is prone to be hijacked by corrupt elites who may become too comfortable if their is lack of accountability and be tempted to abuse the power that they have helped create by organising society.

Personal/individual freedom is essential for the common good! Personal freedom is only possible when it is based on personal property. Personal property is only possible when it is protected by a powerful state. Otherwise it is a mere fiction. The power of the state stems from the cooperation of the people. Public/national interest different from the personal interest is a dangerous delusion used by many dictators and should be seen as such.

The Importance of Laziness

The Importance of Laziness

Since the time when our ancestors chose to use tools and keep them – till the invention of the TV remote – humanity's advantage has been driven by laziness. Laziness in other words is finding, learning and reusing shortcuts. The learning – reusing part is called Ideas.

Ideas that help me find food, shelter and security. Ideas in the form of religion, politics, ethics, science and philosophy.

Desires are the guiding beacons of our being. Collectively desires stem from or form the soul. Therefore whenever the devil offers you whatever you wish in exchange for your soul – she or he is trying to trick you. For without soul you have no desires, nothing to strive for. The purpose of life is the quest for shortcuts to satisfy the hungry soul.

Laziness is the path to happiness.

The Essence of Politics

The main or perhaps only goal of government is to protect private property.
Private property is impossible without a government to protect it.
Even if you are the strongest in your neighborhood it will only take the collusion of two or three people to deprive you of it.
That ultimate power of government in regards to private property invites the temptation to use is as a tool to steal and reapropriate that property to those who hold or pull the strings of political power.
That struggle between those who need government to protect their property and those who want to use government to steal is the essence of politics.

Think!

The 20-Year-Old With a Plan to Rid the Sea of Pla…: http://youtu.be/hmPHBhYaCR4

True words, the rest of you are hypocrites!

Victoria Osteen - when we obey God, we're not doi…: http://youtu.be/sjWertXdxFE

Myriad of Thoughtlessness: States of Reality

Myriad of Thoughtlessness: States of Reality: There's a lot of debate (if you're one to get into these sorts of conversations) about what is real and what isn't. Reality is a...

Freedom, Sancho, is sacred!

Alex Wissner-Gross: A new equation for intelligence #TED : http://on.ted.com/e0PlR

Vision and Bias

Without vision people perish! But how do we know if the vision is right?  How do we distinguish good from evil,, right from wrong? If evil works for   me if it helps me in my search for happiness then probably I should stick with it. In reality though evil is likely to antagonize potential supporters , make you feel bad about yourself create determined enemies and ultimately end bad for the perpetrator.  

On the other hand or from a different perspective - ignorance leads to bias and bias leads to errors. Everyone makes errors only those who do nothing don’t make any errors. You may chose to learn from your (and others’) errors or you may choose to ignore them and suffer repeatedly.

Me -the People

The distinctive feature if the giraffe is the long neck the distinctive feature of human beings is the pursuit of happiness.

How hard it is to be happy!

Cutting giraffe's neck, because it too long and doesn't conform to the accepted norm for necks of cattle goes against their nature.

Cutting down people's hope by instilling fear goes against our nature and is likely to provoke powerful resistance which  may and will turn violent if not addressed on time.

In Ukraine it must be evident by now that it is the interests of the people of Ukraine that are to be considered first, perhaps the interests of their immediate neighbors first with the unquestionable priority of or Russia) and I don't mean the corrupt Russian elite but the people of Russia followed by the rest of the world .

Any actions or words directed against the people of Ukraine (and by the people of Ukraine I mean not only those who speak Ukrainian) and their welfare, unity and right to self-determination is an enemy of the people of Ukraine first, the people of Russia, the rest of Europe and the rest of the  world. There is only one united Europe possible - one that includes Russia - without Russia Europe is just Germany and its satellites (except for the UK which has some level of independence fueled by the money of corrupt and criminal Russian oligarchs - not exactly Cyprus, but on its way to become one.

The parliament of Ukraine voting to ban Russian language - is against the people. The US sending military aircraft to the Baltics - against the people because they serve no other purpose than to ignite fear - in the unlikely development if Russia is to invade the Baltic states - they are most likely to flee back to Britain -fighting would be suicidal. The corrupt Russian leadership shouldn't be so eager to accept Crimea's plea for secession - why it is OK for Crimea to secede but not for Chechnya.

On the other hand why it is OK from US-EU perspective for Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia to split but not for Ukraine?

We have had enough of fear mongering - it's time to tell the elites in Kiev, Moscow, Washington and Berlin - we are not buying it! Get it resolved,  stop posturing or get out!

US to Pay Russia for Gas Delivered to Ukraine

At first glance it looks like a win/win/win situation - the US will pay 2 billion USD for gas delivered to Ukraine so the flow to Germany won't stop. Germany gets gas, Putin gets money for being a good boy and the US taxpayer ends up deeper in debt.

But wait there is more - Putin gets to keep the 12 billion he promised Ukraine before the disturbances started, the US taxpayers' 2 billion is in the form of loan guarantee (be realistic Ukraine is not going to pay it back in any foreseeable future) and the actual money will go through the IMF they can impose their fees and sanctions at will.

Winners - the oligarchs and oil barons of Russia, the USA and Ukraine.

Losers - we the people, but mostly the people of Ukraine (who we be deeply enslaved), Russia (whose corrupt leaders will become richer and more arrogant) and last but not least the people of the USA who will end up picking up the tab for all this.

Amazing what a couple of well placed snipers shooting at protesters can achieve.

Let’s Sing the Ukrainian Song Right

Merkel 1, Putin 0, Obama -1.

The current score of the dirty chess game started by Merkel is as above. I’ll explain;

She starts with a half-hearted offer for EU negotiations that is easy to reject. It’s understandable - Ukraine is a big country with big issues and Germany is reluctant to pay for it. In jumps Putin like a knight in shining armour (or more likely - half naked) with bags of resque money to reward his now rejected friend Yanukovych - the brave president of Ukraine elected by the people. But the people it seems don’t want Yanukovych and they don’t want Putin’s money (and they are aware he is half naked) - they would rather prefer the shiny EU with difficult conditions and no money hoping mostly to rush to Germany and make some easy Euros perhaps because any economic development is difficult to imagine in an EU where only Germany is booming and the rest are stagnating (especially the new and poor members). Bam - Yanukovych is gone (even Putin doesn't love him anymore) and the mob establishes a pro EU government by making sure the parliament votes as they prefer. Also they are quick to ignite ethnic tensions by banning the Russian language historically spoken by a big part Ukrainian citizens an act guaranteed to ingnite anger and indignation.

At this moment the score is Merkel: 1 and Putin: - 1. Merica is just zero for now waiting for an opportunity to open, Putin counter attacks ostensibly “to protect” compatriots in Crimea but mostly to get back at Merkel for making him look dumb. But Merkel keeps her cool - instead Obama jumps into the fray to see if he can catch some easy fish in these troubled waters but only exposes his irrelevance. After having wasted any influence and good will he may have had by not attending the Olympics he has no options but to talk pointedly while no one hardly listens. That is a minus 1 and plus 1 for Putin to equal zero.

But where are the interests of the people of Ukraine in this whole game you may ask? Sadly no one seems to care! Even the new rulers in Kiev seem to be more interested in distributing government posts that will enable them to profit at the back of the people of Ukraine, the US taxpayer, the people of Russia and even the EU taxpayers if they are not vigilant.

I know what you are thinking - this is a useless sad story without a happy ending and no inspiring moral. There is moral: we the people have the power to keep the corrupt scheming rulers accountable. The people of Ukraine - Ukrainians, Russians, Tatars, Jews, Moldovans, Gypsies have to unite against the demagogues - not because it is a good thing to do but because the other option is slavery under the boot of Russia, the EU, the IMF too but first and foremost under their own homegrown corrupt oligarchs and politicians.

The price of gas goes up? Guess who will profit!

Epilogue

In a warm August evening in 1978 I was walking along the seaside of the Bulgarian resort of Primorsko with a couple of friends when we met a large group of Russians who invited us to join them. Soon after that we met a similarly large group of Polish holidaymakers and sat all together around a table in the park. The Russians brought a couple of bottles of Stolichnaya vodka and after some rounds offered to sing a Russian song. The moment they started there was trouble: “This is not a Russian song,” the Polish guys objected. “It is a Polish song!” The proceeded to agree the sing the song only if the Russians agree it is in fact a Polish song. Tempers flared  - fueled by the Stolichnaya. The on of the Russians shouted above all: “It’s actually an Ukrainian song! Let’s sing the Ukrainian song!” For reasons incomprehensible to me but apparently obvious to the Russians - the Polish agreed and we all sang together the Ukrainian song. All of us Bulgarians, Russians and Polish - there wasn't a single Ukrainian present.

So it looks like we (as we the people, we the humanity, we the nations) can do it. We an sing the Ukrainian song and sing it good and not out of tune if we want to. If we don’t we will be enslaved and no one can save us.

Who is responsible?

The one who is affected!

And in an argument - the  one who is cleverer.

And that is why the sum can never be better that the individual.

The power of association has meaning only when it serves the interests of the individual.

Actually any association always serves individuals.

He problem is with these associations that proclaim that they serve the common interest to hide the fact that they serve the interests of the few.

But what about states?

States too serve the personal interests theii citizens (check wiih the Declaration of Independence) and if they don't they lose their legitimacy. States are sovereign as long as the people can deliberate national interest and policy. Outside ot that they are just a criminal association protecting the interests of corrupt individuals.

The Triangular Person

Forget the well rounded personality which is just essential square with filed out corners.

People consist of three main properties: what they want to be, how society sees them and what they really are.

Since humanity is essentially dynamic these properties are in constant motion meaning that if you do not attempt to steer that journey towards the goals that you choose it will inevitably drift towards a direction that you do not like – most probably the least desirable one for you.

So if we have  triangle with What I am, How society sees me and What I want to be at each point and if we imagine a vector starting from that point and crossing the side joining the other two - we’ll have 1.  the course with  the most support between what what we want and how society sees us, 2. the one with the most chance of success is the one between what we want and what we really are and 3.  the least desirable one is the one between how the others see us and what we really are. The good news is the course we really want to take is the one between 2. the most chance of success and 1. the one with the most support.

You Are What You Are

Ethical values are universal but our understanding of those values is developed and expressed in relation to historically defined circumstances and the individual's understanding of how goals defined as common can serve that person's private interests.

You are not what you, what you know and what you believe. You are not your race, nationality and culture. You are not even your family.

You are you!

And only as you you can be part of a family, company, nation or faith. You can only be really to anyone including yourself by being unique. Because that is the only human way. A human being is not a product of or cog in the mechanism of society. Society is the product and servant of its members, not the other way around. To put the records straight – it's not what you can do for you country it's what you country can do for you and if your country doesn't do it for you – you can and must change the government – it's in the Declaration of Independence. (and I see the Declaration of Independence as a document not only of American but of universal significance).

Bees and ants are social animals – people are individuals with personal differences, preferences and dreams.

The humanness of is ultimately the good life but it is creativity which makes the connection between dreams and realty between life as it is and life as we want it to be, life as it should be! And because that is something very difficult if not impossible to achieve on my own – I need the help of other people. People who are either keen to build my dream or at least a similar one or people who would help me realize my dream in exchange of me helping them achieve theirs.

And those dreams might be castles in the sky or something more practical like security, freedom and the pursuit of happiness. Th achieve these goals we create associations, nations, institutions and other tools and mechanisms – but that doesn't mean that these constructs are what we are at least nor more than the clothes that we wear are what we are. There are just means to an end to be changed and discarded when they no longer serve their purpose.

And that purpose is – make no mistake and repeat after me in a loud voice – to help me chase my dreams, not yours – my dreams and of course we can talk about how chasing your dreams might help me chase mine or we can fight over that (although that is more expensive and not at all productive).

Still I am in the center of my world and you are in the center of yours and only by fiercely preserving our personal freedom can personal security, and the personal pursuit of happiness be possible at all. Only unity in diversity works, unity without diversity is a dangerous illusion that makes life miserable for everyone involved.

Is God Dead? A scientific journey of discovery.

Disclaimer: The pun is intended, to draw attention. This article is not about the Black Sabbath song. If you haven't heard the song - stop reading now find it and come back after that.

My scientific inquiry in God's existence is based on the presumption that we - humanity are by nature on one hand - imperfect and unreliable and on the other hand somehow manage to survive and seem destined to do so. However it should be noted also that contemporary genetics tell us that not everyone's progeny survives - essentially we come from 2 common ancestors - we may call them Adam and Eve and not only that but from Adam and Eve's offspring only certain branches have survived through the tens of thousands of years of evolution. Now back to the question - Is God Dead?

If god had to rely on human offerings - he would be dead by now based on human inconsistency so we can conclude with fair certainty that if such god ever (or goddess) ever existed - they must be dead by now.

Also, if god had to answer all prayer probably humanity won't ever learn anything and spend days and nights on the couch in front of the TV praying for fast food to be delivered and second if that prayer answering god ever existed he or she must be dead by now - frustrated by people's vanity, animosity and greed. So that god is dead too.

If god had to prove his or her existence by miracles that seems a bit dodgy to me too. If you are a true believer - you don't need miracles. Alternatively if you only believe if you see miracles then any circus magician is your prophet. Perhaps that god is dead too.

Ozzy mentions in the song that he would keep the wine :-) That's one miracle that happens every year in in wine producing countryside - water comes from the sky and is turned into wine once the collected grapes ferment. It is a miracle but needs human agency to plant the vineyard, take care of it, collect the grapes, squash them for the juice and patiently wait for the miracle to happen.

Every woman or man of faith knows that. David didn't pray for Goliath to disappear, but took matters (in his case stone and slingshot) and by opposing ended the treat. Yes  he had great faith too, but took action based on that.

So is God dead?

If you believe that the universe appeared out of nothing by chance - perhaps, If you believe that the laws of physics just by chance happened to to be just the ones needed for life to be possible the that may be so. If you believe that atoms created in the starts converged by accident to create life on Earth then you may not need God. I find it unexplainable. I agree that you could by chance walk into a casino every morning instead of going to work and win your yearly salary by spending a quarter - it is possible but highly improbable. We don't need God to explain the unexplainable - for that we have brains an critical thinking but I believe that there is some meaning in this continuous symphony of creation and I cannot find any other way to call it but God.

Tell me what you think?
Is God dead?

I am the way...

If faith grows out of love and love from hope and hope based on knowledge which is the best remedy for fear, then faith in oneself is the highest most honest faith that one can have. Because it's obvious that you can only love what you know and that what you know best and deepest you are destined to love most. If you believe that you were created in God's image or you believe that you are the pinnacle of evolution no matter how imperfect you are - you have to love yourself to be able to love anyone and anything else

It is a delusion to believe that I know anything at all if I don't know myself first and from myself my deepest desires and boldest dreams. Then it looks like you can't believe in anything at all if you don't have faith in yourself first. And if that is the most honest possible faith why don't pray to yourself:

Dear me - please, help me become the person that I want to be and may my will be done... Perhaps if you do that then God, or Nature or Society or all of them together will help me achieve just that. Or not - you do believe that God will trade favors for prayers (as if God needs anything from me) or Nature will just take a course naturally favorable to me (it actually did already if I am the progeny of a long line of survivors or perhaps because they were survivors it looks like nature was simply good to them.

David didn’t wait for God to kill Goliath - but picked up a couple of pebbles and opposed the scary giant who died confused by his own arrogance. I can’t imagine David praying to God to kill Goliath because David is understandably reluctant to do it himself. David has faith and took action in his own hands to get what he wanted. Was he always good - no. But what makes David admirable is his honesty and faithfulness to himself.

You cannot be saved if you don’t save yourself. That’s what airline safety instructions tell you to do. If you don’t put on your oxygen mask first you may faint before you are able to help that child next to you. You have to love yourself so everyone can love you and so you can love the others. And you can only love yourself if you reach deep inside to that divine essence, some call soul.

There is no gate to the way but many roads lead to it.

Can a government burden future generations with debt they haven't had a chance to agree to.

Definitely not! That is against the principle of no taxation without representation.

But what if the money is spent to keep the parents of these future kids alive?

What is good and what is bad we might be able to tell but how to measure it? Does the greatest good for the most people maxim work? The experience of Hitler and Stalin's persecution of minorities under the false pretext of common good tells us enough to be able to judge. Most important, ignoring the fate of unrelated minorities will lead inevitably to the time when they will come for me and then there will be no one left to protest.

While the Tea Party religiously is carrying the future generations to the mountain to sacrifice them to an imagined principle of decency Obama is trying to do the intuitively correct thing and borrow a sacrificial lamb from the neighbors although he doesn't seem to have a very clear idea how he is going to pay for it.

Who is right? Burden the future with debt or kill the present in the name of the principle even if the principle is in itself correct – even sacred? There is no one correct answer. Perhaps we need to keep in mind that the Sabath was created for the people not the people for the Sabath. But then again the unity of diversity makes the nation and even if the people can be enslaved a proud nation – never.

Thoughts by Cicero, Jesus, Buddha and from the Old Testament were paraphrased in this post.